TESTED BY: Damian Shutie, Golf Australia Express editor (GA handicap 14.8). COST: $599 each.

MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Cobra King LTD driver, fitted with a stiff-flex Aldila Tour Blue ATX 75 shaft. The loft was set to 9° and set with a draw bias.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Cobra King LTD driver is fairly inconspicuous from above; a small orange Cobra logo the only mark on a solidly black head. While there’s nothing overly flashy to distract you at address, there is something familiar – happily so – about the large, confidence-inspiring head and deep face of this club. Nothing familiar underneath, however, with the ‘Spaceport’ viewing window showing the internals of the driver a unique and very cool addition.

HOW IT PLAYED: While most golfers are keen to gain more distance off the tee, for me reducing spin and increasing accuracy with the ‘big dog’ is more important, and it’s here the King LTD driver surprised me most.

Well-struck drives were noticeably more penetrating, although my ball flight didn’t seem any lower than usual. I can only put the lack of ballooning down to less backspin, which might have something to do with Cobra’s ‘zero gravity’ technology. Whatever the reason, it was impressive to see.

I found the King LTD easy to swing smoothly and at speed, yet despite having it set to a draw bias my usual ‘power fade’ still prevailed – the cricketer’s swing is a hard one to shake.

I was fortunate enough to have a fitting with Cobra to determine the most appropriate shaft for my swing prior to conducting the road test, and that seemingly made a huge difference in maximising performance. As a result, slight to medium mishits tended to have minimal impact on retarding distance, although it should also be noted that terrible contact still resulted in poor results.

If you like to work the ball both ways from the tee this might not be the club for you – it really is for the player who wants it straight and long.

The only fault I could find with the Cobra King LTD was a rather pedantic one. While the feel of crushing one as clubface connects with ball was absolutely pure, the accompanying sound was not. It’s a small and subjective issue, but one worth noting nonetheless. Other than that, this is a seriously good driver.

VIDEO: PAUL JENNER FROM PUREFORM GOLF PUTS THE KING LTD TO THE TEST

THE SPECS

SUITABILITY: All golfers.

SHAFTS: Standard is the Aldila Rogue Black 60 in regular, stiff and X-stiff flexes.

LOFTS: Cobra’s MyFly loft technology allows the King LTD to be set to any one of eight lofts, ranging from 9° to 12°.

LEFT-HANDED MODELS?: Yes.

COBRA SAYS: “The King LTD driver represents Cobra’s finest technologies without compromise. A multi-purpose 16-gram weight design strategically positions discretionary weight low and deep in the head, creating an extremely low centre of gravity with a high moment of inertia – the perfect combination to deliver ultimate distance without any sacrifice of forgiveness.

“The multi-material translucent Spaceport design also works as a window and a removable port, which for the first time allows the opportunity to view all the internal Cobra technologies that make this driver the ‘Ultimate Distance Machine’.

“Other features include a TeXtreme carbon fibre crown, forged 8-1-1 titanium E9 Zone face structure, MyFly8 Technology with SmartPad and multi-material construction with next generation T.O.P. Technology with TeXtreme.”

Contact Cobra Puma Golf on 1800 053 164 or visit www.cobragolf.com.au