Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by. Today we'll be sharing with you another independent review - this time, of the brightly colored Amp driver. Enjoy!
Overview
When you sign Rickie Fowler as your marquee PGA Tour rep, it’s clear you want to make a splash. So it is with Cobra, which hopes to ride Rickie’s colorful coattails to greater market share in the ultra-competitive driver category.
Of course, it helps to have a solid product to sell, and based on a recent test, Cobra’s got a winner in its new AMP driver.
The Club
I tried out the AMP with 10.5° loft and a stock Aldila RIP shaft, 65 grams and stiff flex. Cobra’s Adjustable Flight Technology provides three face-angle settings: open, neutral, and closed. Mine was set on neutral. Note that the company offers the AMP driver in both offset and non-offset models; I tested the non-offset.
Looks
Rickie likes Orange – the color of his beloved Oklahoma State Cowboys – and Cobra indulged him by splashing it all over the AMP. The grip is orange, as are the hosel rings, outer clubface grooves, and zig-zagging lines on the sole.
At setup, though, the top of the club presents a light, cool gray, with “cobra” used as an alignment guide in tasteful black. For all its orange outlandishness, the AMP sports a comfortingly classic look at address; its smooth lines and appealing pear shape should soothe the nerves of any wary traditionalist.
Performance
Conditions weren’t ideal for testing, with a powerful helping wind blowing from the right. Still, it was preferable to the dreaded left-to-right crosswind that sends pros screaming from the range.
While the 20-25 mph wind made gauging distance difficult, the Cobra AMP delivered a low-spin ball flight that rode the wind beautifully. I tend to hit my own driver quite low, but found the AMP’s launch conditions much to my liking: high, yet penetrating. Even fades hit against the crosswind refused to balloon and fall to the turf.
The wind hindered efforts to accurately assess the AMP’s shot-shaping prowess, but I managed to turn over a few draws (I think) without the breeze sending them into oblivion.
A mid- to high-handicap golfer should get plenty of forgiveness and distance from the AMP driver, while a single-digit will appreciate the club’s power-to-accuracy ratio.
Feel
In a word, nice. Contact with the AMP’s sweet spot (or thereabouts) produces a solid feel and mellow sound, especially compared with the clanky racket generated by many modern drivers. Off-center hits aren’t overly harsh, either.
Value
The AMP driver generally retails for $299.99, placing it below new models from TaylorMade, Titleist, Callaway and other major labels. I’d say it stacks up very well in the value department. Custom shaft options from Aldila, Fujikura, Graphite Design, Mitsubishi and others will add to the tab.
