GolfWRX is happy to welcome David Abeles, Cobra Golf’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing to discuss the upcoming 2008 releases from Cobra.

Listen to the audio here.

0:00 – GolfWRX: Okay, it is my pleasure today to welcome back David Abeles from Cobra Golf. David it is a real pleasure to have you back. I know you were one of the most popular interviews last year so thanks a lot for coming back and talking with us again.

0:10 – David: Thanks for having me back. It is always a pleasure to be on Golf WRX. We love to speak to you and importantly to speak to your members of your site and listeners of this telecast.

0:33 – GolfWRX: Well that’s great. I know you guys have a lot of great products coming up and we want to hear all about them, but before we get to anything else, we’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about the Satin Blades and Pro MB’s coming out to market. Is there any truth to that or we will end up seeing them?

0:47 – David: Well, you know if I recall back in April you guys asked the same question didn’t you?

0:53 – GolfWRX: Right.

0:55 – David Abeles: There certainly has been quite a bit of buzz about some of the Cobra products that are that in play in the PGA tour, notably, a product we call Pro MB that is the bags of Ian Poulter and in the bags of Geoff Ogilvy and a Pro CB product which is now in the bags of likes of Villegas as well as some of our other tour players. Here’s the good news, and I’m glad that we get to have this conversation first. The short answer is yes. Next spring we will introduce a couple of new iron products as part of our Pro line. These products have been tested on tour and have met all performance specifications.

1:51 – GolfWRX: That is fantastic. I know everyone’s going to be real excited to hear that, because a lot of people want to play those clubs.

1:57 – David Abeles: Yeah, they are outstanding. They are arguably some of the best looking player products that you will ever put your eyes on so stay tuned; we will go live on our site probably in early spring and have them come to market shortly there after, so good news to everyone listening. Pro products will be in play spring of 2008.

2:18 – GolfWRX: Perfect. Now, I know this last year has been a pretty big year for you guys, how would you rate the last year for Cobra Golf?

2:26 – David Abeles: Kiran we had a strong year, a really solid year across all fronts. That is a good question and as you would imagine it stretches across all functionalities of our business. Not just how the brand continues to evolve since we re-launched it back in 2001, how we have performed on the PGA tour, another solid year for our tour team, but importantly how our product continues to develop. And we launched some very, very important products to not only to the Cobra brand but in the interest of our long term strength with in the market place. Products like S9 which is a very innovative iron with unique technology to Cobra Golf. Products like our FP iron, our new Baffler products, and certainly our Speed LD Pro drivers and fairway metals. It has been a very good year, we came to market with great products. Hopefully golfers have recognized performance benefits inherent in these products. Ultimately that is what we are all about, bringing better products to market so that golfers can see performance enhancement. You know when you ask a question like that I could go on for hours. But I think in summary we have had a very, very strong year. We continue to get stronger, continue to be a bigger piece of the overall market place and we are proud and humbled by our progress. We appreciate every body who has expressed interest in our brand and importantly in playing our products and so I guess in that affect we have had a real solid year and we are even that more excited about heading into 2008 with some new products on the forefront.

3:57 – GolfWRX: Fantastic, now I know Cobra has made some huge strides on tour and your tour staff had another solid year. Geoff Ogilvy played great, Camillo Villegas just notched another win. I was wondering if you had any plans to expand your Tour staff in the upcoming off season?

