Cobra King MB '23 Review

[2over]

So I only got to hit the 7 iron, but the rep is working on getting me a full set. I'm 59, 2 hdcp, playing for 52 years, Driver SS Trackman 98-100, 7 iron 80-81. Hitting indoors on Trackman with the '21 Pro V1, comparing to my current gamer Mizuno MP-18, along with cameos from the Titleist 620mb and Mizuno Pro 221. All of them were Modus Pro 120 S shafts at company standard 37.5". But I measured them and my MP-18, the Mizuno Pro 221, and Cobra King MB were actually 37.5" on my club fitter's ruler while the Titleist fitting shaft was 37.25". Still, even with same clubhead speed and center strikes the Titleist was 3-5 yards less carry. It's also a 35* head vs. 34* for the other three. 

 

Looks: The MP-18 and Titleist 620mb look almost like twins, separated at birth, the Titleist with a whisker thinner top-line but same blade length. The Titleist has a very slightly boxier toe and a little more "silvery" satin finish than the MP-18. Weirdly, the Mizuno Pro 221 7 iron is just a millimeter or two longer blade to my eye, slightly rounder toe than the MP-18 or 620mb and deeper face depth in the heel area. 620mb has a thinner sole than the M.Pro 221 and the MP-18 is slightly thicker than the 221. I would put, totally subjective, beauty being in the eye of the beholder the MP-18 and 620mb in a tie for second, the Mizuno Pro 221 in solo third and the Cobra MB the winner on looks. It's exactly the blade length and face depth of the MP-18, but has a "flatter" transition from the heel to hosel (which I really like), slightly more "silvery" satin finish and a sole width maybe a whisker thicker than the MP-18, but more cambered especially front to back in the heel area. I thought the Cobra King MB '23 was absolutely stunning--and I'm kind of picky about muscle back blade looks if you can't tell. I don't like the Mizuno Pro 221 cut-away toe and heel of the muscle back and overall chunky look of the backside of the MIzuno Pro 221 It makes me think, compared to the other three "Game Improvement" just for a second, mind you but I think it. I know you only see it in the bag, but I'm as a*& man I must admit 😉 and the Cobra MB has a mighty fine tail on her. The clean, straight muscle back cut line on MP-18, 620mb, and Cobra King MB are aces with me, but I put the M.Pro 221 4th in looks for being chunky and clunky in back, my MP-18 in third because the muscle is the least muscular and also the lowest. The 620mb is second for a slightly higher and bulgier (this is a word 😉) muscle back, but the Cobra King is absolutely the winner with a perfectly high and tight butt, er, I mean, muscle back. The only thing I don't like about the Cobra MB is the dull different color satin in the toe bottom and and the little cutline on the toe top on the back and the script is just a little loud on the Cobra. If it were like the MP-18 with one uniform satin finish on the whole backside and a tiny little "Cobra" in white on the top of the heel it would be perfect.

 

Performance: This is what really matters I know, although I'm with Michael Newton that looks can affect a better player's performance. If I love how a club looks at address and, to a lesser but not inconsequential degree, in the bag, it gives me confidence and this game is all about confidence as those who've played a while know. So the finishing order in performance is 1) Cobra King MB t-2) MP-18 M.Pro 221 4) Titleist 620mb. Even taking into account the .25" shorter shaft, and 1* weaker loft, I often saw the same clubhead speed with the 620mb on a really good swing but even then ball speed always lagged by a couple and sometimes by as much as 5mph--and the other three were in an almost too tight to split window for me. On 79-81 mph swing I was seeing ball speed of 109-116 and carry between 158-167 with the Cobra, MP-18, M.Pro 221 while the Titleist never got above 112.5 and 159 carry. The MP-18 rolled out just a couple yards more than the Cobra and M.Pro (a bad thing to me) but that might be 5 year old grooves and countless thousand strikes that may have dulled the grooves a bit and cost me a little stopping power. But the descent angle was steep with all three (48*+) thanks to Modus Pro 120 and no problem holding the green. What gave the Cobra a very slight performance edge is that on my slight toe hits (my miss) I was still seeing ball speeds of 112+ and carry 158-59 with the Cobra while the same slightly toey one with my MP-18 and the M.Pro 221 were around 155-56 and 110-111 ball speed. I know it's not much but it was a consistent 3-4 yards carry and that can be the difference from just making the front edge to being in the bunker. The Titleist lagged way behind, a very slight toe strike would drop ball speed to 105, 106 and carry into the mid 140's which isn't even getting into the front bunker! You don't play blades for forgiveness, but there is a difference and if I can get a little extra help I'll say "thank you very much, here's my credit card". So performance finishing order a clear 1) Cobra King MB t-2) MP-18, M.Pro 221 and (distant) 4th Titleist 620mb.

