After nearly three decades of writing about golf I am wary about hyperbole. Not from myself, but more from those who are pitching new products, events, media, etc. It’s not about being a cynic, but more about critical thinking. In those thirty years there have been plenty of things accompanied by a high level of hype that just never reached their supposed potential.
On the other side, I have witnessed numerous technology innovations that held potential but are often ahead of their time. The concepts are often fantastic but it is often the case that there are limitations on material availability, cost, etc. that prohibit the idea from turning into a product that can reach the level where it is suitable for commercialization.
A new offering revealed today from COBRA Golf, the LIMIT3D™ Irons, may be one of the rare anomalies, it currently falls a little short of being available at a price that would make it attainable for every day golfers, but they get the highest possible marks for innovation. Enough so that they may actually symbolize a seismic shift in how we see golf clubs of the future manufactured.
Fifteen years ago I was at a club manufacturer’s research and development facility where they demonstrated their use of 3D printing to model clubs. About five years after that another club company was showing off a 3D printed putter at the PGA Merchandise Show and revealing that they had also used the process to create an iron, a hybrid, and a driver. At that point though, it was a merely a hope that one day they might be selling clubs made by these methods.
COBRA was another company on the leading edge of this technology. In 2020 they became the first golf company to introduce a 3D printed steel putter at retail, which they followed up with a full line of KING® 3D printed multi-material putters in 2021.
But that was only the beginning. Sort of. In fact, it was really the culmination of a very long journey.
In a discussion last week with Ryan Roach, the Director of Innovation for COBRA Golf, and Mike Yagley, the Vice-President of Innovation and Ai for the company, they revealed a long runway leading up to the introduction of these products to the public.
“It’s been a long time, maybe longer than that,” says Roach when I mention my 2010 brush with the technology in the golf club business. “We’ve been monitoring it (3D printing) for awhile and we’ve been using it. The whole prevailing thought was that there is no way you can do these commercially. It’s great for prototyping, one-offs, but we don’t take no for an answer.”
It’s clear that the latter statement is spot on, as the team at COBRA plowed ahead. You can sense from a discussion with them how excited they are for the process that helped them create the news irons, as well as thoughts of how it may push future club design. For now, though, they honed in on on the LIMIT3D irons project and what they needed to do to make it viable.
To aid the undertaking they teamed up with a nTop, a company who produces computational design software of the likes required to create a very complicated structure like these iron heads. One just needs to watch a film on the the software capabilities to be dazzled by its possibilities. It helped lay the groundwork for the COBRA team to fashion a compact player’s blade iron with all the moment of inertia (read: resistance to twisting) capabilities of a larger cavity-back design. A best of both worlds. The feel, look and characteristics of one, married with the performance benefits of the other. The holy grail that many have aspired to create, or desired to play.
“COBRA is always looking for meaningful ways to use new technology to create superior products and performance,” said Mike Yagley. “nTop’s computational design tools integrated with 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, allowed us to create an incredible new design that looks and feels like a forged blade but performs like a larger, game- improvement iron. No one has done this before, and we’re excited to introduce these unique irons to the world.”
The interior of the LIMIT3D iron is where the 3D printing process shines through. It takes some 2600 print layers (over a 24 hour period) to create the head, including a core with a unique internal lattice structure that is strong yet super light. That allows for a large percentage of the head mass (up to 100 grams) to be placed in the heel and toe of the club. Voila! Stability.
The printing is done with 316L stainless steel, a strong, low-carbon material often found in items like diving watches, jewelry, and medical devices. By printing, versus casting or forging, the material can be shaped in more complex ways to extract maximum performance without as many compromises. Not only high MOI but also a low centre of gravity, so you can get a head slightly smaller than what can be found in the COBRA KING TOUR model but possessing the favourable features of COBRA’s KING TEC or TEC-X irons.
“Our new Limited-Edition 3D Printed irons represent COBRA’s dedication to pushing performance and technology to the limits,” said Jose Miraflor, Vice President of Product Architecture, COBRA Golf. “These incredible new irons are the most significant technological advancement to happen to the category in the past 20 years and offer a look into the future of golf club design and performance.”
So where is the downside? There is a slight one, for now. As you’d expect these irons will come at a premium price, with a ton of confidence from all involved that the production techniques will filter down to lower priced products in the future.
This model will be offered in a 500 set run world-wide, with 350 of those landing in the United States and Canada. Each will be marked with a “1 of 500” etching on the hosel to show their significance.
Available only as a customer order, consumers will be able to access them as of June 7, 2024.
The price for a 4-PW set (RH only) will check in around $4,200 (CAD) with a selection of steel and graphite shafts.
Only time will tell if they represent the leading edge of a new frontier in golf club manufacturing, but my guess, based on what can seen in the extensive use of 3D printing in many of industries, is that they just might.
