Cobra King TEC Mini driver blends control and versatility

Gear: Cobra King TEC Mini Driver

Price: $479 with Mitsubishi Kai’li shaft and Cobra Lamkin Crossline grip

Specs: Titanium body with carbon fiber crown, variable-thickness titanium face insert, two interchangeable sole weights and 33-position adjustable hosel. Loft, 13.5 degrees. Length, 43.75 inches.

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Available: Jan. 12 (pre-sale), Jan. 16 (retail)

Who it’s for: Golfers who want a more controllable option off the tee than a standard driver and golfers who use their 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee.

What you should know: By pairing a strongly-lofted fairway wood head that is about 40 percent larger than a standard 3-wood with a fairway-wood-length shaft and extensive adjustability, Cobra is offering a mini driver that can produce driver-like distance with enhanced accuracy.

The Deep Dive: Whether it is caused by the length of the shaft or a shortcoming in their swing, there’s always been a group of golfers who struggle to hit their driver consistently well. These days on Tour, more and more players are also using a 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee. For those reasons, we’ve seen meaningful growth in number of players opting for mini drivers since 2020. Now, with the King TEC-MD, Cobra is betting that a highly-adjustable mini driver can be a solution for even more recreational golfers.

At 303cc, the TEC-MD dwarfs a standard 3-wood (typically around 200cc in volume) but is much smaller than a standard 460cc driver. It also comes standard at a shorter finished length, 43.75 inches, which is about 2 inches shorter than most drivers. That should make it easier for recreational golfers to control the head, hit solid shots and tighten dispersion off the tee.

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From a construction standpoint, the King TEC-MD has a lot more in common with drivers than it does fairway woods. Cobra gave it a titanium body and a lightweight carbon crown that lowers the center of gravity (CG) and reduces overall weight. The variable-thickness PWRSHELL face insert has a series of thicker and thinner areas that are designed to broaden the sweet spot and protect ball speed in areas where golfers tend to mis-hit shots, which means high in the toe and low in the heel.

To fine-tune the ball flight and spin rate, designers added two interchangeable weights to the sole, one in the back and the other in the front behind the leading edge. With a 12-gram weight in the front and a 2-gram weight in the back, the Cobra King TEC Mini driver produces a lower launch, more ball speed, and less spin. With the heavier weight in the back, the launch angle and spin rates rise, and the club’s stability increases. It is a simple system, but one that gives fitters and players meaningful control over how the club behaves.

The most significant fitting lever, however, is Cobra’s FUTUREFIT33 hosel. With 33 independent loft and lie combinations, it allows adjustments of up to 2 degrees in any direction without forcing one change to compensate for the other. In practical terms, that means a player or fitter can tweak launch, face angle, and lie angle independently or in conjunction with other things to personalize the flight or hit a specific distance.

Can you hit the Cobra King TEC Mini driver off the turf if you need to reach a long par 5 in two? Yes, but with just 13.5 degrees of loft and a deeper face, it could be more challenging to hit the shot high in the air than it would be using a standard 15-degree 3-wood.

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The King TEC-MD is not meant to replace a driver for every golfer. And if you are a golfer who uses a 3-wood a few times a round from the turf, it might not be the easiest club it play. But if you are one of a growing number of players who use a 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee as an alternative to your driver and you want more distance without sacrificing control, Cobra’s King TEC-MD offers a compelling alternative that fits neatly into how today’s modern game is actually being played.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Cobra King TEC mini driver specs, price and release date