The 2011 Cobra Sapphire Review: Complete Set of Ladies Clubs

Launched in April, 2011, the Cobra Sapphire complete set of ladies clubs is getting a lot of attention from women. And I have to say it’s not just for their attractive looks, although they certainly are stylish. Nope, this is a complete set of clubs developed by Cobra Golf specifically for women, and they’re designed to deliver solid performance along with their appealing appearance.

The clubs in this ladies set utilize Cobra’s most effective game-improvement designs to help slower-swinging women launch the ball higher, longer and straighter. The Cobra Sapphire complete set comes with a high-lofted (15 degree) titanium driver, a stainless steel 3-wood (19.5 degree), 2 Baffler®-type hybrids (5 and 7), 2 wide-sole irons (8 and 9), 3 wedges (pitching wedge, gap wedge and sand wedge), a putter and a lovely but practical cart bag. Except for the putter, all the clubs are fitted with lightweight grips and lightweight UST graphite shafts in ladies flex, intended to boost swing speed, promote distance and provide enhanced feel.

Everything about this set is coordinated to work together, from the lofts and consistent distance gaps of the clubs to the beautiful colors highlighting the heads and the matching cart bag. The set even comes with a coordinated handbag. Sapphire blue and pink versions are available, but in my opinion the blue is much more stylish. You might prefer the pink, though – I know a lot of women do.

About the only complaint I have about the set’s makeup is the fact that it’s only available for right-handers. Hey Cobra, don’t you realize left-handed women golfers exist too?

The clubs perform well on the course, and they look great while they’re doing it. The company set out to give women a set of clubs that would help their play but also allow them to proud of their clubs while they’re out on the course. I think they succeeded.

I tried a set of these clubs during a round on my home course. The 15-degree, 460cc driver has too much loft for my swing – I consistently hit it far too high. But a lot of women have slower swing speeds and struggle to get their balls up in the air. For those women, the Cobra Sapphire driver might be ideal.

I had the same sort of experience with the high-lofted “3-wood” in the set. It has 19.5 degrees of loft (my own 3-wood has a 15-degree loft and my 5-wood has 18) and although I hit it straight, I hit it too high and short for my liking. I just couldn’t get anywhere near as much distance out of the 3-wood as I needed. It was almost as if I was hitting a 7-wood. I can handle a much longer, lower-lofted fairway wood, and I need one for the type of game I play. This one just wasn’t right for me because it wasn’t long enough. But again, many women struggle with their woods, and this one is easy to hit high and straight.

The two hybrids were also very easy to hit. I’ve always liked the Baffler®-style hybrids, and these two were beauties. They made it easy to dig the ball out of the rough or hit a high, fairly short shot onto the green.

The cavity-back irons in the Cobra Sapphire set seemed like pretty typical wide-soled, game-improvement irons. I’m certainly not used to having the longest iron in my bag be an 8-iron (my set goes down to a 4-iron and I use it every day), but these fly high and accurately. They were also quite forgiving on my occasional miss-hits. I was even able to successfully dig myself out of a few bunkers with the Cobra Sapphire sand wedge. That’s not something I can say about every sand wedge I’ve played.

I think the only thing about the Cobra Sapphire set that really disappointed me was the mallet putter. It seemed well made and it had a nice balance, but it just didn’t inspire me with confidence. It’s not that I think anything is wrong with it, because I don’t – it just doesn’t “suit my eye.” But putting is such an individualistic thing that many women might like the Cobra Sapphire putter just fine.

The Bottom Line: Cobra Sapphire women’s clubs are certainly stylish, and they’re designed specifically for mid- to high-handicap women golfers. Many women – especially those with slower swings - want to play with an integrated, complete set of clubs that features consistent distance gapping, higher lofts and forgiveness. That’s what the Cobra Sapphire set provides – that and solid performance. These are high quality ladies clubs, not some cheap set that you’ll just want to replace in a few months. They get my thumbs-up for slow-swingers who need help getting the ball up.

From Cobra Sapphire to other ladies golf club sets.