4:15 – David Abeles: Good questions, you guys are on top of it. Camillo got his first win as a professional, three weeks ago in Japan. So, Camillo has had a heck of a fall. He played great in the FedEx Cup, you saw him ascend through the rankings and make it to play in all four events. He was dynamite. Geoff had another very solid year, Ogilvy that is. He’s got a new baby, so you can imagine not only having the fortitude to have a new baby, but to continue to play well. It is tremendous to have him on staff. Ian Poulter, worldwide, here’s a guy that may not get as much press as others, but boy can he play. He plays well in every major, plays well on hard golf courses, and plays well at all locales whether it is here in the U.S. on the U.S. PGA Tour, over in Europe, he does a terrific job of balancing his schedule. So we’ve had three of our key guys play well. Kevin Na and J.B. Holmes also continue to perform. We’ve had a good year. To your question about who are we looking at, or are we looking to expand our Tour presence in the future? We continue to look at the Tour to find those players that we feel are good representatives of our brand and importantly can play. We will continue to keep our eyes out and ears to the ground on the PGA Tour. That’s really where we spend most of our time and energy in finding the right players. As many of you are aware, some of your site members are probably aware, Jason Gore has been in our product now for the better part of a year. If you look at his statistics since voluntarily moving into Cobra products, he has played absolutely phenomenal and continues to get better. He had a strong finish again this past weekend. We like Jason a lot and I know he has some good admiration for our products and our brand, so more to come on that as well. We continue to work with good players out there that we feel can perform at the game’s highest level, that is the PGA Tour and more importantly do a good job representing who we are. More to come on the PGA Tour ….

6:34 – GolfWRX: They’ve definitely done a good job representing you guys so far. But more on the technology front now, the USGA just announced there is a new club adjustability ruling that goes into effect January 1 2008. Do you guys see any effect that would have on Cobra Golf?

6:50 – David Abeles: I think the question is a good one, and the question is probably bigger than just a Cobra question. We think the adjustability ruling will affect the industry golfers that play this terrific game, even above and beyond a simple brand explanation for Cobra. For those of you who aren’t aware, the adjustability ruling essentially allows interchangeable or adjustable components – it could be a head and a shaft, it could be adjustable specifications for launch conditions within a product, not to be adjusted during the course of play but before and afterwards. We think it will have an effect on the game. Quite honestly we view this as a benefit, not only for the Cobra brand but for golfers because it will provide us the opportunity to put together the right specifications for an even more effective fit. Or I should say an even better fit and provide consumers the opportunity to get fit into the right product so that they can see continued performance gains within their own skill set and how they play the game. We think it provides golfers greater opportunity to be fit into a wider array of products and we’ll be right at the forefront with some nice technology to help us do that.

8:08 – GolfWRX: Fantastic, I know a lot of people can see a lot of different combinations coming out with your Speed Series and especially those interchangeable fitting systems, so I think that would be a really interesting thing to see what the future holds for you guys.

8:22 – David Abeles: Just on that point, I’ve got to get a quick plug in here. We’ve been doing speed fitting now for the better part of a year, almost a year and a half. Our process called Fit to Speed is very unique because it essentially assigns launch conditions to particular ball speeds. As you’re all aware, ball speeds vary by player type. So really, you need to get fit by ball speed into the appropriate product so you can maximize performance. We’ve had a good 18 months of history couple with years of testing. So our fit to speed technical platform and fitting platform will work right into this new adjustability ruling by the USGA. We think we’re well on our way to even stronger things to come from Cobra.

9:11 – GolfWRX: Along those same lines, a lot of OEM’s seem to be embracing the USGA’s new groove rule even though those haven’t officially passed yet. Will those new specifications have any effect on the grooves of your new clubs?

9:26 – David Abeles: The short answer is yes. This is a proposal at this time, just so everybody is clear. It’s not a steadfast rule at this time. But the proposal certainly is in play and I’m sure the USGA will rule on this in the future. Whatever the USGA chooses to do, with feedback from manufacturers that they ask for and where they land I’m sure will be in the best interest of the game and best interest of those playing the game. Our groove specifications will be completely in line with where the USGA’s specifications land.

9:59 – GolfWRX: Now with all these advancements everybody seems to make, how much room is there for realistic improvements in golf club performance in the future? Will we ever reach a point of diminishing returns?

10:10 – David Abeles: Very good question. There’s always room for improvement. I’ve said that in the past and will continue to say it in the future. We’ve got a host of engineers on our R&D Team that have one sole purpose within our organization and that’s to find better ways to make equipment perform even better. So whether it’s through new rulings that provide adjustability, whether it’s through the relocation or change in mass properties to products, whether it’s new material integration into products that will allow us to continue to enhance performance, we believe we will continue to launch innovative products that will continue to provide greater performance benefits than in the past. Now are we closer towards meeting USGA regulations and design regulations within several products? Absolutely, I think our L4V driver, which I think is a pretty good segue into your next question, our L4V driver is a good example of that where we’ve taken some of the USGA’s limits in design right to those specifications so we can optimize performance. We think there’s always room for technical improvements in products whether it’s the product itself or the fitting process that supports the product which will optimize performance. So we think we’ve got a long way to go before everyone has been fitted into the best equipment for their particular game.

