The Club Report! – Cobra Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo Set

:: Golf Made Easy?

As part of the criticism we received during our recent Tour Staff Contest, several horrible high-handicap golfers told us we need to do a better job of covering the Game Improvement, and Super Game-Improvement market. As those guys explained, not everyone is a single-digit, or even a low teen digit golfer. Really?

It turns out those guys are right. Because the last thing I wanted to be accused of is not doing my research, I searched the interweb thingy and discovered that, depending on who you want to believe, the average men’s handicap in America is somewhere between 16 and 21. What that tells me is that you probably suck at golf, and you’re definitely not alone.

Given the futility most golfers exhibit on the golf course, is it any wonder that the game-improvement and super game-improvement clubs account for the majority of what’s on the market today? Should we really be surprised that manufacturers like Cobra are doing what they can to make golf easy?

Case in point; the new (October 19th 2012 release) Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo Set from Cobra Golf. Our sample set blends new Baffler hybrids (4-6) with what Cobra calls “hybrid shaped irons” to create what they boasts is “One of Man’s Greatest Achievements“.

While I’m not certain that a set of golf clubs should really be held in the same company as the light bulb, penicillin, the airplane, or even Doritos Tacos Locos, I get what they’re going for, and I can respect a little bit of over-the-top bravado, because really, who knows more about being awesome than I do?

Stock Shaft: Cobra Baffler Hybrid/Iron Steel (108g, R or S flex), Cobra Baffler Hybrid/Iron Graphite (50-58g, Lite, R or S flex)
Stock Grip: Lamkin R.E.L. 3-Gen
Dexterity: Available in RH and LH

Oh my god! Look at those lofts! Look at the length of those shafts! Oh the horror!

Ok…now that we’ve all gotten that out of our systems (we’ll discuss it in slightly more detail in just a bit), let’s move along.

:: Key Features

The Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo Set replaces the S3 Max as the most forgiving iron in the Cobra lineup. Features included:

• Progressive Oversized Face Profile – High MOI for forgiveness and low center of gravity to help get the ball airborne.
• Wide, Railed Sole: A signature of the Baffler line, the sole design reduces drag to reduce fat shots.
• Vibration Management System: Cavity medallions are tuned to improve feel by dampening vibrations at impact

:: Target Golfer

Higher handicap and beginning players

While Cobra describes the Baffler Irons as “the perfect iron for any player”, let’s step away from the vat of orange Kool-Aide for just a moment. By any measure, the Baffler Hybrid Irons are a super game-improvement set, which is no doubt why they bear the Golf Made Easy moniker. The design is well suited for high handicap golfers, beginners, and anyone else looking for extreme forgiveness from what surely even Cobra would agree is a rather unique looking package. For more accomplished golfers…let’s be real here…these probably are going to be a tough sell for the 15 and below market, but given how extensive Cobra’s iron lineup is these days, I’m guessing they’re good with that.

:: Looks

In most every respect the Baffler Hybrid irons are the polar opposites of the last set of irons (Mizuno MP-69 blades) we looked at in last episode of  The Club Report. The Baffler Hybrid Irons, are, as I’ve already said, a Super Game-Improvement set, while, in the wrong hands, those MP-69s would be Super Game-Destruction iron.

As you would expect from any club in this category, the irons feature non-traditionally shaped heads, over-sized faces, wide soles, visible offset, and thick toplines. If you’re gasping for air, relax, these irons probably weren’t designed with you in mind…you damned club snob, you.

One of the more interesting design elements of the Baffler Hybrid Iron is the elongated face design. In the lower lofted clubs (4-6 for those electing not to replace irons with hybrids) as well as the 7 and 8 irons, there is a visible plateauing (big ol’ flat spot) along the top edge of the toe. Basically, the topline flattens out instead of continuing along a gentle curve. It’s not something we’ve seen much of before, so we asked Cobra to explain the reasoning behind the design. Here’s what Cobra’s VP of Research and Development, Tom Preece, told us:

As they get shorter, while still over-sized, the irons take on a more traditional (rounded topline) appearance.

Orange is Dead! (not really…) Long Live Red!

What could prove to be one of the more polarizing of Cobra’s design choices, is the inclusion of red score lines to help define the hitting area on the face of the irons. While I can’t honestly say I’d consider adding them to my own clubs, neither I nor the majority of the guys I asked to hit them, were put off by them (one guy was not a fan…to say the least).

From the perspective of a Super GI player, I’d expect they’d be beneficial as not only do the provide a visual reminder of the sweet spot, the over-sized, elongated design provides an added bit of confidence. Looking over the ball I found myself thinking there was no way I could miss the red zone.

