Hard on the heels, or should I say sole, of the Cobra King Baffler comes the Cobra King F7 fairway that features the sole rails.
For some of you this request of Rickie Fowler's to add rails to the soles of his fairway might seem new, but in fact they first appeared in 1974.
The theory is that by having rails the club stays straighter through longer grass and also skips through the turf more easily, thus reducing any loss of club head speed from friction with the ground.
Like any good theory it has stood the test of time and after Rickie added them to his 5 wood, Cobra decided to bring the rails back across their whole range of F7 fairways and hybrids.
The size and shape of the rails vary depending on the loft and whilst they are quite broad, they are pretty streamlined and give the benefit without raising the sole off the ground too much.
As is standard now for Cobra, there are two heads in a 3-4 loft and a 5-6 loft that use the MyFly8 adjustable hosel to vary loft by 3° through 5 settings.
This is a pretty straight forward system, although now you don't have the SmartPad on the sole because of the rails. Apparently now it is incorporated into the contours of the rail to provide the same effect, which it does well.
Aside from the rails it is pretty much as you were for the King F7 as the sole features swappable 3g and 20g moveable sole weights that enable you to affect the level of spin.
With the heavier weight at the front, the flight was lower and the sound a little meatier, so you will need to play with the loft to get the right set up for your swing speed.
The 20g weight in the back is probably the more usual setting for most of us as it will give that slightly higher launch, particularly if you are going to use it more from the fairway than the tee.
The head is still the same slightly rounded shape as the F6, which makes it good looking, but maybe without having everyone swooning over it.
The face uses a Forged 475 Stainless Steel insert that his stronger than the steel of the head so that it can be thinner to get as much ball speed as possible at impact.
The groove lines appear either side of the ball instead of being in a circular pattern behind the ball like the King F7 Hybrid, which is a bit of a shame as I find that the better visual aid.
There is a choice of three head colours that are basically black, blue and silver, but what really makes the Cobra King F7 fairway stand out is those rails on the sole.
It's a good theory that makes sense and delivers in practice and having them on the King F7 makes this a worthy upgrade for all you Cobra fairway lovers.