11:29 – GolfWRX: I know you mentioned this and launched it a little while ago on your site. Can you tell us a little bit about the new L4V drivers? It looks like multi-material technology has once again become an important factor for you guys.

11:40 – David Abeles: No question about it. Let me start with L4V, the branding stands for Limit 4 Variables. This the first driver to the market that has been designed to the limits in head size, it’s 460cc’s in volume. COR, it’s .83 on the face and as you know our technology spreads that hot zone across the entire face. So we’ve gotten right to the limit in COR. Limit dimensions which is essentially a 5×5 platform, roughly. It’s actually 5×4.95 or something like that, but it’s the biggest footprint driver we can design. The final variable is we have designed this product to 5900 moment of inertia. Actually we designed it to 5700 with a 200 g tolerance. So this is the first driver that addresses the four variables. It’s important to note that none of these variables are mutually exclusive. Meaning in order to design the optimum performing product you have to have the variables work in concert with each other. L4V is a terrific new product. We’ve loaded it with a Mitsubishi Diamana Red Board shaft that has been designed for this head because it’s a high MOI head. The balance point has actually been shifted a little bit more towards the grip because the head weight is slightly heavier. It’s 5-6 grams heavier so that we can maintain the appropriate swing weight in the D2 to D4 range. L4V is the most technical driver we’ve ever made. It does incorporate, to your question, multi-material. There is a composite top, a composite sole ring in this product, there’s a very heavy tungsten weight internally in the back of this product to get the center of gravity very low and very far back. When you combine that with this Diamana shaft technology, it’s all you can ask for. As I said, we typically don’t make strong claims. This is a claim I will make – this is the best performing driver that we have ever made.

14:02 – GolfWRX: Now that we’ve seen the pictures, a lot of people were really impressed to see that you were able to reach the limit of 5900 MOI while still retaining a pretty traditional shape. How were you guys able to do that when other companies are resorting to squares and triangles to get the highest MOI they can?

14:19 – David Abeles: I think we made a comment when we launched our current LD drivers that we wanted to maintain a conventional approach in aesthetics or setup to a driver. We wanted it to look fairly traditional if you can call 460cc’s and 5×5 traditional. But it’s much more of a conventional pear shape versus different types of geometries that have come to the market. Fact of the matter is, it’s much easier for a designer to get to 5900 MOI by going to a different shape or unique geometry. What happens when you go to those geometries is you compromise other areas of performance within the golf club, one of which is face area. As you know we’re a big proponent of face area for certain players that need help and don’t necessarily hit it center impact each time. Not all of us play on the Tour, do we? In order for us to achieve maximum inertia and maintain that more conventional traditional looking approach, we needed to turn to multi-material. That’s what we turned to in L4V. We were move the mass properties of this golf club by reducing weight in the crown and sole with advanced composites, repositioning weight lower and further back in a traditional pear shape look and get to max inertia. We’ve been really fortunate that we have a group of talented engineers that have the ability to get to certain limits and driver certain performance variables without compromising what we need to look like. We’re really proud of that because we think that when you set our products down and look at them aesthetically from top down, they look absolutely dynamite and that’s very important for golfers. Fortunately we were able to get there, the technology as I said is inherent in this product has allowed us to do that and is driven by multi-material.

16:09 – GolfWRX: I’m going to jump around a little bit to get into Speed Tuning. With the L4V, how will the models change from M to F to X Speed across the board?

