Sold on Cobra's New Offerings, Gary Woodland Is Dialed in for 2023

The four-time PGA Tour winner has new clubs and a new coach, rekindling good vibes that go back to his junior days.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — With new equipment and an old coach, Gary Woodland is dialed in for 2023. Woodland, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, started the new year by signing an equipment contract with Cobra Golf. He’s also back working with his long-time swing coach, Butch Harmon.

For a number of reasons, Woodland’s switch to Cobra was not a shock. The former U.S Open champion had a deal with Wilson for the past four years, but he’s also had a longstanding clothing sponsorship with Puma Golf, which owns Cobra. Preexisting relationships helped, but they weren’t what sold Woodland on the new bag. The equipment spoke for itself.

“I’ve been with Puma for a long time, so I’ve had that relationship. I’ve played their woods on and off for the last couple of years, and when I was able to test the product at the end of the year last year, I absolutely fell in love with the driver,” Woodland says. “The 3-wood went straight into play. I put them in play before anything else did. It was just so easy. Having the connection with Puma helped, but it was really the equipment that sold me on coming over full-steam.”

Rumors circled of Woodland’s equipment switch at the CJ Cup, when he first gamed the new Aerojet LS driver and Aerojet fairway wood. Then, after Woodland’s last fall start at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, he had six solid weeks of “free agency” to test equipment and get set up ahead of the spring season.

Woodland admits that he isn’t an equipment guru and doesn’t get too technical in the testing process. But that’s part of the reason why Cobra was such a good fit.

“I don’t know a ton about golf clubs, so that’s one thing that drew me to Cobra—Ben Schomin, [Cobra’s] Tour rep—I’ve been friends with him for a long time,” Woodland says. “I trust him, he’s helped me with equipment outside of Cobra as well. He knows my game, so he was really helping me understand what I was hitting and what I was testing.”

For Woodland, success starts with the driver. He ended the 2021-22 season ranked 23rd in driving distance on the PGA Tour, with an average of 309.9 yards. To change equipment in the area that he thrives, Woodland had to make sure the model was perfect. A few strips of lead tape helped give the driver head the extra weight Woodland likes, but besides that small adjustment, the new Cobra product checked all his boxes.

“The Aerojet launches higher than what I was previously playing. For me, when I launch it higher, I don’t have to use such a low loft. I’ve always been a really low loft guy, but with the Aerojet, I’m able to go up in loft a little bit, which is huge. “I think that helps with my dispersion as well.” Woodland says.

“When I set it down it just looks great to my eye too. I don’t like the golf ball to go left, I like to miss it to the right. When the driver sits down, to me it looks like it’s not going left, and that’s big for me.”

When looking at irons, on the other hand, there’s one thing in particular that Woodland pays special attention to: The club’s reaction to his signature stinger.

“That’s a shot that I hit when I’m under pressure or whenever I want to hit a shot where I can get the golf ball in play, so that’s a huge part of my game. It’s something I need to be able to trust.”

Woodland is playing Cobra’s King MB irons this season, and fans might not know it, but the King Cobra line is actually quite nostalgic for the 38-year-old. Woodland’s first set of golf clubs were King Cobra junior irons. For that reason, he says it’s a “dream come true” to be a Cobra ambassador on the PGA Tour.

Gary Woodland's first set of clubs were Cobras / Courtesy Gary Woodland

The timing of Woodland’s Cobra switch coincided perfectly with his recent reunion with Butch Harmon. Woodland found it beneficial to get a pair of familiar eyes on his new setup while working on shaping up his fundamentals.

Woodland has juggled a few different swing coaches since Harmon retired in 2018—Pete Cowen, Justin Parsons, and Mark Blackburn—but now that he’s able to do tuneup sessions with the legendary instructor in Las Vegas, things are feeling more routine.

“The big deal with Butch and I is me understanding what he’s saying. I’ve been around him a long time and he keeps it very simple for me,” Woodland says.

Woodland may appear to have a fresh new bag, but in 2023, he’s going back to the basics in more ways than one.