The Club Report – Cobra AMP Cell Pro Irons

:: Play What Rickie Plays (sorta)

From basically the minute Rickie Fowler put a set of prototype Cobra blades into play, Cobra fans and Rickie fans alike have wondered when the company would make young Mr. Fowler’s irons available to the rest of us. How about now? Actually, it was last month, but why split hairs. If you want them, you can finally get them, and that’s all the matters.

The story from Cobra is that the AMP Cell Pro was designed “in collaboration with Cobra’s Tour ambassadors”. What would ultimately become the AMP Cell Pro started with Rickie’s prototypes, and then with input from Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter, and Jonas Blixt, the design was refined, and finally made its way to retail.

Worth pointing out right at the start, while most of the Cobra staff will play something similar to the retail set, Rickie Fowler is still playing a 100% muscleback version of the AMP Cell Pro. Fortunately, for those who want to go all in with what Cobra’s VP of R&D, Tom Preece affectionately called butter knives, Cobra has made the Rickie set available through their custom department, and has done so without any of those annoying upcharges that such things usually warrant.

COBRA AMP Cell Pro Specifications

Stock Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold
Stock Grip: Golf Pride New Decade MCC Whiteout
Dexterity: Available in RH and LH

As a testament of sorts to the blade design, the AMP Cell Pro’s stock length is true to what I suppose we’d have to call the modern traditional standard. Lofts are slightly strong (by that same standard) with the transition from 3° to 4° gaps happening between the 6 and 7 irons. Some other manufacturers make that transition earlier (between the 5 and 6), which is why the PW is 46° instead of the what many still consider the traditional 47°. Worth noting is that even in many true player designs like the AMP Cell, lofts are creeping a bit stronger.

:: Key Features

:: Forged Technology – Aligned grain structure on carbon steel and tighter tolerances to provide better feel.

:: Blade Shape – Tour inspired shape and CG placement for optimal trajectory control.

:: Flow Set – Dual cavity long irons (3-6) flow into single cavity mid irons (7-8) and full muscle back short irons (9-PW) blending forgiveness, tour trajectory, and workability.

:: Target Golfer

Low handicap golfers and better ballstrikers

One of Cobra’s 2013 mantras (and that tagline for the Baffler Hybrid Irons) is Golf Made Easy. This most certainly isn’t that. At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s a blade, dummy. It’s not meant to be forgiving, or “easy to hit”. The AMP Cell Pro is engineered with control in mind. They’re designed for the guy who wants to shape his shots, and certainly not for the guy desperate to hit the ball straight.

:: Looks

Cobra is calling the AMP Cell Pro a Flow set and that’s an apt description. While many may be more familiar with the phrase Combo Set, Flow is a better way to describe how Cobra engineers designed the set. Long irons have visibly more offset (though certainly not much of it by any reasonable standard), slightly thicker toplines, and a dual-cavity design. As you move from long to middle to short irons the set flows naturally as offset is reduced, toplines get thinner, and the cavity disappears.

Comparatively, those dual cavity long irons are very much in line with the most player-centric of so-called player’s cavity back designs. While not truly a blade, visually, the long irons are only just barely cavity-backed. The long iron’s topline is thicker than that of my current gamers (Miura CB-501), but it’s very much in line with many of the more recent blade designs; that is to say it’s probably a tad thicker than purists would like.

As the set flows from dual cavity long irons to single cavity middle irons the cavity basically disappears. The 7 and 8 irons, despite their cavity-back design are basically indistinguishable from the true muscleback 9 iron and pitching wedge (gap wedge too if you go that route). It’s an ideal design for a guy who loves the look of a true muscleback but still needs a little bit of forgiveness from his irons.

Where shape is concerned, the AMP Cell Pro’s toe is slightly rounded, and from toe to heel, the blade is one of the more compact designs I’ve seen recently. As I’ve mentioned already, offset and topline thickness vary depending on the iron (less offset, thinner toplines as clubs get shorter).

Overall the entire set is very well done with the long irons looking enough the part of a blade to make the cavity-back compromise more tolerable. As far as combo sets go, the flow design is as good as it gets. And of course, for those who want a 100% muscleback set (same as Rickie), you can order it from Cobra’s custom department.

The one potential knock on the AMP Cell Pro is the inclusion of orange, blue, red, and silver paintfill in an otherwise clean design. Obviously the colors, which match the options available in the AMP Cell driver, and standard AMP Cell Iron are true to the Cobra brand identity as it exists today, but no doubt their inclusion in this pro model will leave a few purists shaking their heads. For those guys, there’s always acetone.

:: Feel

When we discuss feel there’s always some discussion over what’s real, and what’s imaginary – the cast vs. forged debate.  Good, bad or otherwise will always be a matter of perception, but there are undeniable distinctions – difficult to quantify as they may be – between irons. And yeah…that’s before we start talking about the role the shaft plays.

So with all of that out of the way, I will suggest that the Cobra AMP Cell pro is one of the better feeling irons we’ve had in lately. Granted, we’ve been dealing more with full cavity-back sets, and quite frankly I’ll argue until I die that nothing in golf feels as good as a purely struck forged blade. With specific respect to the AMP Cell pro, my take on the feel is that they fit between the softness of a Mizuno, and the more solid feel of my Miura’s. Worth noting is that Cobra outfitted my samples with KBS C-Tapers (my go to shaft), so my comparison is based on all 3 irons outfitted with the same. Your actual mileage, especially when used with another shaft, may vary.

