COBRA Golf
COBRA Golf has introduced what it believes to be the first set of commercially available 3D printed steel irons.
The LIMIT3D irons have been developed in partnership with nTop, whose computational design software helped to create a compact player’s blade profile that is said to offer a similar level of forgiveness as an oversized game-improvement club with the feel of a forged iron. Despite previously applying HP's Metal Jet binder jetting technology to produce golf clubheads, the LIMIT3D iron clubheads have been produced using Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technology.
Traditionally, to design an iron with such forgiveness would have meant sacrificing the look and feel of the iron by making it larger in profile, but COBRA was aiming 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.’
COBRA Golf
Additive manufacturing is said to have helped COBRA meet these objectives. Designed using the nTop platform, the LIMIT3D printed irons feature a compact shape, which is slightly smaller in size than the Cobra KING Tour iron, and incorporates an internal lattice structure that allows 33% of the overall clubhead weight to be repositioned without sacrificing strength. The design is only possible with 3D printing and 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. COBRA says the resulting club boasts high forgiveness and a distance capability compared to that of a player’s distance or game improvement model like COBRA’s KING TEC or TEC-X irons.
Using nTop’s software and 3D printing technology has also allowed COBRA Golf to quickly create and test prototypes, automating the design exploration process and allowing designers to make iterations two times faster. This enabled COBRA to test a variety of lattice designs to optimise internal mass distribution and acoustics.
“COBRA is always looking for meaningful ways to use new technology to create superior products and performance,” said Mike Yagley, Vice President of Innovation & AI, COBRA Golf.“ 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.”
“Our new Limited-Edition 3D Printed irons represent COBRA’s dedication to pushing performance and technology to the limits,” added 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.”
COBRA has had 500 sets of the club manufactured and will be available for order beginning June 7th at an MSRP of 3,000 USD for 4-PW (4-iron to pitching wedge) set configurations in RH. A wide selection of aftermarket steel and graphite shafts and grips will also be available.
The golf equipment manufacturer released its first 3D printed golf club - additively manufacturing using HP Metal Jet technology - back in November 2020.
