Ping 410 v Cobra F9

Tashyboy

Please don’t ask to see my tatts 👍
Joined
Dec 12, 2013
Messages
19,726
Visit site
Had an amble up the the course today. Cannot remember last time I was up on a Friday. Anyway I went up with a view to having a bash on the driving range with the Ping 410.
Just as I got to the range I bumped into one of the lads who I see up there quite regularly. Told him why I was there and he does no more than pass me his Cobra F9. "Have a smash with this" he said. To be honest I was more than a bit nervous. Why? I have read reports on here re chipped paint on skied shots, there have been some chipped heads on the F9 at our course. Plus when I had a lesson a month or so ago it caused me to sky the odd ball or so when I was tucking my right elbow in, as told by the pro. Anyway I teed one up and bang, straight down the middle. Four or five went straight down the middle which to be honest a few of them never deserved to. My swing in essence hits across the ball with an open club head. It is something I have been trying to work on and I knew I had hit some bad shots that instead of badly fading off to the right with my own driver, would of hit the fairway with this Cobra. I was gobsmacked. I was more than gobsmacked when I skied the next one. My heart skipped a beat. I checked the head and it looked OK, but I couldn't wait to give it back. I was massively impressed and told him in no uncertain terms he was a *** for messing me head up.
I went into the club shop and one of the guys set the Ping 410 up for me, 12deg, reg shaft. I got onto the range and hit it. It is a thing of beauty, it is an absolute wand. I could not believe how forgiving it was. Even when I hit bad ones it's dispersion was amazing, Not the distance but on the fairway. I tried to fade/slice one and I couldn't. I got my Ping G 30 out and the first hit went 30 yds sliced right. I had to work a lot harder to hit the middle. Pulled out the 410 again and well let's just say am in love.
After I had hit 30 odd balls, I went back in the shop as the guy had said to me " try the Cobra F9 after the 410", as I had told him I had hit a pals F9. I got on the range hit the first ball and quiet frankly it was Rammel. It was complete and utter rubbish. I couldn't hit a thing. Plus what I noticed was that the 410 is a Matt finish and the Cobra a gloss finish. It mirrored everything back. It was a distraction seeing the posters on the wall, the roof etc. After about 10 shots I put it down, and started to finish the basket of balls with my G30. A minute or so later the pro who I had lessons with at the start of the year finished his roll up and I had a natter with him. I told him what had gone off with the Cobra, Ping, Cobra driving scenario. Bottom line is I told him how I quickly fell in and out of love with the Cobra. He mentioned he knew what the first Cobras shaft and settings were and they were completely differant to the one I tried out of the club shop.
In essence he said what i had realised after hitting a couple of balls, if you are going to pay serious money for a club/clubs fitting is a must.
So which would I prefer. Dispertion wise, the first Cobra and the Ping, it looked like you could throw a hanky over them. But the Gloss finish is not for me on the Cobra, however I was told they do a Matt finish. But having had a good look at the design of the face on the Cobra it puts me off, plus I did notice a few blemishes on the top of the Cobra. So at the moment the Ping just edges it. When I took the Cobra back in the shop. Guy in the shop said it seems most other golfers feel the same re there's hardly anything in it as they are nigh on side by side when it comes to new sales of drivers.
It's what I call a happy problem, what is not a happy problem is asking Missis Tash if she has £400 knocking about.
 

Reemul

Head Pro
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
1,178
Location
Dorset
Visit site
I had a fitting recently for the Cobra F9 driver, range of shafts from a 3w one to a longer driver shaft both at regular and stiff. Still didn't manage to hit it as far or accurate as my Callaway XR 16 Driver.

Was pretty disappointed as I was looking forward to buying a new driver and really fancied the F9.
 

Jacko_G

Blackballed
Joined
Jul 13, 2015
Messages
7,028
Visit site
Basically, better off buying a Cobra cos when you diddy it they'll absorb the costs and just give you a new one.

Even though the Ping performance was better.
 

Fish

Well-known member
Banned
Joined
Jun 25, 2012
Messages
18,384
Visit site
What was the spec of your mates F9 that you were stripping down the range/fairway, it might have been totally different to what you had out of the pro shop, hence the difference!
 

Tashyboy

Please don’t ask to see my tatts 👍
Joined
Dec 12, 2013
Messages
19,726
Visit site
What was the spec of your mates F9 that you were stripping down the range/fairway, it might have been totally different to what you had out of the pro shop, hence the difference!

A minute or so later the pro who I had lessons with at the start of the year finished his roll up and I had a natter with him. I told him what had gone off with the Cobra, Ping, Cobra driving scenario. Bottom line is I told him how I quickly fell in and out of love with the Cobra. He mentioned he knew what the first Cobras shaft and settings were and they were completely differant to the one I tried out of the club shop.

Fish the above bit was in the original post. What I couldn't get me head around was people buy drivers woods etc off eBay and other selling sites, but are they really the best clubs for them if they have not been fitted.
 

Karl102

Journeyman Pro
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
2,730
Location
Cheshire
Visit site
I hit them both in a variety of shafts and set ups... The tensi orange and tour 65 in the 410 and hazardous smoke and atmos blue in the f9. Really wanted the ping to be best as I like ping drivers, but trackman numbers had the ping spinning a lot higher, which according to the pro is what it's designed to do. F9 number in the hazardous were a lot better...
 

HomerJSimpson

Hall of Famer
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
73,205
Location
Bracknell - Berkshire
Visit site
Simple answer surely is to get on a monitor of some description and take both clubs out in the specs you hit them so with and check numbers. I have found sometimes when I've been testing and really want a model to be "the one" I sometimes think my eye/brain tricks me into thinking it goes further than perhaps it has on the fly, especially at a range with limited reference points to compare against
 
Top