Cobra King F7 Driver Review: Adjustability in spades

If the Cobra King F7 driver doesn't re-invent the wheel, it's because there was no need.

Instead, they have fixed shiny new spokes, replaced the tyres and made sure they’re freewheeling their way into the bags of the masses.

Cobra's two new drivers for 2017 once again feature moveable weights, and come in two headshapes and styles.

A new inclusion with the Cobra King F7 driver is Cobra Connect. A device in the butt of the grip connects with an app to provide driving stats for players. It comes free with the new driver, and the app is also free to download.

All you need to know: Best Golf Drivers

Cobra King F7 driver - Looks and Feel

F7

The larger of the two at address, with a 5% bigger face. We had it in the glossy blue finish which looked superb. Also available in black and orange, and silver.

Slightly rounder than traditional drivers – filled us with confidence behind the ball.

F7+

A more compact profile at 455 cc that will appeal to better players. Finished with a matte texture.

Cobra Connect

The simplicity of the system is its forte. Place your phone in your pocket, and swing away - the sound of ball hitting club triggers the device.

Players can then see their driving stats, or use the system as their GPS as it offers yardages to the pin. Fun added extras are also on offer - create a longest drive on a hole, for instance, or brag about your biggest hit on social. 

Cobra King F7 driver - Performance

While the KING F6 drivers employed sliding and flipping weights, the new F7 big stick has three interchangeable weights.

Cobra have decided to move away from the carbon sliding track seen in the F6, as this adds overall weight to the driver head. By saving mass, they are now able to offer a 12 gram weight option, up from 10 grams last year, while also maintaing a low CG.

The weights (12 grams, two grams, two grams) move CG to the front, back or to the heel side, which combined with the MyFly8 smart pad offers up a treasure chest of options for the player.

Why is there a position to the heel? Simply because most amateur players hit fades rather than draws.

With the weight in the draw setting, we were seeing a distinct change in ball flight, with up to a 15 yard movement on well struck shots. Our natural ball flight is right to left, and therefore we would not be putting the weight into this position, but it will most definitely straighten out those that suffer with the slice shot.

With the weight in the back, we saw that we were launching a couple degrees higher, and noticed an increase in forgiveness to boot. We lost a bit of total distance compared to the draw setting, around five yards on average.

With the weight in the front position, we got the best results, although there was a noticeable impact on forgiveness. The more penetrating ball flight afforded us a long carry and total yardage, and our spin came down to the desired range.

Perhaps if we were playing well we would place the weight in the front, but if we needed some more help off the tee we would change it to the back.

Textreme Carbon Fibre is employed on the crown once again, which is 20% lighter than titanium, allowing for a high MOI driver.

The E9 face also re-appears in 2017, employing variable face thickness for help on off-centre hits.

Like the F6 drivers, the new product is one of the more forgiving products on the market, offering help no matter where you strike it on the face.

The KING F7+ driver has significantly less forgiveness, but boasts heaps more workability, which will satisfy the lower handicappers.

We also noticed up against the KING F7 driver, the F7+ has a naturally lower ball flight and less spin, no matter the position of the weights.

The loft sleeve also goes down to eight degrees, allowing those with faster swing speeds to find their preferred set-up.

The Fujikura Pro 60 and Fujikura Pro XLR8 61 are both superb shafts, and compliment the product. 

Should you buy the Cobra King F7 driver?

Three interchangeable weights, one of which offers a draw setting, provides more options than the KING F6. Each position creates significant changes in spin, distance and flight.

The KING F7 driver is marginally longer and more forgiving than last year’s product in general. Where players really win is the ability to dial in the club to suit certain swing, which should reap rewards in the performance stakes.

Around £100 cheaper than other brand's new drivers, while offering much of the same performance, and in some cases more. 

A good deal of the great tech and design remains from last year, but with added upgrades. If you want a top performing driver with adjustability to play around with, try the KING F7 and F7+ on for size.