Cobra Golf Releases First Commercial Available 3D Printed Irons

Earlier this year at The Masters, Bryson DeChambeau sent shockwaves throughout the golfing community when it was discovered that he had brought a set of irons from a relatively unknown brand, Avoda Golf.

But what made these irons special was that they 3D printed irons that featured bulge and roll on the face like a driver. And while Bryson’s performance likely had people running with their credit cards, their heart might have skipped a beat when they learned a set of Avoda 3D printed irons costs approximately $10,000—or, stated differently, cost prohibitive for 99% of golfers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fortunately, Cobra Golf is one of the OEMs that has made 3D printing a priority in its product development, as demonstrated by its 3D printer putter releases. Today, Cobra announced that its 3D printer will develop more than just flat sticks.

Cobra’s all-new LIMIT3D irons are the world’s first set of commercially available 3D-printed steel irons. After becoming the first golf company to introduce a 3D printed steel putter in 2020 and then following it up with a full line of KING 3D printed multi-material putters in 2021, engineers at COBRA set out to be the first to apply the new technology to iron design.

COBRA partnered with nTop, a leader in computational design software whose namesake product helps companies create better-performing, state-of-the-art designs that leverage the benefits of additive manufacturing. Leveraging their partnership with nTop, COBRA embarked on an ambitious goal to create a compact player’s blade profile that offers a similar level of forgiveness as an oversized, game-improvement club with the feel of a forged iron. The LIMIT3D irons are the product of these innovative advancements and are an industry first in performance and manufacturing.

Mike Yagley, Vice President of Innovation & AI, COBRA Golf, said:

“COBRA is always looking for meaningful ways to use new technology to create superior products and performance. 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.”

Traditionally, designing an iron with more forgiveness meant making it larger in profile, sacrificing its look and feel. COBRA’s mission was to design an iron that had the shape and feel of a compact blade desired by better players, with the forgiveness that the aspirational player needs.

Before now, an iron like this has never existed or been achievable due to design and manufacturing constraints with traditional methods like casting and forging. Designed using nTop’s software and manufactured with 3D printing technology, COBRA’S LIMIT3D 3D printed irons feature a compact shape (slightly smaller in size than the Cobra KING Tour iron). The fully 3D printed 316L stainless steel body features an innovative internal lattice structure that allows 33% of the overall clubhead weight to be repositioned without sacrificing strength.

This unique design, which is only possible using 3D printing, allows for up to 100g of tungsten to be placed in the heel and toe areas of the clubhead, creating a low CG and an exceptionally high moment of inertia (MOI) relative to the shape and size of the club. The result is a compact blade shape with a low CG location, high forgiveness, and distance comparable to that of a player’s distance or game improvement model like COBRA’s KING TEC or TEC-X irons.

An additional benefit of nTop’s design software, coupled with the use of additive manufacturing, is the speed at which COBRA engineers were able to create and test prototypes. nTop’s software capabilities allowed COBRA to automate the design exploration process and make iterations two times faster to speed up the development process significantly. The faster process also allowed COBRA’s R&D team to test a variety of lattice designs to optimize internal mass distribution and acoustics, resulting in a final product that exceeded expectations in looks, performance, and soft feel to appeal to the most discerning players.

Jose Miraflor, Vice President of Product Architecture, COBRA Golf, said:

“Our new Limited-Edition 3D Printed irons represent COBRA’s dedication to pushing performance and technology to the limits. 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.”

Only 500 sets of the new LIMIT3D 3D-printed irons are available worldwide (350 in the US and Canada). Each of the first 500 sets is marked with 1/500, which truly makes them the “first” of their kind. Beginning on June 7th, these ultra-premium limited-edition irons will be available for custom order only in the US and Canada.

Each set will retail for $3,000 and consists of 4 through PW (RH only) that can be paired with a wide selection of aftermarket steel and graphite shafts and grips.

Cover Image via Cobra