virtuocity
Tour Winner
At the start of the year, I was using an SLDR-S in 14 degree but I was really struggling with it, losing a lot to the left on the draw setting and slicing on the other settings. The ball flights were really weak and I was averaging around 210 yards.
Switched to Callaway XR and really needed the draw setting to keep me in play. However, quickly, I developed a two-way miss and again, the ball flights were really weak. Even at 9 degrees, ball flight was very high and spinny.
To be honest, driving was the best part of my game in 2013-2014 season and I attribute this to my Ping K15. I have owned this driver twice now and wouldn't hesitate to buy it for a third time, but alas it is too offset for me and would now hook badly in my hands.
Now that I'm not playing a huge amount, I really needed something that offered maximum forgiveness on off-centre hits. Thanks to the My Golf Spy article (http://www.mygolfspy.com/the-most-popular-drivers-of-2015-secret-cg-locations/), it would seem that the smart money was on the Cobra Fly-Z or the Ping G30.
My choice (or punt), was the Cobra. Again, as I'm not playing much and don't care about handicap progression etc anymore, I fancied buying a club that looked nice and the Ping G30 was a bit too 'substance-over-style' for me.
I opted for the blue version:
I've only taken it out twice since I bought it 3 weeks ago but results have been impressive. I haven't gained distance (still around 225-230), but the forgiveness is wonderful. The feedback off the face is really explicit. To be honest, I couldn't ever tell what part of the face I was hitting the ball with when using my previous two drivers, but I can tell immediately with the Fly Z.
When hitting off the toe, gear effect really comes into play and the ball will draw back to target. Off the heel (not my regular pattern), the ball tends to stay pretty straight, but loss of distance is marginal (around 10%).
I'll let you know what happens with centre-face contact when it occurs....
Cobra have resisted the temptation to increase stock shaft length in line with Callaway et al, and it's around 45.5 inches. The clubhead is huge and welcoming. The sound of the face is pretty good, but the feel is really nice.
I've played with a 10.5 degree loft and have yet to muck about with the settings. Something for the winter months perhaps.
Not sure how keen I am with the stock grip- it feels a little thin and slippy to me. I'll wait for a rainy day to fully judge.
With the new King Cobra range hitting shops (apart from AG, apparently), the Fly-Z price is dropping all over the place. You can pick up a brand new one for under £180.
In summary, this club has finely balanced precocious looks with boring forgiveness. It wouldn't be my first port of call if I was looking to squeeze an extra 10 yards from the tee but, it's nice to see light at the end of a very dark tunnel, golf-wise for me.
Alas, the Fly Z may warrant a place in the Big Book Of Drivers That Behave For Two Weeks Before A Slice Develops- but I think I have, for the first time since the Ping K15, found a driver that wants to hit fairways, leaving the owner in the horrible position of having to blame themselves for bad shots.
Switched to Callaway XR and really needed the draw setting to keep me in play. However, quickly, I developed a two-way miss and again, the ball flights were really weak. Even at 9 degrees, ball flight was very high and spinny.
To be honest, driving was the best part of my game in 2013-2014 season and I attribute this to my Ping K15. I have owned this driver twice now and wouldn't hesitate to buy it for a third time, but alas it is too offset for me and would now hook badly in my hands.
Now that I'm not playing a huge amount, I really needed something that offered maximum forgiveness on off-centre hits. Thanks to the My Golf Spy article (http://www.mygolfspy.com/the-most-popular-drivers-of-2015-secret-cg-locations/), it would seem that the smart money was on the Cobra Fly-Z or the Ping G30.
My choice (or punt), was the Cobra. Again, as I'm not playing much and don't care about handicap progression etc anymore, I fancied buying a club that looked nice and the Ping G30 was a bit too 'substance-over-style' for me.
I opted for the blue version:
I've only taken it out twice since I bought it 3 weeks ago but results have been impressive. I haven't gained distance (still around 225-230), but the forgiveness is wonderful. The feedback off the face is really explicit. To be honest, I couldn't ever tell what part of the face I was hitting the ball with when using my previous two drivers, but I can tell immediately with the Fly Z.
When hitting off the toe, gear effect really comes into play and the ball will draw back to target. Off the heel (not my regular pattern), the ball tends to stay pretty straight, but loss of distance is marginal (around 10%).
I'll let you know what happens with centre-face contact when it occurs....
Cobra have resisted the temptation to increase stock shaft length in line with Callaway et al, and it's around 45.5 inches. The clubhead is huge and welcoming. The sound of the face is pretty good, but the feel is really nice.
I've played with a 10.5 degree loft and have yet to muck about with the settings. Something for the winter months perhaps.
Not sure how keen I am with the stock grip- it feels a little thin and slippy to me. I'll wait for a rainy day to fully judge.
With the new King Cobra range hitting shops (apart from AG, apparently), the Fly-Z price is dropping all over the place. You can pick up a brand new one for under £180.
In summary, this club has finely balanced precocious looks with boring forgiveness. It wouldn't be my first port of call if I was looking to squeeze an extra 10 yards from the tee but, it's nice to see light at the end of a very dark tunnel, golf-wise for me.
Alas, the Fly Z may warrant a place in the Big Book Of Drivers That Behave For Two Weeks Before A Slice Develops- but I think I have, for the first time since the Ping K15, found a driver that wants to hit fairways, leaving the owner in the horrible position of having to blame themselves for bad shots.
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