THE FINISHED PRODUCT
Now it was time for Westover’s Club Champion fitting chops to find that sweet solid alchemy between shaft and head. Remarking on my previous club’s too-flat launch angle and distance-sapping ball flight, he didn’t go with any loft under 10.5 degrees, and by the time we got to the Cobra F8+ — which beat out the TaylorMade M3 by enough of a whisper for me to pay real attention — he’d dialed in its adjustable “MyFly” loft to 11, offsetting any chance for a ballooning effect by placing 12 grams of weight under the face with 2 grams at the trailing edge, and adjusting the address face angle to an oh-so-slight draw bias.
The net effect? One lovely five-yard-draw after another, with a whopping 25 yards more carry than the R9 on average, and 20 more total yards. Dispersion was far tighter, one outlier dead-pull notwithstanding. Smash factor? Move over, Justin and Bubba: This club had me up in the 1.50 range. No wonder I kept smiling through every swing, every buttery-yet-explosive meeting of ball and CNC-milled face. The accompanying charts and screen shots, taken directly from Westover’s Trackman, tell the happy story in raw numbers.
The final touch of a Lamkin Sonar Standard grip made it a done deal. Westover had all the data he needed to order the stick tailored to my exact, well-vetted needs. I headed home with visions of previously uncharted fairway positions and flip-wedges for kick-in birdies dancing in my skull.
