Cobra Baffler T-Rail Fairway Wood
Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Versatile

The Cobra Baffler is one of the most versatile fairway metals I’ve had the pleasure of testing. From tight lies, lush fairways and middlin’ rough, this three wood gets the ball out and up and on its way to the target.

I mention the variety of conditions because my general experience with fairway metals has been that most work just fine when the ball is sitting pretty. Outside of that, some have face and sole designs that work well on tight lies, while others let you dig it out of the grass. My trusty TaylorMade TP is good off thin areas, but not as effective out of the rough. That’s what my 4-iron is for.

The Cobra Baffler on the other hand somehow manages to play both sides of the fence (or fairway, as it were). The combination of a shallow face and the tungsten rail on the sole work absolutely perfectly to create a versatile, highly playable fairway metal. I have used it to punch a ball off bare dirt, and dig it out of deep grass. And from all the situations I tried, I got impressive distance, high trajectory and solid accuracy.

This is not the longest three wood I’ve ever hit. GPS readings on my limited sampling of shots put it short of what I expect from my TaylorMade TP and both of those are short of the Adams Speedline I tested earlier this summer. But distance is useless if you can’t use the club because the ball is on less than ideal ground. 

The Baffler sets up nicely. I have always liked shallow face fairway woods—for some reason they give me more confidence that I’ll get the ball up and out. The club also has a nice heft. It somehow feels heavier than my TP, giving the impression that it’ll plow right through intervening rough.

Visually, I find the club quite attractive. While I was not initially sold on the greenish-yellow alignment lines and highlights against the black head, they grew on me. I’ve even grown to like the yellow-green grips.

Because of the versatility of the Cobra Baffler and the ease with which it gets the ball into the air, I would recommend this club primarily for mid to high handicappers (that is to say, most of us). Players who have previously struggled with woods will find the Baffler a useful tool. Better players, however, may want a fairway wood with a more boring trajectory.

If you’re in the market for new fairway woods—or if you struggle to hit the ones currently in your bag— I recommend giving the Cobra Bafflers a try.

Acer XS Titanium Fairway Wood

While most fairway woods are a steel construction, the Acer XS Fairway uses the same titanium found in high performance drivers. This creates some interesting dynamics, with an extraordinary 71% of the head weight in the sole plate. Hireko says that this is an amazing difference from a regular steel fairway wood, which has just 25% of the head weight in the sole. The result is supposed to be a club that gets the ball airborne more easily.

Tour Edge Exotics XCG6 Fairway Wood

Previous models of the Tour Edge Exotics fairway woods established themselves as some of the longest on the market. Tour Edge says that the XGC6 model is unquestionably the longest Exotics fairway wood they’ve yet made.

Living up to the Exotics moniker, the XGC6 fairways feature a beta titanium cup face, high density steel body and tungsten sole plate.

The titanium face is designed to offer the maximum allowable coefficient of restitution even on off-center hits. The steel body, which is nearly as light at titanium allows Tour Edge designers to re-position mass to the heel and toe. The tungsten sole plate places 65% of the total club weight in the heel and toe areas for higher moment-of-inertia, reduced club head twisting and greater forgiveness.

One of the keys to the distance is what Tour Edge calls its “Boomerang face technology,” that has variable face thickness that maximize the spring-like effect from more points on the face. By thinning and thickening the face, the v-shaped boomerangs allow for maximum elongation of the titanium for enhanced feel and rebound.

If anyone has tried one of these, I’d appreciate a review in the comments.

The full press release follows:

Cobra Baffler T-Rail Plus Fairway

The new Cobra Baffler T-Rail improves on last year’s model with new tungsten rails to improve tuft interaction and move the cg low and deep for high, penetrating ball flight. A shallower face and new oversize profile are designed for improved forgiveness and higher launch. It also features a shallow, high-strength face design.

I liked the shallow face and rails on last year’s T-Rail (review here), so I’m intrigued by the changes in this year’s model.

Dynacraft ICT Fairway Wood - Custom Assembled

I think my experience with adjustable clubs is typical. I play with the thing for several rounds, trying every possible combination, and once I find the sweet spot, never fiddle with it again. Still, I appreciate adjustability. An adjustable club is, I think, superior to a clubfitting because you can tinker with it under real-world conditions, rather than in a driving bay on a worn-out plastic mat.

The Dynacraft Prophet ICT series of adjustable drivers and fairway woods has a hosel that adjusts for eight different lie and face angles, rangin from 2d upright to 2d flat; and face angles from 2d open to 2d closed. Additional adapters can also be purchased, allowing you to swap out shafts as the need warrants.

Hireko offers a 60-day playability guarantee, so you can try this with confidence.

Cobra Baffler T-Rail Fairway Wood

I just got one of these T-Rail Fairway metals from Cobra to try out. I’ll write a full review shortly, but from swinging the clubs in the yard, my initial impressions are positive.

As the name suggest, its got a T-shaped rail on the bottom that’s supposed to improve the play from all sorts of lies, while filling the typical design principle of moving the weight down and to the rear.

