Rickie Fowler’s Cobra OPTM gauge taught 3 courses
Cobra’s Director of Tour Operations Ben Schomin is almost as respected a rep as anyone on the tour. That is like a person, as a person, as a professional, as a father, as a friend, etc. There is no doubt that you are one of them.
My relationship with him started in 2018 when I started working with GolfWRX. I remember the first call I made to him to convince him to come to my then Gear Dive Pod.
“What can I do for you, sonny?”
The name uses a lot, and one is that I accept myself. Within seconds, I was disarmed by Ben’s restless nature and instinct to be of service. In the past eight years in the industry, he has been one of the most valuable resources for staff advice, career and just someone I love to talk to.
This video was special for me because working with greats like Aaron Dill (Vokey), Adrian Rietveld (Taylor Made) and this time Ben, gives me the opportunity to show you what makes these guys special as producers and what kind of people they are.
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Entries Are Not Football Speed Contests
This is what I think separates the good from the great. There was a set-up Ben gave me that was faster than I could come up with, but Ben, being the amazing observer he is, knew – and listened – that no matter what the numbers were, I wasn’t confident in the looks of one driver or another.
Others who were installing for me were going to sell me numbers, but he didn’t. He made a pivot and raised his head and I felt free to hit. The thing about speed fitness is that the player still needs to get off the course again play golf. A player needs confidence in appearance, which will translate into confidence on the course. Speed has more of an opportunity to show itself over time with that strategy than having speed in hand and “making the driver work” on the road. The OPTM X was a driver that I responded to immediately, and although it took some work to get there, Ben knew that, based on my response, the X would give me my best shot at good golf.
Ben thinks beyond what he deserves
This is a real thing; It is easy to create a space in the right place and focus only on the work that day. One of the things that all great partners do – especially on the Tour – is project for the future. A good balance creates guard lines everywhere to ensure that mishits really help you compared to flushers, which, in any case, will always help you, but misses will not. Simply put: Lift the floor, and the roof will follow.
The OPTM platform is quite the floor lifter. POI is a real metric that will be part of the R&D ecosystem. Is it already? Maybe in a way, but making it a load-bearing wall for your design will undoubtedly be a priority. Efficiency is what makes a great club. It’s a combination of three things: downrange dispersion, consistent playable misses and speed. For example, in the Cobra truck, Ben and James Posey will lean towards a shorter, more manageable structure versus a stock or longer structure. You can cheat speed with a long build, low lofts, etc., but these guys don’t. Is this same practice done on other trucks? That’s right. But if you look at the specs of Cobra Staff players, most drivers are 45 or shorter, and there are shorter fairway designs, etc.
Installation is a conversation not a lesson
This is where I see Ben on Tour doing it at the highest level. Watching him work with Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland and Max Homa, I love how he listens to each player, solves the problem and solves the problem for the player. I never saw a time when Ben rolled over, watched the balls fly, and said, “This is what it is.” More on “How are you feeling? What are you trying to do? What gun really scares you? Where do you want this miss?” Questions like these allow Ben and the player to get to the bottom of what’s really going on, and the options for a solution start to become clear.
You have to remember that golf is still a game of response. Yes, we make plans and have a process to play as best we can, but still, it’s still a bit of a mess. Great fitters look through that lens, and when you have a product – in this case OPTM – the job goes from fun to “hell yeah” very quickly. This platform is the strongest on the Cobra since the F9 so far, and overall, I can’t think of a more muscular Cobra lineup than today.
As you will see in the results of the upcoming Fully Fit 2026 series … Cobra KILLS. As a fan of the brand and someone who wants to see them win in many ways, that makes me happy. If the Cobra is firing on all cylinders, it’s only good for business.
Enjoy the video, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to DM @Johnny_wunder on IG.
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