16:18 – David Abeles: The nice thing about the Speed Tuning platform is that it continues to work across our entire line of metals. Each product that we launch, we launch, develop, and design with the intent that we meet the M, F, and X requirements. M is the moderate ball speed player, F is the faster ball speed player, and X is the extreme ball speed player. When you take a look at L4V, the M products which are geared for moderate ball speed players, they launch a little bit higher, they spin a little bit more, and they’ve got a little bit more face angle in them. So there’s a little bit more right to left bias in them if you’re a right handed player, or what you can call draw bias. The F population or the faster population, which is a large majority of the golf population fits into ball speeds from 125 to 155. That’s a pretty good range, that’s where most golfers reside. It’s our most popular Speed model. The F product has a little bit less face angle in it. It is a high launch driver, moderate spin driver. Because players with 125-155mph ball speed, if you put them in launch conditions with too much spin or not enough spin, guess what happens? You don’t optimize distance. So the fast ball speed product, the L4V F as we call it, F Speed Tuned product is geared toward the faster ball speed player. The X product as you would expect has very little if any face angle. It’s actually square to a half a degree open. So it’s for better players who typically have much higher ball speed in the range of 155 miles an hour ball speed. The X driver is designed with high launch and low spin characteristics for that player. So that’s the beauty of Speed Tuning is you as a golfer can walk into a golf shop somewhere find out what your ball speed is and work right into the right driver. There’s one of three of them by ball speed into Cobra and that will really be a great starting point for you to be fit appropriately into the right products so that you can optimize performance and knock it by your playing partners on Saturday morning.

18:20 – GolfWRX: Definitely, I know a lot of people are anxious to try that out. Now how does the L4V improve over the previous Speed LD and Pro series? Will we still see the Pro series in the line up?

18:32 – David Abeles: Yeah sure, sure you will. Well you have to keep in mind, let’s work through the driver line real quickly. The L4V is a multi material product. The LD is an all titanium construction product, and then the Pro D and S products are really extreme ball speed, better player products, much more conventional in shape. They are not limit dimensions. Those are the ones that are on tour with better players that like to have a little workability within their driver. So there are three very distinctly different technologies amongst our drivers. The performance platforms for each three vary, L4V is max inertia, LD is a high inertia product, and our Pro products are a little bit, we call them moderate inertia products because better players tend to like to have a little bit more workability within their products. Each product has been designed with a specific player type in mind. The Pro products are designed for better players, the M and F products whether it is LD or L4V or moderate fast ball speed players, and the primary difference between LD and L4V is multi material and moment of inertia.

19:39 – GolfWRX: Perfect, now how has the tour staff taken to the L4V series?

19:45 – David Abeles: Well, we’re just starting to work with the guys. To be candid with you, we are getting a couple of L4V Xs prototypes out on tour to see whether or not some of our tour players would have some interest in it. Our team has been very, very happy with our Pro S and D models which are current products in our line and will remain current products throughout the course of next year. They are hitting it so well, quite honestly, that they are probably going to stay with that product. Like I said, better players specifically tour players like to have a little workability in it. So L4V may or may not show up on tour, but it’s certainly going to provide huge performance benefits to players who might not really play at that level and I know there is a lot of us.

20:24 – GolfWRX: Right. Now I know sound is a huge issue with composite drivers of the past. What can we expect from the L4V?

20:32 – David Abeles: I’d encourage everybody that’s listening or going to read the transcript of this conversation to just go hit it. I’m very, very confident that when you hear the sound we have built into L4V you will enjoy it. We do quite a bit of FEA analysis here which is Finite Element Analysis as well as sound testing. So everything we bring to market starting with L4V should have absolutely terrific sound to it. Bottom line is go hit it and I think everybody will be really happy with the sound.

21:14 – GolfWRX: I know everybody will be, so I don’t think you have to worry about that one. Now the Diamana Red Board, is this the full fledged deal? Also, I was wondering if you could mention a little bit more about Dynamic Shaft Balancing and how it affects the head and shaft performance.

