We Tested The Last 3 Cobra Drivers On A Robot, Should You Upgrade? | Robo Report | Golf Digest

It’s a question nearly all golfers ask themselves each season: “Should I upgrade my two or three year old driver to this years new model?”

In this episode of Robo Report, Golf Digest equipment experts Jonathan Wall and Gene Parente dive into the mountain of data gathered by the Golf Laboratories swing robot to reveal how the newest Cobra DT Adapt drivers stack up against their older models.

What do you think? Are you going to upgrade? Let us know!
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in 2020 Cobra produced an absolute unicorn driver called the LTDX Max what made this driver so incredible was its ability to all but eliminate the distance and direction penalty usually attached to mits in our robotic testing with the LTDX we found that it produced an astounding 3.4 yards of carry distance loss across eight locations on the face meaning the average golfer would lose less than four yards on practically any misit to put that number into comparison it’s not uncommon for a driver to lose an average of 10 to 15 yards across those eight mit locations cobra has been chasing the number ever since but there’s reason to believe DS Adapt is edging closer to the Unicorn driver is it close enough to warrant changing drivers that’s for the Golf Laboratory Swing Robot to decide [Music] the swing robot has been delivering insights for 35 years and is used by the USGA RNA and nearly every manufacturer in the industry for club testing and it often discovers pretty unexpected results when it comes to comparing new models and older models we are going to bring you data and visuals that have previously only been accessible to the companies designing your equipment when we test clubs we run each 10 1/2 degree head at 95 mph which is a pretty typical swing speed for the average amateur golfer this lets us gather a ton of useful data from spin rate and dispersion to ball speed and carry distance across nine different impact locations on the face we also use the same shaft to create a true applesto apples comparison we’re able to acquire meaningful data points for 90% of the face so practically every kind of miss is accounted for here’s what we found when we took the last 3 years of Cobra drivers for a spin cobra’s DS Adapt Max K is the only driver in the lineup that breaks the 10K MOI threshold without getting too far into the gear weeds that means the driver head is ultra stable and won’t twist nearly as much on heel and toe misses it is really and truly a tank max forgiveness drivers usually spin more and don’t possess the speed you’d get from the lower spin models remember these drivers are geared for golfers with inconsistent contact but there’s reason to believe Max K can live in a world where it’s both an ultra forgiving driver and a low spin driver the robot data revealed Max K is within 200 RPMs of the LS’s lowest spin rate and topped out at 3,000 RPMs which is actually lower than LS’s highest recorded spin not only that but check this out the data reveals more consistent spin rates when taking into account all nine strike locations meaning you don’t have to be perfect with the contact to reap the benefits ball speed follows a similar trend max K produced the highest recorded ball speed of any 2025 Cobra model with an exceptionally straight flight that seems slightly fade bias and with a carry distance loss of 6.6 yards across all eight missit locations this is the closest Cobra’s come to replicating the LTDX in four years it’s consistent fast and low spin which is a deadly combo for any golfer every manufacturer promises their new driver will be longer and more forgiving than its predecessors because it’s difficult to sell new product if it isn’t in the case of Cobra the DS Adapt is better in some areas but the improvements over the last 3 years haven’t been significant outside of the Max K spin rates have changed somewhat we’ve seen an uptick in spin for the X model in the last year but a slight decrease in spin for the LS the Max K is where you see the biggest change in spin in an attempt to chase more distance ball speed and carry distance follow suit with very similar numbers over the last 3 years we’re seeing a larger concentration of faster ball speeds on the top end but the ranges are very similar to what you’re seeing at the high and low end which you can see here what this shows you is how difficult it is to create meaningful improvements when you’re on a yearly cycle that doesn’t mean DS Adapt is a bad product it means Dark Speed and Aerojet were strong offerings we’re simply seeing incremental improvements during these three years we all want to find the fairway off the tea and there’s reason to believe based on our data the DS adapt can help you do that more often digging into the offline trends it’s easy to see from the data that it produces plenty of straight balls the LS Max K and X all ride the center line it’s important to note that these dispersion charts take into account all 54 shots hit across the nine strike locations we aren’t cherry-picking data now these numbers don’t guarantee you’ll find the fairway each time but it does confirm even the misses are coming back to center line which is due to gear effect tight dispersions and consistent carry numbers are the hallmarks of a good product for someone who plays a dark speed LS this could be a good thing as the DS Adapt LS doesn’t have nearly as much draws the same could be said for the DS Adapt X model which has a far less pronounced draws that said if you do need to draw a shape the Dark Speed X and Aerojet straighten out a slice and you should probably stick with those if that’s the case so who should upgrade if you’re someone who’s craving ball speed but you don’t want to sacrifice forgiveness I think the DS Adapt Max K is worthy of being in the upgrade conversation it’s lower spinning compared to the other 10K drivers in the marketplace and has plenty of speed in the tank the only thing you need to worry about is wrapping your head around playing a longer front to back headshape that could be a dealbreaker for some but I think the numbers across the board make it a strong testing candidate someone who’s looking to shed spin in pursuit of distance could benefit from the DS Adapt LS it was 700 RPMs lower spinning on the lowest end compared to Dark Speed LS bringing it dangerously close to the edge in terms of reliable spin at 1,800 RPMs but if you can dial it in with a fitter it is built to hit bombs i think it’s difficult to make a case that any of the DS adapt drivers outside of Max K is head and shoulders better the lone exception is Max K if you’re playing Aerojet or Dark Speed I think you’re good to wait another year and see what happens if you’re a Cobra Loyalist again this doesn’t mean the drivers aren’t standout products we’re merely looking for areas where there’s a noticeable edge over the previous two years at 95 miles an hour if you are currently fighting a slice and already play an Aerojet or Dark Speed X the straighter flight might not be for you however the tighter dispersion of DS Adapt would still make me consider testing for whatever reason Cobra doesn’t get nearly the respect they deserve for churning out strong products every year while the improvements are incremental with this cycle there’s no question they’re moving in the right direction which is what you want to see from an equipment manufacturer even more impressive was how good Max K performed in year 1 you typically don’t see those kind of numbers from a new design right out of the gate consider it a sign of things to come from Cobra in the future