As you might expect, once you move from that sweet spot, feel changes dramatically. Toe shots (my current miss) are dull, and as is usually the case, anything caught a groove low tends to be a little on the harsh side. Thus far this season I’m not playing the heel or (thankfully) the hosel, so I can’t comment with any specificity on what those misses will give you.

When struck near the top of the face, the AMP Cell Pro produces a more clicky feel, while slightly high shots produce the same feel as well struck balls. They just don’t go as far.

Apart from that whole control and shot-shaping thing, one of the biggest reasons why golfers will choose a blade or a player’s cavity-back design is the improved feedback. If that’s what you’re looking for, the AMP Cell Pro will absolutely deliver. As I said, apart from those only slightly high on the face shots, there’s never a doubt as to the where of your misses.

:: Performance

The AMP Cell Pro is basically designed for two types of players:

1 – Really good players looking for more precise control of their shots.
2 – Idiots (like me) who have next to no business playing a blade, but are unwilling, or unable to to bring themselves to play more forgiving clubs.

That first group doesn’t really need me to tell them what to expect from performance. Chances are those guys hit the center of the face with regularity (and if you don’t, you’re not one of those guys). For everybody else, there are a few things about the AMP Cell Pro that really stand out.

Keeping in mind we’re comparing C-Taper to C-Taper here, trajectory with the long irons is comparatively high. Other than being relatively easy to hit, what’s interesting about the longer irons (I carry a 5 and 6 iron), is how quickly the ball gets up in the air, and how far it carries on well struck shots. It stays in the air forever. Obviously we’re not talking about a distance iron here, but I do find that I’m a half a club longer with the AMP Cell Pro (equivalent lengths, equivalent lofts).

Relative to similar designs, the long irons are surprisingly forgiving. I’ve hit several out towards the toe which cost me basically nothing off the expected distance, and even a couple low on the face which stayed up in the air quite a bit longer than I would have expected. Make no mistake, we’re not talking about Baffler forgiveness here, but considering the design, the playability of the long irons is exceptional.

No doubt some forgiveness is lost in the transition to the single-cavity construction of the middle irons. Having mishit everything in the set, there’s little doubt in my mind that a mishit 5 iron is far less penal than a mishit 7. The trade-off is you’re probably going to mishit the 7 iron a lot less often.

Also noteworthy is that middle iron trajectory is noticeably lower. We’re not talking about a can’t get the ball in the air type of situation, but there is a clear transition from the higher ball flight of the long irons to the more penetrating trajectory of the middle and short irons.

Despite the full muscleback design, the short irons don’t perform much differently than the middle irons. The most noticeable, and probably obvious exception, is that they play like true blades. Mishit a 5 iron and you’ll lose a little. Mishit the 7 and you’ll lose more still. Mishit the PW (and really, if you’re carrying these irons, that not something you’re likely to make a habit of), and you’ll lose quite a bit.

My first time out with the AMP Cell Pro, I mishit the 5 iron and still had a makeable birdie. Last night I missed the pitching wedge ever-so-slightly and lost 10% of the distance – the difference between being tight to a back pin, and just barely on the green. It’s not a club you want to miss when there’s water between you and the target.

Of course, most of this is true of any combo set. Cavity-back irons are more forgiving, while blades offer more control, and let’s face it, they’re just really nice to look at.

:: The Takeaway

It should go without saying that the Cobra AMP Cell Pro isn’t an iron for everybody and the custom-only, Rickie Fowler pure blade set is for fewer still. If you’re an excellent ballstriker, or a pretty good ballstriker who just needs a little help with the long iron, I suppose you could make a legitimate case that the AMP Cell Pro is a good fit for your game. If you’re completely delusional (you suck and don’t know it) or want to play a flow set or blade simply because you love the compact design and clean lines, I’m totally good with that too. Just know what you’re getting into, and don’t come crying to me if it doesn’t work out.

The AMP Cell Pro isn’t going to make anyone a better golfer overnight. If you’re one of those guys who buys the argument that playing blades will make you a better ballstriker in the long run, you’re game may take a hit in the short term – especially if you’re making the jump from a game-improvement design. Of course…with tournament season right around the corner, maybe adding a few strokes to your handicap (provided you come by them honestly) might not be the worst thing.

Ultimately, I’m a huge proponent of playing what makes you happy. So while the AMP Cell Pro may not fit into Cobra’s Golf Made Easy manta, the AMP Cell Pros are lockstep in line with one of Cobra’s other tag lines: Enjoy Golf.

Having had the AMP Cell Pros in my bag for several rounds now, my assessment is that while they haven’t made me a better golfer, they certainly haven’t hurt my game either (they’re not a radical departure from what I play now). I’ve definitely tested more forgiving designs over the last year (2 from Cobra alone), but the Cobra AMP Cell Pro irons are easily among my favorites. They look great, and I love hitting them. They’re fun…and isn’t that what golf is supposed to be about?

The Good

• Surprisingly forgiving long irons
• Long irons are easy to get airborne, while middle and short irons provide the penetrating trajectory desired by many better players
• Beautiful, compact, blade appearance in middle and short irons
• Outstanding, consistent feel throughout the entire set
• $799 price tag (4-PW) bests most comparable designs by $100
• Both Flow and True Muscleback sets available for left-handed players

The Bad

• Middle and short irons are not as forgiving as the long irons
• Full blade set available through custom order only
• AMP Cell inspired colored cavity dots unnecessary

And yes…those last two are the result of near pointless nitpicking.

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Cobra AMP Cell Pro Iron Gallery