Cobra Golf is in a unique position. Over the past few years they have continued to improve their 3D printing process to now include the flag 3DP Tournament Ironwhich is 100% 3D printed. They also have multiple tour models available for Max Homa, Danny Willett, Gary Woodland and others – each custom designed for that athlete. 3D printing creates a whole new level of “1 of 1” for these athletes, but it also leads to an intriguing follow-up: are we closer to a consumer-available option than we think?
This week on the podcast I spoke with my co-host Johnny Wunder about a dream I have about Cobra Golf. Regardless of price, if they were ever able to make a personal program available to the consumer, we could see Cobra take over the iron category. The 3DP Tour and its custom travel siblings have already proven that this is possible. For the consumer it would have to be packaged a little differently, but imagine a Cobra 3D printed personal store. You can choose from 3 different sole designs in whatever width suits you best, specify your preferred blade offset and length, head weight for each head, topline thickness, amount of grooves… it’s all there to choose from. On the flip side, Cobra would hypothetically create its own software that allows you to take the parts and options you’ve chosen and put them together to be 3D printed. And then, after a short period of time – and likely a big hit to your bank account – you’d have a set of irons in your hands that you designed for YOU from the ground up.
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As Johnny said on the podcast, you can get as granular as you want. If you want your long irons to release easier with more forgiveness, maybe make those heels a little wider and add some offset and blade length. You can even put tungsten lower on the blade. More like 3DP tours. Want your scoring irons to fly a little lower with more spin? Add some grooves to those faces, shorten the blade length, and raise the CG. You can create your own group. However you want. No more combined groups. No more bending a few flimsy clubs and somehow. No more custom grinding wheels. No more lead tape. Just one seamless set of irons with the same look and feel built 100% for YOUR game. It’s really an incredible thing to think about. And again this is already a thing. Max Homa, Danny Willett, Lexi Thompson, Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, and several unnamed non-personnel have already seen the fruits of these skills.
Is there a big problem? (except cost)
The inherent problem here is the ability to fit these properly. It would be pretty frustrating to design this super cute custom set to your liking only to find out after hitting it that you actually don’t like what you designed. It makes me think of Golf front mounting kit and if something like that can be developed with the Cobra lineup using specific shapes and parts, so a customer can go into a place specifically for this program and figure out what options they actually want to use to build their new set.
My ideal set would have as much groove as the USGA would allow, a nice compact blade length with just a touch of minimal offset, topline from Cobra King CB irons, soleplate from Cobra King MB irons with just a touch more trailing edge relief, and a progressive CG location that helps me split the 5th set with the shortest height of the 10. the irons release just a touch below.
So Cobra, let me know when you’re ready to do the 3DP JM irons. I’m ready when you are.
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Cobra 3DP Tour Irons are available to be custom built by Fairway Jockey.
Cobra 3DP Tour Custom Handcuffs
The KING 3D Printed TOUR irons use 3D printing technology to unlock a new realm of performance. Their unique design features the most forgiving blade shape on the market, providing the forgiveness that aspiring players need, and the sleek look and soft feel that top players desire. 3D PRINTED STEEL CONSTRUCTION Each iron is fully 3D printed from 316 stainless steel. 3D printing offers significant advantages over traditional casting and forging methods, unlocking more design freedom and significant performance improvements. FALING PLAYERS BLADE SHAPE 3D printing has unlocked new design possibilities, enabling COBRA engineers to create a compact blade shape with the massive properties (high MOI, low CG) of a game-enhancing iron without sacrificing the smooth look and feel that top players demand. INTERNAL RAIL STRUCTURE COBRA took a muscular blade shape (similar in size and shape to the KING TOUR iron) and transformed the inside of the blade into a complex internal lattice structure to reduce club weight by 33%. This discretionary weight was repositioned to optimize feel, CG position and MOI.
