Retro Golf Club Review: King Cobra Deep Face Driver

This 1993 King Cobra Deep Face Driver has seen a lot of action since it has been out. It has won dozens of tournaments world wide and several majors including a British Open and Masters by Greg Norman and Tiger Woods. The fact that nearly 5 years after it was introduced and several product models later, Cobra Golf re-released this driver in limited quantities during the great "golf boom" that Tiger Woods helped generate. Once again, in a new golf world of larger heads and Titanium and Graphite, this club thrived for another year or two before finally being retired. I personally have owned 2 in my time, and I know many others who have as well. Heck, I still no some single digit handicap players using the thing from time to time! Why? Lets look into that!

While it was no larger than other steel headed models out at the time, Cobra Golf did a great job at advertising that: "King Cobra Is Oversize" in several T.V. spots featuring Greg Norman and Hale Irwin. The slightly larger steel head with its aerodynamic crown not only looked great, but hit like a cannon! It was always a little more harsh of a feel than the Big Bertha, but Cobra Golf had two things going for them. A slightly lower price, and Greg Norman! Let's not forget that before Tiger, Greg was the man. The best in the world and much like Tiger today, could sell you a $1 bill and charge you $100 for it.

The Deep Face model was in the 9* driver at the time. The higher lofts for men, women and seniors had a shallower face to help get the ball airborne. The later 1997 9* and 10* both featured a deep face to help keep the hitting area a little larger. Why players like Norman and Woods used the 9* deep face model was simple: to keep the ball low and under control! There were actually several times that they both used a model with a bore through shaft to help with stability at impact. These bore-through models were never released to the public, and I dare say that if the average Joe got a hold of one, they would not be able to hit the ball over 10 feet high, especially with the X-100 (X-Stiff) shafts that the Pros were using.

My memories of this driver as a youngster are still with me. It was my first premium golf club I ever owned, being a total mark for what Greg Norman did and said, I of course had to have it, even at 12 years old and 130 pounds! I hit a lot of low slices with this club during the time I had it! But when the re-released models came out in 1997, I was older, stronger and really appreciated the workability and control this club really offered the better player. It was not easy to hit it high, but for a middle to low trajectory shot that went down the fairway like a bullet, you never needed to! It was great to look at, great to swing and could be worked anyway your imagination and your game could move a golf ball.

This is still a great club for beginners. I would suggest a 10* model. This will give enough loft to get the ball in the air, and a small enough club head to teach them how to hit it on the screws if they want a good result. You can find them on ebay for under $30 shipped in most cases and are still a better buy than going to a retail store and buying a poorly made knockoff of a larger, longer club today. Enjoy!