21:27 – David Abeles: We actually worked in concert with Mitsubishi to use their Red Board technology and the process technology/engineering inherent in the Diamana franchise, specifically the Red Board. It’s a terrific shaft as you and your members are probably aware. One thing you have to keep note of which segues into how this shaft has been modified for our driver is because we have a very high MOI driver, that has a higher head weight, if we use the same after-market Diamana Red Board shafts, the swing weight would go up. We wanted to ensure the swing weight was right in line with where we typically like our swing weights to be which is typically anywhere between D2 and D4. So what we did in concert with Mitsubishi and their engineering crew was specifically shift the balance point by model, again M, F, and X, a little bit closer to the grip so that we can stay in the appropriate swing weight requirements and get great feel in the product. So the short answer is yes, it is Mitsubishi Diamana Red Board technology. The primary difference is a modified balance point which is proprietary in working for us because of our head design. So the net effect of that is we’ve got a great performing shaft in Diamana Red Board that’s been speed tuned and balanced for a particular head weight in drivers we designed too so we can optimize inertia.

22:50 – GolfWRX: Will we see an updated version of the fairway woods based on the L4V too?

22:55 – David Abeles: No plans at this point and time to launch L4V fairways. So our fairway line which is very, very solid, one of the best performing fairway lines in not only the U.S. market but the global markets, consists of our Speed LD fairways and our Speed Pro fairways. We’ve had a lot of success there. Multi-material integration in fairways does not provide you as much of the benefit for mass properties in weight distribution as it does in driver as you would expect since the head is smaller. So we’re staying true to our line in Speed LD fairways which are also Speed Tuned as well as the Speed Pro fairways.

23:30 – GolfWRX: I know a few people had questions about the XGB fairway Geoff Ogilvy is playing. Can you tell us a little bit about that product and how it differs from the retail one?

23:40 – David Abeles: It’s pretty simple, the XGB is a prototype or working model of the current Speed Pro fairways that we have in the market place that are commercial products. Geoff just liked it. The head shape is just slightly, slightly different. I can’t explain it verbatim or in words via our call this morning. If you take a Speed Pro fairway metal off the rack at your local retailer, it’s almost identical to that XGB Geoff has in his bag. Geoff just got so comfortable with that product he didn’t want to change it. That’s fine, we want him to play what’s perfect for him. But as I said, the Speed Pro model is almost identical to that product. The only difference is a subtle head shape change which Geoff was just more comfortable with.

24:29 – GolfWRX: I know you already told us a lot about the upcoming pro series irons that are coming out. I read somewhere that you are coming out with an UFI, Ultimate Forgiveness Irons. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that and what we can expect to see from that?

24:43 – David Abeles: I’m glad you brought that up because this is a pretty exciting time for Cobra. We just talked quite a bit about multi-material integration in the L4V drivers. Now we’re going to talk about multi-material technology in the irons which quite honestly has been lagging behind driver technology. We’ve been working for the past couple of years on a product we have deemed “Ultimate Forgiveness iron” which is where the UFi branding comes from. This November we are coming to market with a product that we can clearly state has the highest MOI and lowest CG combined properties we have ever designed here at Cobra. On top of that, what’s driving the unique point of difference in this product is we’ve utilized Metal Matrix Face technology. Metal Matrix is an alloy composed of many different elements, one of them being Scandium which is a very difficult element to find. The beauty of this insert is that it is 65% lighter than steel, it’s 35% lighter than titanium, yet maintains the feel qualities of a forged product. So when you think about this for a second, we’ve got a very light face insert that feels terrific. We’ve put into the face of our UFI iron which happens to be a very wide sole iron which allows us to reposition mass throughout the club head which drives higher MOI which allows us to optimize CG location. It is dynamite. Then we’ve gone and worked with Graphite Design and designed a YS-5.5 shaft for this product in graphite and a very lightweight Nippon shaft for steel. When you hit this product, we hope that you’ll not only feel the difference in this product but you’ll also see the performance advantages of the forgiveness we’ve built into this product. It’s the most premium product we’ve had in our line. Additionally, we’ve incorporated our patented Polymer Top Line technology into UFi. This new iron also boasts two very heavy, high density tungsten sole weights that drives the CG. In fact there are nine individual head parts in UFI that come together to drive performance and forgiveness. In fact, if you’re going to speak about it in the terms that we do, we encourage everybody to go and hit it because it is sensational.