And speaking of red… (see what I did there)… while the Cobra-PUMA brand has become synonymous with Rickie Fowler’s Sunday Orange, the Baffler Hybrid Irons feature red as the predominant color. In addition to the score lines, cavity badges, ferrule rings, sole paint, and stock graphite shafts all feature a deep red palette.

While a set of red irons shouldn’t be seen as an indication that Cobra is shifting away from Orange, the new red version of the ZL Encore driver, and rumors of a red offering in the upcoming AMP Cell driver suggest that some of the color from the Ferrari collection will most definitely bleed over into the new Cobra  lineup. We can never have too many options.

Given the name (duh) and that the release of the Baffler Hybrid Irons is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 40th anniversary of the original hybrid, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that new irons borrow heavily from traditional baffler designs.  While I think we’d all expect any Baffler hybrid to feature the rail sole design, those same elements have been designed into the irons as well. They too feature broad (almost hybrid-like) soles, and baffler rails. Essentially the irons represent Cobra’s best efforts to bundle baffler technology, in a true, though clearly not traditional, iron design. I guess they really are “hybrid shaped irons“.

The hybrids (4h-6h in our set) are not totally unconventional in shaped, but they are perhaps a bit more rounded that the average hybrid on the market today. They’re finished in a matte dark silver, and the crown is…umm…decorated with a couple of white lines which frame the target hitting area. The odd placement of paint is almost certainly implemented as such in order to accomplish the same thing the the red score lines do on the irons (define the the sweet spot, provide confidence), but I found them to be a bit distracting, as did most of the guys who hit the clubs for us.

Still, if you look at the club from the perspective of a beginning (or struggling golfer), it’s not hard to imagine that for the right guy, the sight lines could be beneficial. I just don’t happen to be one for a busy crown.

While visually the setup isn’t going to fly with everyone, I can see why Super GI guys might willingly get on-board.

Unique aspects of the design aside, Cobra did an excellent job of bringing the total package together. The deep red, matte silver works really well particularly in the graphite models where the matching shafts flow almost seamlessly into the grey Lamkin REL 3-Gen grips.

Yeah We Know

No doubt some of you are shaking your heads. Some of you might even be thinking that the Baffler is the ugliest iron you’ve ever seen. I can practically hear some of you screaming about shovels. I get it. In the conventional sense, the Baffler Hybrid Irons are not what you might call beautiful. They’re not traditionally clean and like Rickie Fowler’s prototype blades. They’re not going to be mistaken for Cobra’s S3 Pro irons either.

What they are is a classic case of function first (with some of those design elements that many Super GI Players love tossed in for good measure). My guess is, the guy who buys them…and hits them straight is going to find himself believing they’re sexy in their own special way…kinda like Fairuza Balk.

:: Sound and Feel

The thing that some people will love about the Cobra Baffler Hybrid Irons is exactly the same thing that others will hate about them. With respect to both the irons and the hybrids, the Bafflers provide almost identical feedback regardless of where you happen to hit it. Sure…the sweet spot feels pretty damn good, but slight misses, be the low heal, high toe, and maybe even the hosel, all feel basically the same.

What you’re getting is an iron that provides extremely consistent feel from swing to swing. What you’re not getting is an iron that’s always going to let you know precisely where you missed.

On several occasions while I was testing I found myself closely looking at the face to try and determine exactly where I had made contact with the ball because, honestly, I didn’t have the first clue. Our lowest handicap golfer more or less told me he thought the irons had no “feel”, while our highest handicap golfer raved about how consistent every shot felt to him. With that kind of perspective, while not personally in love with the feel myself, I’m inclined to think Cobra will probably be fine within their target market.

The hybrids, in my estimation, don’t offer quite the same feel as other recent incarnations of the Bafflers. They’re not quite as crisp on impact. I’d go so far as to say that they’re dull, or muted. Like the irons, however; they’re incredibly consistent. Feel is similar across the whole of the face (with the possible exception of the extreme heel), and while perfectly struck balls are easily discernible from slight misses. There’s very little in terms of feedback to differentiate slight misses from bigger ones.

As with the irons, this will likely be viewed as a negative for players outside the target demographic, but for guys just getting started in this frustrating game, it’s probably ideal.

:: Performance

Looking at those specifications up there, some of you will probably notice that the entire set (especially the true irons) plays about 1 club strong. Basically what Cobra is calling a 4-iron, at 21°, most of the rest of the golf world still thinks of as a 3-iron. At 38.5″ (38.75″ hyrid), the five iron is  a full ¾” longer than what I still consider to be standard length.

