F-Max Airspeed line of woods and irons from Cobra lives up to its name, weighing in as the lightest clubs in company history

The Cobra F-Max Airspeed lineup of woods and irons build on a heritage of providing easy-to-hit, affordable designs for moderate speed golfers. Though the line’s trend of offset and draw-biased drivers matching up with oversize, wide-soled irons continues, its main move forward now is to make it easier for average golfers to generate more distance and height through significantly lighter designs. How light? Try the lightest in the company’s history.

The lightweight push sees the F-Max Airspeed driver drop a total weight of 13 grams compared to last year’s F-Max Superlite line, while the F-Max Airspeed irons reduce their average total club weight by 16 grams vs. F-Max Superlite, previously the lightest Cobra offering. The F-Max Airspeed fairway woods save 20 grams over last year’s model, and the F-Max Airspeed hybrids are some 17.5 grams lighter than their immediate predecessors. According to Cobra’s research, the weight savings in just the irons produces an increase in swing speed of approximately a mile per hour.

At a total weight of 285 grams, the F-Max Airspeed driver is some 40 grams lighter than Cobra’s current mainline F9 Speedback drivers. Cobra’s design team did not miss a trick in finding ways to lighten F-Max Airspeed’s load, including a 40-gram shaft in the driver.

“We made every component lighter,” said Tom Olsavsky, Cobra’s vice president of research and development. “Not a single aspect of club design was overlooked when we were trying to maximize the weight savings in this line.

“We even use an unpainted shaft with clearcoat and a decal design to save two extra grams of weight over a typical painted shaft [on the driver]. That is a perfect illustration of the level of detail that went into making these clubs as lightweight as possible.”

The lighter weight did not come at the sacrifice of ideal center of gravity on the driver, Olsavsky said. Thanks to a carbon-composite crown—used for the first time in an F-Max driver—the center of gravity is almost 30 percent lower in F-Max Airspeed vs. F-Max Superlite. Despite the lighter weight of the head, the center of gravity is still 2 percent farther back and the moment of inertia (or resistance to twisting on off-center hits) stayed higher. As has been the company’s custom, the F-Max Airspeed driver lineup also includes an offset version to provide additional slice-fighting benefits, and higher lofted, offset fairway wood models. The fairway woods also use a carbon-composite crown to lower the center of gravity by nearly a third. A high-strength 455 stainless-steel face insert provides extra energy at impact.

The F-Max irons lighter overall weight results in an average of 1 mile per hour increase in clubhead speed. The additional speed leads to shots that fly both farther and higher, the latter helped by an undercut cavity that positions the iron’s weight low and wide across the sole. According to Olsavsky, the center of gravity on the 4-iron is 6 percent lower compared to last year’s F-Max Superlite. The irons feature an improved smoother transition in offset through the set vs. last year’s model. The F-Max Airspeed irons also feature higher lofts to improve launch angle, too.

Both the woods and the irons use lighter midsize grips that company research indicates helps moderate swing speed golfers to improve control and narrow dispersion without sacrificing distance.

The F-Max Airspeed line includes multiple iron set options, as well as full-bag sets and a full array of women’s clubs. That includes a two-hybrid, five-iron combo set, where the hybrids feature weighting low, deep and toward the heel. The full bag sets include a cart bag, driver, two fairway woods, two hybrids, five irons, a wedge and a blade putter. (The women’s versions offer three fairway woods and one hybrid.)

The F-Max Airspeed clubs will be the company’s most affordable full lineup in the premium category. That includes the driver at $330, the fairway woods at $220 and the hybrids at $200. The iron sets will be offered at multiple price points: $600 in steel and $650 in graphite for seven irons (5-iron through gap wedge); $700 for a set of two hybrids and five irons. The complete sets run for $1,300. The full F-Max Airspeed line is expected to be in stores Jan. 10, 2020.