But that’s not what attracts me. I like a low profile on a fairway wood, and this one fits the bill. For whatever reason, it makes me feel more positive about being able to hit the sweet spot and send the ball soaring. With the taller faced fairway clubs, I always have this thought in the back of my mind that the sweet spot is above the equator of the ball.

Adams Men’s Speedline Fast 12 Fairway

Adams Manufacturer’s Page

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: After I got used to it, I found it to be as long—or longer—than any club currently in my bag.

Here’s the thing you really want to know about the Adams Speedline Fast 12: it’s long. In side-by-side testing, it surpasses my trusty R7 TP 3 wood and off the tee, rivals my driver.

But (and there’s always a “but,” isn’t there?), I haven’t found it as easy to hit as the Adams pedigree might suggest.

My first awareness of Adams was as an upstart manufacturer with an unusual “upside down” clubhead design (first pioneered by a company called Concorde, but that’s another story). The result was fairway woods that indeed seemed easier to hit than traditional designs. Over the years, I’ve owned a couple of Adams “Tight Lies” models, and currently have an RPM wood in my bag. The hallmark of all of those Adams clubs has been that the shots they produced were never as bad as the swings I made. I could always count on a Tight Lies or RPM to keep the ball moving along, even when I totally lost my mojo.

(Side story: Stewart Appleby laughed at my Adams 11 Wood when I played with him at the Crowne Plaza Invitational Pro-Am. After I hit the green on a long par three over water, though, he asked to see it and took a couple of swings himself. I guess they don’t see an 11 wood often on Tour)

The Speedline Fast 12, however, seems to give up some of that legendary Adams playability for distance. This isn’t to say that it is hard to hit. I just don’t think it meets the very high playability standard set by previous Adams clubs. Indeed, I initially had some trouble learning to hit the Speedline effectively. Rather than sweeping the ball off the turf, I was digging in behind. As I’ve gotten more rounds in under my belt, however, I’ve begun to hit it with much more effectiveness. The trick was to move the ball a little more forward in my stance from where I had been playing my R7 TP.

The Speedline F12 three wood actually has resided in my bag since March (as an illegal 15th stick), but I’ve been waiting to write about my impressions because I just wasn’t hitting it well.

Did I mention that the club is long? It’s also very straight. Shots just go straight down the middle. I have to accommodate a little bit of a slice on my TP, so that required a bit of an adjustment also.

For me, a three wood is primarily a second-shot-on-a-par-5 and a second-shot-after-a-bad-drive-on-a-par-4 club.  On my round this morning, I used the Speedline effectively in both those roles. That extra little few yards of distance saved me a couple of shots on two of the par 5s, allowing me to hit a pitching wedge into the green and close to the hole. It got me on in regulation on a par 4 where after my pop-up drive, I was still 210 to the green. Nice.

Off the tee, I think the Speedline Fast 12 works for me better than it does from the fairway. It’s long (I think I mentioned that) and like most three woods more accurate than a typical driver.

Finally, the other—and perhaps more unorthodox—use I have for a three wood is as a gigantic putter. Whenever I’m off the fairway and lying under some overhanging branches, I “putt” with my three wood. With a motion like an overlong lag with a putter, I keep the ball on the ground, rolling and bounding toward the hole without fear of getting caught up in a tree. I’ve also been known to use the same “giant putter” technique from the fairway to an open green. I’m quite good with it, actually. The Speedline works quite well in this role.

A lot of interesting design decisions went into the Adams Speedline Fast 12. The most obvious are the “Velocity Slots” on the forward crown and sole. These are intended to create more flex across more of the face, increasing the ball speed regardless of the actual point of impact. They also help to get the ball airborne. I’m convinced that the slot also helps keep the ball on line.

The shaft has an unusual finish. It’s gritty, like a piece of fine sandpaper. Adams calls this a “Speedcoat” and like dimples on a ball, it is supposed to increase “airflow attachment” and thus reduce drag. Less drag equals more speed. More speed equals more distance.

I like the traditional shape of the head—I’ve had more than enough of the strange “geometric” designs. The slot did take me some getting used to, though. Ultimately I found it useful in framing a subset of the face for setting up to the ball and lining it with my intermediate target mark.

The matte silver paint scheme is a bit drab, looking like a throwback to the original dull metalwood colors of fifteen or twenty years ago. The color does, however, nicely offset itself from the back face.

That’s all just aesthetics, though. The real thing to remember about this club is that it’s LONG.

Note: the model I tested was a 15 degree stiff shaft, provided by Adams for testing.

As a long aside, I wonder what the fate of Adams Golf will be now that its been bought out by Adidas (parent of TaylorMade). Will it continue to be an independent operation, offering innovative club ideas. Or will Adams become an afterthought, selling clubs that are left over from the flagship brand’s R&D labs. Adams history of creative thinking about golf would be sorely missed if it were the latter.

A few more publicity photos of the club follow: