A Brief History of Cobra Golf
Cobra Golf is one of the leading manufacturers of golf equipment. They produce an entire line of golf clubs and accessories, such as bags for golf. Currently, Cobra Golf is a subsidiary of Puma, which purchased Cobra through the Acushnet company (owners of the Titleist and FootJoy brands) in 2010.
Important Points
- Cobra Golf is one of the most renowned brands of golf clubs and golf equipment.
- The company was first established by a group of golf enthusiasts in Australia in the early 1970s, but it is headquartered in the United States.
- Greg Norman was once a part-owner of the company. However, Cobra is now controlled by Puma.
The Early Years of Cobra Golf
Cobra Golf was founded in 1973 by an Australian named Thomas Crow. Crow was an amateur champion from his home country and worked for an Australian company that made golf equipment called Precision Golf. However, after experimenting with his designs, he moved to San Diego, California, and created Cobra Golf.
The company’s first significant product was introduced in the year 1975 and is an item that Cobra Golf still brings back often (albeit in a different shape), The Baffler. The Baffler’s original design was a 23-degree persimmon 7-wood that was advertised as a utility club, and widely regarded as the father of the hybrid clubs.
Under the guidance of Mr. Crow, Cobra Golf continued to create new products over the next few years by introducing a driver with an extended length (46 inches, more than an inch longer than the normal for the period) in 1979 to offer greater speed and distance to recreational golfers.
Cobra Innovations
Over time, Cobra became a name that was associated with game-improvement clubs on the back of other developments such as: in 1985; Cobra Golf became the first American-based equipment maker to provide graphite shafts as standard alternatives for irons and woods in 1992, Cobra made history as the only major manufacturer to provide an entire set of over-sized irons.
Other Cobra innovations include the process of autoclaving, which allowed for the increase in the strength of graphite shafts, and in 2000, the development of an Airweight shaft, which was the first graphite shaft that weighed smaller than 50 grams of weight.
In the year 2017, Cobra became the first major brand since Tommy Armour Golf in the early 1980s to launch sets of single-length irons into the market of the consumer.
Greg Norman’s Role at Cobra Golf
The year was 1991, and Greg Norman was brought on as an endorser for Cobra as a condition of acquiring a portion of the business. Together with Crow, Norman helped design Cobra Golf’s first set of irons forged. Norman was later the sole proprietor of Cobra’s Australian distributorship.
The initial investment in Norman’s stake in Cobra was valued at $2 million when the company was acquired by him. A few years after Cobra was bought by a larger corporation (see below), Norman’s stake grew to $40 million. Norman hasn’t held any ownership interest within the Cobra brand for several years but is still a “brand ambassador.”
Cobra Golf Gets Sold … Again
The bigger brand that purchased Cobra Golf five years after Norman’s involvement was Acushnet Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortune Brands, Inc. The sale occurred in 1996 and was the first time Cobra Golf was the sister brand to Titleist, which was (and remains) controlled by Acushnet.
Acushnet placed its two major golf brands in a way it was clear that Titleist was the one that targeted lower handicappers. At the same time, Cobra was the one that was focused more on players who play recreationally and game improvement equipment.
In 2010, however, Acushnet sold the Cobra brand to Puma, a sporting apparel and footwear manufacturer. Cobra Golf remains today part of the Puma company.
Shopping for & purchasing Cobra Golf Equipment
Cobra is one of the most prominent manufacturers of golf equipment; Cobra clubs and accessories are readily available at all major golf stores online as well as big-box retailers (e.g., Amazon) and at all major retailers of golf.
Cobra’s website features the dealer’s locator to assist customers in finding the closest retail stores. Customers can search for items through the Cobra website and also make purchases directly on the website.
The PGA Value Guide will help golfers determine the value of trade-ins of their existing clubs or resale prices on previously owned Cobra clubs.
Cobra Golf Web Site:
Cobra Golf Contact Info:
To reach Cobra Customer Service within America, call Cobra Customer Service at (800) 917-3300.
A Mailing Address
Cobra has its headquarters in California:
Cobra Puma Golf
1818 Aston Avenue
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Other numbers for phone numbers, along with postal addresses for regional areas, can be found on the Cobra Golf web site for the region where you reside. Visit CobraGolf.com and search to “Cobra International. “Cobra International” hyperlink at the bottom of the page.