 

Feel: All 4 felt great and were tough to split, but I could easily split them as with the other two categories, after 20 or 30 strikes each. And much to my surprise as a longtime Mizzy loyalist (MP-14 from the 90s, MP-33 for 18 years till the MP-18s) there is another club that feels as good and actually slightly better perhaps (by a whisker!) than a Mizuno and that would be the new Cobra King MB '23 (sorry to bury the lede). I could feel the slight toe strike equally as well on all 4 (though it felt more clunky on the Titleist than the other 3) and that's why I play blades. On a Titleist T-100 which I've also hit, I can't really tell if it was a millimeter or two toe-side or center flush. And that feedback is what makes my ball striking better overall. The feedback on all 4 of these blades is granular and it will make anyone, even a double digit hc a better player, I firmly believe. Also see the looks=confidence connection above. But, overall, that "soft but not dead" feel that we're all looking for was best with Cobra King MB. Like 99% buttery soft but still lively with the Cobra vs. 95% buttery soft, but ever so slightly more "dead" with the two Mizzys--which actually felt exactly the same to me, I truly couldn't tell a difference. Not sure that copper underlay is doing anything, at least for my modest clubhead speed. 92% soft but more thin spread on the butter, just slightly, with the 620MB.

 

So, your mileage will almost certainly vary and I don't write many club review because it gets boring to keep saying "there's nothing like a Mizuno blade" but now there is something at least as good if not a whisker better, for me at least. I see the '23 Cobra King MBs popped up in Gary Woodland's bag and I don't know if he had something to do with the design but they look very different from previous Cobra blades and much like the Wilson blades (that I think are stunning and feel amazing) that Woodland used to play. It might be a coincidence but I suspect Gary Woodland might have had a little something to do with producing what I think is the new king of the MB blades. Anyway, highly, highly recommended for blade aficionados. And honestly I got better numbers and same forgiveness with my MP-18s compared to the current T-100, so these might have wider appeal than just blade snobs. 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by 2over

[QuigleyDU]

Nice write up!

[craz-e]

2 hours ago, 2over said:

So I only got to hit the 7 iron, but the rep is working on getting me a full set. I'm 59, 2 hdcp, playing for 52 years, Driver SS Trackman 98-100, 7 iron 80-81. Hitting indoors on Trackman with the '21 Pro V1, comparing to my current gamer Mizuno MP-18, along with cameos from the Titleist 620mb and Mizuno Pro 221. All of them were Modus Pro 120 S shafts at company standard 37.5". But I measured them and my MP-18, the Mizuno Pro 221, and Cobra King MB were actually 37.5" on my club fitter's ruler while the Titleist fitting shaft was 37.25". Still, even with same clubhead speed and center strikes the Titleist was 3-5 yards less carry. It's also a 35* head vs. 34* for the other three. 

 

Looks: The MP-18 and Titleist 620mb look almost like twins, separated at birth, the Titleist with a whisker thinner top-line but same blade length. The Titleist has a very slightly boxier toe and a little more "silvery" satin finish than the MP-18. Weirdly, the Mizuno Pro 221 7 iron is just a millimeter or two longer blade to my eye, slightly rounder toe than the MP-18 or 620mb and deeper face depth in the heel area. 620mb has a thinner sole than the M.Pro 221 and the MP-18 is slightly thicker than the 221. I would put, totally subjective, beauty being in the eye of the beholder the MP-18 and 620mb in a tie for second, the Mizuno Pro 221 in solo third and the Cobra MB the winner on looks. It's exactly the blade length and face depth of the MP-18, but has a "flatter" transition from the heel to hosel (which I really like), slightly more "silvery" satin finish and a sole width maybe a whisker thicker than the MP-18, but more cambered especially front to back in the heel area. I thought the Cobra King MB '23 was absolutely stunning--and I'm kind of picky about muscle back blade looks if you can't tell. I don't like the Mizuno Pro 221 cut-away toe and heel of the muscle back and overall chunky look of the backside of the MIzuno Pro 221 It makes me think, compared to the other three "Game Improvement" just for a second, mind you but I think it. I know you only see it in the bag, but I'm as a*& man I must admit 😉 and the Cobra MB has a mighty fine tail on her. The clean, straight muscle back cut line on MP-18, 620mb, and Cobra King MB are aces with me, but I put the M.Pro 221 4th in looks for being chunky and clunky in back, my MP-18 in third because the muscle is the least muscular and also the lowest. The 620mb is second for a slightly higher and bulgier (this is a word 😉) muscle back, but the Cobra King is absolutely the winner with a perfectly high and tight butt, er, I mean, muscle back. The only thing I don't like about the Cobra MB is the dull different color satin in the toe bottom and and the little cutline on the toe top on the back and the script is just a little loud on the Cobra. If it were like the MP-18 with one uniform satin finish on the whole backside and a tiny little "Cobra" in white on the top of the heel it would be perfect.

 

Performance: This is what really matters I know, although I'm with Michael Newton that looks can affect a better player's performance. If I love how a club looks at address and, to a lesser but not inconsequential degree, in the bag, it gives me confidence and this game is all about confidence as those who've played a while know. So the finishing order in performance is 1) Cobra King MB t-2) MP-18 M.Pro 221 4) Titleist 620mb. Even taking into account the .25" shorter shaft, and 1* weaker loft, I often saw the same clubhead speed with the 620mb on a really good swing but even then ball speed always lagged by a couple and sometimes by as much as 5mph--and the other three were in an almost too tight to split window for me. On 79-81 mph swing I was seeing ball speed of 109-116 and carry between 158-167 with the Cobra, MP-18, M.Pro 221 while the Titleist never got above 112.5 and 159 carry. The MP-18 rolled out just a couple yards more than the Cobra and M.Pro (a bad thing to me) but that might be 5 year old grooves and countless thousand strikes that may have dulled the grooves a bit and cost me a little stopping power. But the descent angle was steep with all three (48*+) thanks to Modus Pro 120 and no problem holding the green. What gave the Cobra a very slight performance edge is that on my slight toe hits (my miss) I was still seeing ball speeds of 112+ and carry 158-59 with the Cobra while the same slightly toey one with my MP-18 and the M.Pro 221 were around 155-56 and 110-111 ball speed. I know it's not much but it was a consistent 3-4 yards carry and that can be the difference from just making the front edge to being in the bunker. The Titleist lagged way behind, a very slight toe strike would drop ball speed to 105, 106 and carry into the mid 140's which isn't even getting into the front bunker! You don't play blades for forgiveness, but there is a difference and if I can get a little extra help I'll say "thank you very much, here's my credit card". So performance finishing order a clear 1) Cobra King MB t-2) MP-18, M.Pro 221 and (distant) 4th Titleist 620mb.

 

Feel: All 4 felt great and were tough to split, but I could easily split them as with the other two categories, after 20 or 30 strikes each. And much to my surprise as a longtime Mizzy loyalist (MP-14 from the 90s, MP-33 for 18 years till the MP-18s) there is another club that feels as good and actually slightly better perhaps (by a whisker!) than a Mizuno and that would be the new Cobra King MB '23 (sorry to bury the lede). I could feel the slight toe strike equally as well on all 4 (though it felt more clunky on the Titleist than the other 3) and that's why I play blades. On a Titleist T-100 which I've also hit, I can't really tell if it was a millimeter or two toe-side or center flush. And that feedback is what makes my ball striking better overall. The feedback on all 4 of these blades is granular and it will make anyone, even a double digit hc a better player, I firmly believe. Also see the looks=confidence connection above. But, overall, that "soft but not dead" feel that we're all looking for was best with Cobra King MB. Like 99% buttery soft but still lively with the Cobra vs. 95% buttery soft, but ever so slightly more "dead" with the two Mizzys--which actually felt exactly the same to me, I truly couldn't tell a difference. Not sure that copper underlay is doing anything, at least for my modest clubhead speed. 92% soft but more thin spread on the butter, just slightly, with the 620MB.

 

So, your mileage will almost certainly vary and I don't write many club review because it gets boring to keep saying "there's nothing like a Mizuno blade" but now there is something at least as good if not a whisker better, for me at least. I see the '23 Cobra King MBs popped up in Gary Woodland's bag and I don't know if he had something to do with the design but they look very different from previous Cobra blades and much like the Wilson blades (that I think are stunning and feel amazing) that Woodland used to play. It might be a coincidence but I suspect Gary Woodland might have had a little something to do with producing what I think is the new king of the MB blades. Anyway, highly, highly recommended for blade aficionados. And honestly I got better numbers and same forgiveness with my MP-18s compared to the current T-100, so these might have wider appeal than just blade snobs. 

 

 

 

 

Great write up and thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am hoping to test the Cobra MB's myself soon, will see if they can remove the 21 Apex MB's from my bag 

[craz-e]

So got to hit the MB earlier on at Drummond Golf, first thoughts are positive. Hit with the $-taper which I don’t mind. Very solid and surprisingly long. I will certainly will be borrowing the demo to test off grass 

[Tree Levino]

Nice review. It's really a shame that there is no meaningful way to test long irons. The forgiveness thing is always a head scratcher. The only time I've ever struggled playing a blade all the way through the set is when the shafts are wrong. The 4i can get a bit high spin at times and therefore not gap as well but 5-PW at least I find just about every OEM blade offering great. I do wonder why the likes of Justin Rose combos. I'd love to see their testing numbers. I'm sure they do it for a reason and when guys like that combo I feel insane for not. 

[dmeeksDC]

11 hours ago, Tree Levino said:

Nice review. It's really a shame that there is no meaningful way to test long irons. The forgiveness thing is always a head scratcher. The only time I've ever struggled playing a blade all the way through the set is when the shafts are wrong. The 4i can get a bit high spin at times and therefore not gap as well but 5-PW at least I find just about every OEM blade offering great. I do wonder why the likes of Justin Rose combos. I'd love to see their testing numbers. I'm sure they do it for a reason and when guys like that combo I feel insane for not. 

You make great points. I think the little things are really big to the pros and they combo as a safeguard to try to save a little ball speed on mishits. They always want to account for the miss, get their best results. I heard Fowler say he gets the same yardage from the King Tours as he does the CB/MB, but on misses the yardage drop he sees with the Tours is less, enough difference to potentially save a shot, he said. I would like to hit the Cobra MB. I have an old set of Henry Griffitts T12 irons, which are thin-soled 1020 forged MBs that look like MP4’s. Very clean design. The 5 iron is excellent and it feels great to pure it and I can’t say I see a big difference in scoring when I take those out versus other irons, mainly because I can play any club from 7-P and I’m not hitting a lot of 5 irons in a round. So I guess it is more a comfort thing to go with perimeter-weighted irons. 

[Mp14forlife]

Nice review! Cobra knocked it outta the park this year on the look of their irons. The mb, cb, and king tours all look great. I'd have no problem doing a combo or even a full set of the king tours. The king tours are like a refined zx7. 

[dmeeksDC]

1 hour ago, Mp14forlife said:

Nice review! Cobra knocked it outta the park this year on the look of their irons. The mb, cb, and king tours all look great. I'd have no problem doing a combo or even a full set of the king tours. The king tours are like a refined zx7. 

Exactly. Those were among the contenders I was comparing and they both feel great. Mishit performance of the King Tours won me over. 

[Brooks_Cupcake]

@2over Cobra measures playing length SIMILAR to Mizuno (grip off”) so the extra 1/8-1/4” grip cap always makes them look to play longer when measured by builders