First Look – Cobra KING Forged CB/MB Combo Irons

Written By: Tony Covey

I’ve long felt that Cobra’s forgings get neither the credit nor the attention they deserve, and while I can’t guarantee the new King offering will completely change people’s perceptions of Cobra’s better player irons, they’re definitely going to turn some heads.

The Technology Story

As with nearly every blade and better player’s cavity back, there’s not a tremendous technology story associated with the new King CB/MB Combo iron. There’s no elastomer filling, no revolutionary new alloy, no promise of 10 more yards.

Cobra uses a 5 step forging process that helps ensure tighter tolerances and minimize polishing (a step where mistakes are often made). As you might expect from any good forging story, Cobra says its process helps to tighten the grain structure, eliminate porosity, and generally create a soft feeling better player’s iron.

The irons feature the same CNC grooves Cobra uses on the Tour Trusty wedges. That results in tighter tolerances, and a seamless transition from irons to the wedges.

What you’re getting with Cobra’s latest offering for single-digit players is traditional shaping with bold accents…really bold accents.

Rickie Fowler laughed at the recent Cobra press conference when he said that he may have had some input into the color scheme of the new irons.

His OSU orange certainly makes a statement.

That finish is a diamonized black that’s more durable than PVD. The accents…ever your colorblind friend can see they’re orange. If you don’t love it, there’s always acetone.

For Cobra, the important thing is that Fowler loves the look, and says the black makes the already compact iron look even smaller. Some guys will love that, others…not so much.

It’s a Combo Set

While Rickie will almost certainly play a full set of blades when he transitions to the new iron (he’s starting to work with them now, and hopes to have them in the bag in time for the start of the new season), the retail offering is a combo set with cavitybacks in the 3-6 iron and blades in the 7-PW.

While some may overlook it, I think many better players will appreciate that Cobra transitions to the blade at the 7-iron rather than the 8.

Hands-On

I had a chance to hit the iron at the recent Cobra KING Launch event. What can I tell you, they play like what they are. They look incredible…your opinion may differ for sure. From a shaping perspective, I found the CBs reminiscent of the Adams CB1, and the black most certainly makes the blades look tiny.

They feel incredible, and while – as you would expect – it’s not nearly as forgiving as what I play now, it’s the kind of iron that makes me try and convince myself that forgiveness if vastly overrated.

Can I play these? Sure…why not?

My heart wants them in my bag, while my head wants to hang them on the wall.

Specifications

Retail Price for the King CB/MB Combo set is $1099.