27:07 – GolfWRX: Fantastic, I know people are going to be excited to try that out and that face insert sounds really, really interesting because if you combine that forged feel everybody wants in something that’s really forgiving, I think that’s something a lot of players are going to end up gravitating towards.

27:21 – David Abeles: Absolutely right. That’s really something special. Again, not to sound like a broken record here, but it’s soft and it’s forgiving. Those are two combinations, two variables that have been very difficult for manufacturers to design to and UFI accomplishes that.

27:43 – GolfWRX: Now with the new player’s clubs coming out, will the Carbon CB’s still be in the lineup?

27:47 – David Abeles: Carbon CB will be in the line with us through the balance of the year. Contingent upon how we continue to perform with that and the continued excitement around these new Pro products we talked about on the outset, there’s a high likelihood we will transition out of Carbon CB into these new Pro products.

28:07 – GolfWRX: Now I know on the Tour Blog, which I know everyone checks almost daily on our site, a lot of people saw the new Baffler Pro on it. What changes have been made to the Baffler Pro now, and what changes in performance can users expect to see?

28:20 – David Abeles: Let me put this in context. We’re actually launching two new Bafflers this fall in November. One is a Baffler DWS replacement which is an evolutionary product to the best selling utility metal in the market. That’s the product that really fits most players, inclusive of some Tour players. The current Baffler DWS in our line will transition to this new product in November and reaches our broadest target audience. Baffler DWS has been the highest selling utility metal in the marketplace now for the better part of two and a half years as the utility market has continued to expand. We’re very proud of that. So you’ll see a new one there. The new DWS has an enhanced Dual Weighting System in it as well as some subtle dynamics, some subtle changes to the profile of the club. It’s an enhancement to the current Baffler DWS that’s on the market.

To your question about the new Baffler Pro, that’s a complete redesign to today’s Baffler Pro. What we’ve done with this product is essentially shorten the blade length, or I should say the metal’s length from toe to heel. We’ve also shallowed out the profile a little bit. We’ve painted the top line so it’s a little bit more aesthetically pleasing for better players than where we currently are. Believe it or not, we’ve actually modified the Tour offset design in this thing. It’s got – I don’t even like to use the term offset, it’s really a Tour setup – but it’s got slight offset in there. Whereas with our current Baffler Pro, the leading edge actually gets ahead of the shaft a little bit. With this one it’s right in line with the shaft so the better player will feel he or she will have a little bit better workability with this product as well. This is one of those products that we went to our Tour Players and said, “Hey gang, we’d like you to help design this product so that you’ll put it in your bag.” With great feedback from our Tour players, that is what has been spawned from that. This new Baffler Pro which will be available in November is completely different from the current Baffler Pro in the market. We think you’ll see this club in the bags of not only our Tour players but also some others throughout the course of 2008.

30:21 – GolfWRX: Definitely, I’ve got to say I’ve seen the pictures and it just looks beautiful. I can’t think of a better looking product on the market.

30:29 – David Abeles: We’ve got some talent back here in Carlsbad designing utility metals amongst the balance of our line obviously. We’ve done a great job there and appreciate everyone who’s had the opportunity to play our products. Thank you for not only trying them but for putting them in your bag because they flat out work.

30:46 – GolfWRX: Will the Baffler Pro still have the same sort of lie angle adjustability as the previous version?

30:56 – David Abeles: Yes, it will. That is a performance benefit necessary for some better players as they need to manipulate lie angle or potentially a little bit of loft. The hosel is slightly longer than the DWS so there are custom capabilities out of our manufacturing facility here in Carlsbad that will allow you to do that.

31:16 – GolfWRX: Now will we see Cobra produce wedges again?

31:19 – David Abeles: We’re working on it. As you can see through our conversation here, we’ve got so much going on between drivers, fairways, utilities, and irons. Wedges is on the frontier. The short answer is yes, we will get into the wedge market as the brand continues to evolve and grow. We will be in the very near future. Perhaps the next time we talk we’ll have something to share with you in detail.

31:44 – GolfWRX: I know everyone will be excited to hear that. Getting into the Long Drive Team, I know a lot of people were happy to see Jason Zuback win his fifth Long Drive Title in December of last year. Can you tell us what he was using?

