COBRA KING Forged Tec and Forged Tec X Irons FIRST LOOK

COBRA Golf has announced today its fourth generation of KING Forged TEC Irons, and three significant improvements make these new irons play better, feel better, and sound better.  And ultimately these new 2022 Forged Tec irons put more play into the Players Distance Irons category.

I'm going to touch on some tech stories in this first look preview (like the five-step forged body and face), but also give you some hands-on impressions.  I hit the new Forged Tec and Forged Tec X irons back in December and have been waiting for this day when I could finally tell you more about them.  There's a lot to love about both these models, and I'll also have a full review on the Forged Tec irons soon.

The irons carry over a hollow body design with tungsten weighting and PWRSHELL technology that together provide enhanced distance with improved stability in a more compact shape.  The Forged Tec Irons are available in a variable or ONE Length set up, which are both fully forged.

The 2022 edition debuts a third model to the family with the Forged Tec X, which offers more forgiveness in a players’ game-improvement shape. Between the three models, the KING Forged Tec line delivers great looks soft feel, and precision for single digit to mid handicaps.

The Forged Tec and Tec ONE Length irons fall into the “player’s distance” category and are designed for better players in the low to mid handicap range.  The newest Tec irons utilize premium materials, a more precise forging process, and refined shaping to deliver a compact, soft iron that caters to great ball strikers and those looking for added distance and forgiveness.

Unlike many competitor irons in the “player’s distance” category, the Tec irons feature a new 5-step forging process used in Tour caliber forgings to create an exceptionally soft feel and precise shaping.  The Tec irons reveal a thinner topline and reduced offset to create a preferred players look at address. The compact shaping of the new KING Forged TEC irons belies the technology under the hood that adds to the performance and satisfying feel.

A hollow body design is filled with a lighter and softer foam material to promote more distance while maintaining great sound, feel and feedback.  Each iron in the set features a forged PWRSHELL Face to create maximum speed and high launch.  A 20g tungsten toe weight centers the CG perfectly behind the sweet spot for pure feeling ball strikes with added stability on off-center hits. 

 

 

The Forged Tec iron is fully forged (body and face), where the previous gen only had a forged face.  And along with a revised foam processing inside the hollow body, the new 2022 Forged Tec sounds and feels even softer, more powerful, and more solid.  Think balata ball on a solid forging.  That's the ideal COBRA is striving for and it's never been better.  Forged Tec in a nutshell improves on every performance category and does so in a smaller more compact shape preferred by many.  I freaking love these irons.

PWRSHELL has also been improved and this has translated to one of the most obvious ways you'll see improvement in the new 2022 Forged Tec irons.  The face is thinner, lighter, faster, and with more flex.  So these new Forged Tec have more area of forgiveness in terms of retaining ball speeds and dispersion, and I can tell you it's significant.  I wasn't able to compare old gen to new gen (I'll do that in my full review), but it seemed the new gen Forged Tec has slightly higher launch angles, but still excellent peak heights and descent angles.  Again, you can really sum it up by saying bigger performance in a smaller package.

The Forged TEC ONE Length irons are configured with a constant, 7-iron length setup.  Having every iron the same length promotes one repeatable setup, posture, and swing for more consistency.  A ONE Length setup reduces variables in posture and ball position to promote more centered contact and more accuracy as a result.

COBRA engineers have manipulated the design of each iron to match the weight and length of a 7-iron, allowing for optimal distances and gapping between irons. This is primarily achieved through matching 7-iron head and swing weights in every iron in the set to create a consistent feel.

COBRA has also found ways to improve and make ONE Length more consistent by changing the weights throughout the shafts.  An issue though the years for one length irons in general is that wedges go too high and long irons go too low.  So in addition to further refining head shapes and designs, COBRA has also used progressive flexes and weighting in the shafts for each club.  And it makes a difference.  Particular shafts for the long irons, particular shafts for the short irons, particular shafts for the mid irons, all with the eye to maximizing performance.

The Forged TEC X is the Forged Tec’s more forgiving counterpart that is designed for mid to higher handicaps and paves the way for a new category of player’s “game-improvement” irons.  The iron features a lower CG design, lower profile, a slightly thicker topline, and stronger lofts than the Forged TEC irons.

 

The Tec X also features a hollow body and foam insert, but utilizes a massive 65g tungsten weight (45g more than Tec) to lower CG and maximize stability for higher launch despite the stronger lofts.  The Forged TEC X delivers the ultimate combination of a clean players’ shape, soft, forged-like feel, and extreme forgiveness allowing mid to high handicaps to look and feel like a better player while benefitting from the game-improving technologies that the Tec X has to offer.

What I found most interesting about the Tec X was that it reminded me more of the previous generation Forged Tec than the new 2022 Forged Tec does.  The Forged Tec X shape and feel was more like the previous gen Forged Tec but with improved performance in easier launch and more forgiveness around a wider area of the face.  It's a forged face but not body, a little shallower with a lower CG, and the amount of tungsten used is almost the same amount used in their utility irons.  These are basically players distance irons in appearance but with the forgiveness of utility irons.

I think ultimately what Cobra has done with Forged Tec and Forged Tec X is widen their range of this line so players have more choice in playability and looks, not unlike what Mizuno has done with their JPX Hot Metal Pro and Hot Metal.

The Forged TEC variable length irons (MAP: $1,199; steel; $1,299 graphite) are available in a 7-piece (4-PW) set in right hand (left-hand available through custom). The steel KBS $-Taper Lite shaft is offered in both regular (R110) and stiff (S115) flexes.  A graphite offering is available through custom only with the  KBS TGI 75 (Reg Flex) and 85 (Stiff & X Stiff).  Each set comes stock with Lamkin Crossline grips in black/silver.

The Forged TEC ONE Length irons (MAP: $1,199; steel; $1,299 graphite) are available in a 7-piece (5-PW) set in stiff and regular, in right hand (LH and graphite options are available through custom). The steel version comes equipped with progressive weighted KBS $-Taper Lite shafts (115 – stiff, 110 – reg, 120 – wedge) with Lamkin Crossline grips with blue and red paint fill.

Forged TEC X Irons: (MAP: $1,199; steel; $1,299 graphite) come stock in a 7-piece (4-PW & 5-GW) set in stiff & Reg in RH (LH available through custom) in both steel and graphite options. The irons feature a KBS Tour Lite shaft (steel; 102g in Stiff/Reg) and a Lamkin Crossline STD grip. The graphite version comes equipped with a KBS TGI 85 (stiff) and 75 (reg) shaft.

 

The Forged Tec irons in variable length, ONE Length, and X will be available at retail and at cobragolf.com beginning April 29, 2022. For more information on the entire KING family of products, visit cobragolf.com.