Cobra Director of Tour Operations Ben Schomin is about as respected a representative as anyone on Tour. That is as a mechanic, as a person, as a professional, as a father, as a friend, etc. He is undoubtedly one of one.
My relationship with him started in 2018 when I first started working with GolfWRX. I remember the first phone call I made to him to convince him to come onto my then Gear Dive Pod.
“What can I do for you, boy?”
A term he uses a lot, and a term I have adopted myself. Within seconds I was disarmed by Ben’s relaxed nature and instinct to just be of service. Over the past eight years in the industry, he has been one of the go-to sources for advice on sticks, career, and just someone I enjoy talking to.
This video was special to me because working with people like Aaron Dill (Vokey), Adrian Rietveld (Taylor Made) and in this case Ben, gives me the opportunity to show you what makes these guys so special as mechanics and what kind of people they are.
Three things you can learn from fitting with Ben Schomin
Fittings are not ball speed contests
This is the one that I think separates the good from the great. There were certainly setups Ben gave me that were generally faster than what I landed on, but Ben, being an incredible observer, knew (and listened) that regardless of the numbers, I didn’t have confidence in the looks of one driver or the other.
Some engineers would have sold me the numbers, but he didn’t. He made the turn and maximized the head that I felt comfortable with. The thing about adjusting for speed is that the player still has to get on the course golf. The player needs confidence in the appearance, which translates into confidence on the court. With that tactic, the speed is more likely to manifest itself over time than if you control the speed and have the driver work on course. OPTM
Ben thinks beyond just fitting
This is real; it’s easy to create a vacuum in a tap and focus solely on performance that day. One of the things all great mechanics do – especially on Tour – is look to the future. A good fit builds guardrails everywhere to ensure that the mishits actually help you versus the flushers, which will always help you anyway, but a miss won’t. To put it more simply: lift the floor and the ceiling will follow.
Overall, the OPTM platform is definitely a floor riser. POI is a true benchmark that will become part of the R&D ecosystem. Is it already? Probably in some form, but making it the load-bearing wall of your design will undoubtedly become the priority. Efficiency is what makes a club great. It’s a combination of three things: downrange spread, a consistent playable miss, and speed. For example, on the Cobra Truck, Ben and James Posey will lean toward a shorter, more manageable build versus a standard or longer build. You can cheat on speed with longer builds, lower lofts, etc., but these guys don’t do that. Is this same practice applied to other trucks? Naturally. But if you look at the specs of Cobra Staff players, most drivers are 45 or shorter, and there are also many shorter fairway builds, etc.
Fittings are a conversation and not a lesson
Here I see Ben on Tour doing it at the highest level. When I watch 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 with the player. I haven’t seen a moment where Ben rolls in, sees some balls flying and says, “This is what it is.” It’s more “What are you feeling? What are you trying to do? What shot really scares you? Where do you want the miss to be?” These types of questions allow Ben and the player to figure out what is really going on, after which the possibilities for a solution become clear.
You have to remember that golf is still a reactionary sport. Yes, we make plans and have a process to play our best, but of course it’s still mild chaos. Great engineers look at it from that lens, and once you have the product – in this case OPTM – the job goes from fun to “hell yeah” very quickly. This platform is by far Cobra’s strongest since F9, and overall I can’t think of a Cobra lineup with more power than today.
As you will see in the results of the upcoming Fully Fit 2026 series… Cobra KILLED IT. As a friend of the brand and someone who wants to see them win in so many ways, that makes me happy. If Cobra is firing on all cylinders, that can only be good for the company.
Enjoy the video and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to DM @Johnny_wunder on IG.
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#lessons #Cobra #OPTM #fitting #Rickie #Fowlers #fitter