Over the last few years Cobra have consistently produced some of the longest game improvement irons on the market, and their new Darkspeed irons have a new hollow construction which is said to produce their longest design yet.
As the name suggests, the new Darkspeed range is about generating new levels of speed this year and as we have seen from the Darkspeed Driver and Fairways, they're also among the best looking products of the year too.
The Darkspeed irons come with the same friendly size, strong lofts and distance claims, but with a new grey finish. I was excited to see how they performed.
Who Are They Aimed At?
These irons fit firmly into the game-improvement category, making them ideal for golfers who are looking for easy launch, distance and forgiveness on their approach shots into the green.
If you're struggling with hitting the ball consistently, or you're not getting the distance that you'd want from your iron shots, these irons could be for you.
The Tech
Cobra have taken inspiration from their metalwood design with a new hollow body construction in every irons, which is said to improve weight distribution and produce an 'unsupported' face for added distance, with up to 25% more face flection than previous models.
The hollow cavity is filled with a soft polymer, providing vibration-dampening properties for a softer feel and a better sound. The irons feature a progressive construction, with a full hollow design featuring Pwr-Bridge and Pwrshell in the longer 4-7 irons, to a full hollow body with no face insert in the 8-PW, and then a half hollow design in the GW and SW.
This time around Cobra's Pwr-Bridge is suspended on a small post, allowing it to be almost completely free floating within the head. This keeps the CG lower in the head to encourage more launch, whilst also improving the face and sole for increased ball speed and launch.
A thinner and 21% larger Pwrshell HOT face has a new face design thanks to the use of AI, with variable thickness across the face to improve ball speed regardless of where you hit it.
Cobra Darkspeed Irons Review
Looks and Feel
As the name Darkspeed suggests, the irons come with a new darker grey colourway which probably adds a little more of a premium look, whilst also helping to make the head look a little smaller too which is not a bad thing.
Having said that I do think there may be some issues with durability as the head was starting to mark up relatively quickly once I started testing it. The head seemed to scratch pretty easily, especially when playing in dry conditions or from fairway bunkers when you're likely to get stones or sand coming into contact with the sole or the face.
At address the Darkspeed irons are pretty large with a thick topline and an inviting size behind the ball, whilst I also liked the change in colour on the face and the white bottom groove which made it easier to frame the ball up.
The head looks modern and you can tell it's packed with technology, partly because Cobra have written three of them onto the actual iron.
The irons felt a little better than I was expecting, especially in the shorter irons where there was actually a decent amount of feedback off the face. They feel fast and solid, even when you don't quite catch it, which could be great for confidence levels.
There's also quite a loud crack sound at impact, but I actually think this could be a good thing as it provides a bit more reassurance when you strike the ball.
Performance
First things first, these irons are designed to help you hit the ball longer, higher and more consistently, and they definitely seemed to do that during my testing. The Darkspeed irons are so forgiving, and so easy to hit.
Taking them out on to the golf course, it just felt like I had extra confidence that I was going to get the ball up in the air and get a decent result even when the lie wasn't great, and they seemed to just produce effortless distance.
I always worry with strong-lofted game improvement irons like these that you're going to get some slightly inconsistent yardages from time to time, with a couple of shots coming out a bit hotter than expected, but on the whole I could see them being really helpful for golfers who do struggle with hitting their irons and finding greens.
I then took the irons onto the launch monitor at Hukd Golf to see how the numbers stacked up.
As expected, I was hitting the ball almost a club longer than my current irons due to the strong lofts (27° for a 7 iron!) and the low spin rates, which were a bit of a theme throughout the test.
The 7 iron was producing spin rates of around 4100rpm, which is closer to my 5 iron spin rate, with a ball speed of more than 115mph and carry distance of 172 yards, so if you're looking for ball speed and distance, these irons definitely deliver.
The short irons felt more workable and a little softer than I was expecting, and I actually really enjoyed testing them. The spin rates were low but they were flying high enough to still be able to stop with a descent angle of just under 45°.
When it came to the short irons however I was struggling to keep the ball in the air a bit due to the low lofts and spin, although they came off the face very fast and ball speed was excellent, as was total distance.
For higher handicap golfers, this total distance may actually be more of a useful indication as to the performance rather than just pure carry distance so this may not be a concern, although I would've liked to see the ball stay in the air for longer with a little more spin ideally.
Cobra Darkspeed Irons Verdict
As I said earlier I have been a fan of Cobra's game improvement irons for a few years and this is yet another great option. There's not a huge deal of change when it comes to performance compared to previous Aerojet or LTDx irons, but the design has been updated and improved and the feel is a little better than I expected.
The main thing that I took away from my testing was just how easy these irons were to hit, you can produce pretty effortless launch and distance which could be music to the ears of lots of higher handicappers.
I do have a couple of concerns about the durability of the grey head, as well as how low the long irons were spinning, but they're still a great option.
With an RRP of £849 for a set I think they're pretty good value for money too, coming in at a similar price to the Callaway Paradym AI Smoke Irons and comfortably cheaper than the TaylorMade Qi and Ping G730 Irons.
Would I Use Them?
Whilst I really enjoyed using the short and mid irons, I think the irons were just a little too low-spinning for me and I would have concerns about holding the greens, particularly when it came to playing in firmer conditions.
Cobra Darkspeed Irons Pros and Cons
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