Cobra F-Max Fairway Wood

Cobra developed the F-Max fairway wood to be more forgiving and make it easier for players with lower swing speeds to elevate the ball and get some distance.  Like our F-Max Driver review, we worked with a range of golfers with slower swing speeds to get their thoughts.  My target audiences were players who are learning the game or older players that have lost a few MPHs in recent years.

First Impressions

When I hear “forgiving” in a fairway wood, I usually expect it to be a big round head that resembles a small driver and maybe some extra offset.  The Cobra F-Max fairway wood does have a round shape, but resembles a much more traditional fairway wood.  A shallower face helps make it easier to launch the ball higher.  There’s a significant offset which is designed to help promote a draw shot shape.

The F-Max fairway wood has the same alignment stripe down the center of the crown like the driver.  Though a nice aesthetic touch, it’s also there to make lining the club up square an easier task.  Frankly, I expected my F-Max audience to not be crazy about the big design on the crown, but received a differing opinion.  They all thought it gave the F-Max a nice change of pace from the usual crowd.

How Does it Feel?

Ok, I’m going to steal my opening lines from the Feel portion of my Cobra F-Max driver review.  Light, light, light.  Cobra put a significant focus on making the F-Max driver fairway wood a lightweight and comfortable quality option for moderate (aka slower) swing speeds.  For players in this category, the F-Max’s noticeable lighter weight stands out because these players live in a world where most golf equipment is not designed for them, but they have to live with it anyway.  Every single player found the F-Max to be remarkably light.

In addition to feeling light, the Cobra F-Max fairway wood had a nice crisp feel to it.  The sweet spot is generous and the ball pops off of it nicely.  A poorly hit shot doesn’t necessarily hurt your hands but you know you didn’t hit it well.  For such a lightweight club, the F-Max fairway wood was very easy to control and felt good in the hands of our testers.

How Does it Sound?

The Cobra F-Max fairway wood has a slightly more metallic click to it when hit well.  That sound is on the quieter side and pairs nicely with the crisp sound of the turf interaction.  To be clear, when I say there’s a metallic sound, it’s far from a booming sound you hear bursting on the driving range.  The F-Max fairway wood’s sound is on the quieter side and gives the player clean feedback.  A mishit shot will sound a little more on the dead and empty side.

On-Course Performance

If there’s one thing that’s for certain with the Cobra F-Max fairway wood, it’s a draw machine.  Many of the testers commented on how hard their shots were fighting back to the center from the right.  In some cases, this was great to keep otherwise bad slicing shots in play.  In other cases, it created more draw than they were used to and took some adjusting.  Ultimately, draw bias being a necessity will depend on the player using the club, but if you slice or just really want help with that shape, the F-Max will do it for you.

Additionally, the efforts Cobra went to in order to help players launch the ball higher paid off.  The F-Max was unanimously easy to launch and get in the air.  By getting the ball airborne easier, most players found a little more distance with more carry.  I think some players will find this to be a greater benefit than others, but the fact is that the F-Max fairway wood takes a lot less fight to get up in the air than a lot of other fairway woods.

Final Thoughts

Like plenty of other amateur golfers, our testers typically struggle to hit a fairway wood well.  With the Cobra F-Max fairway wood, this group found the fairway wood to be a lot less intimidating and a realistic option to help them gain extra distance where they may otherwise have an unreliable gap in their bag.  If you have a slower swing speed and could use some help hitting better shots with a fairway wood, the Cobra F-Max may be worth checking out this season.

Stock Cobra F-Max Fairway Wood Specs

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