31:57 – David Abeles: Yeah, what a performance. He continues to not only work on his physical abilities but continues to fine tune his equipment so he can optimize distance. You know what, I’ve got to get back to you on that. I believe Jason was in a Pro D driver when he won. I believe he was in a Pro D head with 7.5° of loft, but don’t quote me on that. I’m pretty sure it was a Pro D head. That would make pretty good sense when you think about it because the Pro D head has been designed for the highest ball speed players. This is a high launching low spinning product which would be a perfect fit for Jason. I’m pretty sure it was a Pro D head, but I’ll be happy to follow up and get the specs if you want that.

32:46 – GolfWRX: Do you think the L4V will see action with the Long Drive Team?

32:52 – David Abeles: Potentially. We’ll have the guys out here working into the new products in the next couple of months. There’s no question that this product across an entire face area, golf’s largest face area flat out performs and drives the highest ball speed. My guess is if you see the guys move into the L4V driver, as you would expect, it would be the X Speed product. That could happen and it would be nice to see it happen because I think this driver would work well for them.

33:21 – GolfWRX: With all these great products you’ve introduced, it’s really exciting to hear about all this great stuff. However, do you have a fear that products might be introduced quicker than consumers can keep up with them?

33:36 – David Abeles: That’s another industry question, but I’ll answer it from Cobra’s perspective. What we try to do here in Carlsbad is when we launch a product, we can come to either a current golfer, or someone who might have some interest in potentially getting into the Cobra brand; show them some performance benefits versus the previous generation product. We live by a credo here in Carlsbad that we’re not going to launch a product that doesn’t out perform its predecessor. We’re very proud of that. Evolution and technology in our business is moving pretty quickly. Fortunately we’ve got a team who is on the forefront of advanced technology. When we’re ready to launch a product it’s really contingent on how that product works relative to what we currently have in the market. So we’re not really living by a timeline, we’re living by the development process and inherent performance benefits that are byproducts of the performance technology we work on. There’s a lot of good products on the marketplace. There’s no question product life cycles have gotten shorter, which I think is the core of your question, much like other industries – skiing is a great analogy where skis are replaced on an annual basis now. Some of our products are annual in life cycle, others may be 18 to 24 months. The one commitment that we make as we continue to run a very clean and hopefully effective business for golfers here, is that when we do launch a new product we will be able to make claims that this product will out perform previous generation’s products. That’s the compass we follow, that’s the road map we follow. We don’t really follow the clock on this one.

35:20 – GolfWRX: I think in the end that’s all the consumer really cares about. If there’s enough of a performance difference, consumers are going to migrate to your new product and I think that’s definitely held true in the past for you guys and I know it will for this round of products that I know everybody will be excited to try.

35:33 – David Abeles: I hope so. As we talked about back in April, one of the things we do and focus on at Cobra, and it’s been pretty costly in that respect, is to drive consumers to demo events or demo days, or fitting events, or fitting days. That way we give those players interested in trying Cobra products the opportunity to try these new products and experience the performance benefits of these products. When you make claims, you’ve got to bring these products to the street and provide golfers the opportunity to experience it. Perhaps one of the greatest strategic initiatives we have inside the building here in Carlsbad – it’s posted on the wall when you walk in – is provide golfers the opportunity to try our products. So I strongly suggest wherever you buy, or shop, or experience new products, try the Cobra product because you’ll be able to see some pretty neat performance advantages versus what you’ve been playing. Really that’s what we’re about.

36:33 – GolfWRX: Well David, thank you so much for your time again. You’ve done a fabulous job again answering all our questions and I know everybody will be excited to hear about the new Cobra products.

36:42 – David Abeles: Thanks very much for keeping in touch with us and thanks to all the GolfWRX members and those who visit the site. I’m included in that, we love to do this because we like to share the latest technology with you. Hopefully you will have an opportunity in the near term to experience what we have to offer from Cobra.

GolfWRX would like to extend our appreciation to Mr. Abeles for taking the time to answer all of our questions.