Hey, it is what it is, and I’m not knocking Cobra. Longer shafts (though they fly in the face of the conventional wisdom among fitters), and what we’ve taken to calling jacked-up lofts are common place in the industry now, and no more so than in the Super Game-Improvement space. When distance is king (and it definitely is right now), and your competitors are doing likewise, you do what you can to level the playing field. Evolving to the point where iron distance is largely inconsequential takes times, and if you’re in the market for SGI clubs, you’re probably not there yet. It’s ok, we’re not here to judge.

When we reach the point where the 46″ 8-iron is commonplace, I’ll be slightly more concerned about it.

So big surprise, the guys who hit our test set found mostly them to be 1 to 1.5 clubs longer than their own irons (we’re largely a near-traditionally length and lofted crowd). Apart from the consequences at the short end of the set (a large gap between the gap wedge and sand wedge), there’s not much true downside to more distance out of your irons, I suppose, even if some guys view it as an opportunity to claim some sort of higher ground where their traditional set is concerned.  As I said, it is what it is, and what it is, probably isn’t anything to get worked up over.

What impressed me most about the Baffler Hybrid irons is their almost unwavering opposition to sending the ball anywhere but straight. There’s no magical club out there that can deliver 100% accuracy.  A bad (or horrible) swing, is just that. You’re going to miss greens, and you’re going to miss fairways, and you’re going to hit atrocious shots into ponds. You will play from the rough. That’s just how the game goes for most of us who don’t play on TV on a Sunday afternoon. But damned if the Baffler hybrid isn’t the next best thing to magic.

I’ve never been a guy that struggles to get the ball in the air (the same is largely true from my testers), but given how easily it proved to be to absolutely launch the ball (spin issues not withstanding), just about anyone should be able to get the ball in the air with the Baffler irons. Mission accomplished in that regard.

For their part, the Baffler Hybrid Irons do a remarkable job of mitigating minor to mid-sized mistakes. They can generally help you keep the ball inside the treeline, and even those unfortunate fatties that hit high on the face don’t offer up the same type of round killing gut punch you’d get from a less forgiving club.

In terms of overall performance, the Baffler hybrid could be thought of as a better looking PING K15. Pound for pound that might be one of the ugliest hybrids to ever fall of an assembly line, but it’s probably also the most wonderfully straight and forgiving golf club I’ve ever hit. The Baffler is much the same, but looks much the better (questionable crown graphics not withstanding).

:: The Takeaway

I’ll stop short of saying the Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo set will outperform any other Super Game Improvement set on the market today, but it’s absolutely a well thought-out, well implemented option for guys looking for extreme forgiveness, and who aren’t going to be turned off by the unconventional design. When one considers the whole of the Cobra iron lineup, and the direction the company as a whole has taken, the Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo set is true to the brand, and is exactly what it needs to be.

While testing out the Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo set, to a man, the core group of MyGolfSpy Testers basically agreed that it’s not a set that would find its way into any of our bags.  Telling is that it was our 18 handicap golfer who came away most impressed, but even he believes his game has progressed a bit beyond what he feels he can get out of the Bafflers. None of this should suggest the Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo would be anything less than an outstanding choice for those who fall squarely inside the target demographic.

One of our regular testers (Sid) who currently plays to a 3 point something (well outside the realm of the Baffler Hybrid Irons) left no doubt that the set was all wrong for him, there was plenty he liked about it from the perspective of a higher-handicap golfer. As he explained, he has a friend who has just taken up the game, and Sid believes the Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo would be idea for that friend (and guys like him). I’m going to tell you that he’s right.

Golf is a hard game (damn hard), and most days I don’t know why I bother with the frustration. Fortunately for beginners, and higher handicap golfers, the Cobra Baffler Hybrid Irons can offer some relief. While I’ll won’t say that Golf Made Easy thing rings 100% true; Golf Made Easier is a reasonably accurate description, and that’s really all that any of us should really wish for. Now somebody bring me a taco.

The Good

• Exceptionally forgiving across the entire face (easy to get airborne, straight ball flight, decent results from bad swings)
• Hybrid replacements for long irons available up to the 6H/6I
• Confidence-inspiring design makes for an outstanding option for the Super Game-Improvement, High Handicap Crowd
• Attractively priced ($599 for steel graphite combo sets, $699 for graphite only)

The Bad

• Hybrid crown graphics will be a turn-off for some
• Non-traditional iron design, even by Super Game Improvement Standards
• Doesn’t provide the feedback that even some higher handicap golfers will want

For the Ladies

In the women’s line, the Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo set is available in right and left handed graphite models (4-6h, 7-PW, SW) with MAP of $699. They feature a COBRA Winn Wrap grip and an MRC COBRA Baffler Hybrid/Iron shaft. The set is Capri Blue with silver highlights.

:: Cobra Baffler Hybrid Iron Product Video

:: Cobra Baffler Hybrid Iron Combo Set Gallery