It's not unusual for golf manufacturers to launch a new driver every year. This year for Cobra the King SZ replaces the King F9. A valid question is how much of a difference there
is between the two. A couple of days ago we put this to the test and compared both using a Trackman Launch Monitor.
Two golfers hit 24 drives with each club. Alternating from one to the other after 3 shots so not to get used to swinging just the one driver. The ball was teed at the same height for both drivers. One golfer tested the 9.0 degree SZ against the 9.0 F9 and used the same Project X Hzrdus Smoke Yellow 70 6.5 in both. The second golfer tested the 10.5 SZ against the 10.5 King F9, both were set 1 degree lower and used the same Accra TZ5 75 M4 in both. The ball that was used was the Titleist Pro V1. It was a nice January day, temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius and little wind.
The main performance numbers that we looked are were club head speed, ball speed, carry, total distance, accuracy, launch angle and spin rates. Ultimately the main ones to be interested in are ball speed, carry, total distance and accuracy. Essentially a driver can be longer, more accurate or both. This is what we look for in drivers, there isn't much point in changing a driver unless the performance improves.
For the SZ, the changes over the F9 are the milled face is larger and there is more carbon used in the construction allowing more weight to be moved around, potentially giving more forgiveness.
Here are the results.
The results are rather interesting. For player A the F9 was better and for player B the SZ was better. For player A he got a little bit more distance in the F9 but significantly more accuracy, 4.3 yards more distance and an average of 20 feet closer to the target line.
For Player B there was 4.7 yards more distance and 3.08 feet more accuracy. The main difference was the spin was less on the SZ.
Should a golfer switch from an F9 to an SZ? Not really. However golfers have been entrapped by marketing claims that this years drivers are better then last years which in turn were better then the year before. The reality is that since the COR limit was introduced in the early 2000s driver technologies have not been making significant leaps, nothing like the leap from the early 90s to the early 2000s.
If a golfer has a driver that has been optimised for them, they are not going to find any noticeable extra distance from the latest model. If they don't have a driver that's optimised for them there is significant gains to be made, 15-20 yards for many golfers, but this comes from fitting a driver to them as opposed to this years magic new technology.
The drivers been released this year aren't necessarily for golfers who bought a new driver last year. they are for the golfer who has a 5,6,7 year old driver and are looking to change.
Two golfers hit 24 drives with each club. Alternating from one to the other after 3 shots so not to get used to swinging just the one driver. The ball was teed at the same height for both drivers. One golfer tested the 9.0 degree SZ against the 9.0 F9 and used the same Project X Hzrdus Smoke Yellow 70 6.5 in both. The second golfer tested the 10.5 SZ against the 10.5 King F9, both were set 1 degree lower and used the same Accra TZ5 75 M4 in both. The ball that was used was the Titleist Pro V1. It was a nice January day, temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius and little wind.
The main performance numbers that we looked are were club head speed, ball speed, carry, total distance, accuracy, launch angle and spin rates. Ultimately the main ones to be interested in are ball speed, carry, total distance and accuracy. Essentially a driver can be longer, more accurate or both. This is what we look for in drivers, there isn't much point in changing a driver unless the performance improves.
For the SZ, the changes over the F9 are the milled face is larger and there is more carbon used in the construction allowing more weight to be moved around, potentially giving more forgiveness.
Here are the results.
 |
| Player A |
 |
| Player B |
|
Club
|
Clubhead
Speed(mph)
|
Ball
Speed
|
Launch
Angle
|
Spin
Rate
|
Carry
(yards)
|
Total
Distance
|
Height
(feet)
|
Distance
from target (ft)
|
|
F9-A
|
108.9
|
163.1
|
11.1
|
2549
|
261.3
|
283.9
|
98
|
40.92
|
|
SZ-A
|
108.3
|
162
|
11.3
|
2515
|
255
|
279.6
|
94
|
61.6
|
|
F9-B
|
101.8
|
151.2
|
10.4
|
2964
|
235.1
|
256.3
|
87
|
34.15
|
|
SZ-B
|
102.3
|
151.3
|
11.0
|
2685
|
238.5
|
261.0
|
87
|
31.07
|
The results are rather interesting. For player A the F9 was better and for player B the SZ was better. For player A he got a little bit more distance in the F9 but significantly more accuracy, 4.3 yards more distance and an average of 20 feet closer to the target line.
For Player B there was 4.7 yards more distance and 3.08 feet more accuracy. The main difference was the spin was less on the SZ.
Conclusion
Is the SZ a better driver then the F9? The F9 was a great performing driver in 2019 and the 2020 SZ is also a great performing driver, but our test shows it's very similar to the F9. It was better for one golfer but not better for the other.
Should a golfer switch from an F9 to an SZ? Not really. However golfers have been entrapped by marketing claims that this years drivers are better then last years which in turn were better then the year before. The reality is that since the COR limit was introduced in the early 2000s driver technologies have not been making significant leaps, nothing like the leap from the early 90s to the early 2000s.
If a golfer has a driver that has been optimised for them, they are not going to find any noticeable extra distance from the latest model. If they don't have a driver that's optimised for them there is significant gains to be made, 15-20 yards for many golfers, but this comes from fitting a driver to them as opposed to this years magic new technology.
The drivers been released this year aren't necessarily for golfers who bought a new driver last year. they are for the golfer who has a 5,6,7 year old driver and are looking to change.
If you have any questions, please comment.
