Cobra Golf is in a unique position. Over the last several years they’ve continued to refine their 3D printing process to now include the flagship 3DP tour iron, which is 100% 3D printed. They also have multiple tour models available for the likes of Max Homa, Danny Willett, Gary Woodland and others — which have each been custom-designed for that athlete. 3D printing creates an entirely 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 talked with my co-host Johnny Wunder about a dream I have for Cobra Golf. Regardless of price, if they were ever able to offer a consumer available custom program, we could see Cobra take over the iron category. The 3DP Tour and its custom tour siblings have already proven that this is possible. For the consumer it would have to be packaged a bit differently, but imagine a Cobra 3D Printed Custom Shop. You can pick from 3 different sole designs in whatever width suits you best, specify the offset and blade length you prefer, the head weights for each of the heads, the top line thickness, amount of grooves… it’s all there to pick from. On the back end, Cobra would hypothetically create their own program that allows to take the pieces and options that you chose and mesh 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 stated on the podcast, you can get as granular as you want. If you want your long irons to launch easier with some more forgiveness, maybe you make those soles a tad wider and add a little bit of offset and blade length. You can even place tungsten lower in the blade. More like the 3DP Tours. Want your scoring irons to flight a bit lower with more spin? Add some grooves to those faces, shorten the blade length, and raise the CG. You can create your own custom set. However you want. No more combo sets. No more bending some clubs weak and some sort. No more custom grinding soles. 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 some unnamed non-staffers have already seen the fruits of these capabilities.
Is there one big problem? (other than cost)
The inherent problem here is being able to properly fit these. It would be pretty disappointing to design this super cool custom set to your liking to find out after you hit them that you don’t actually like what you designed. It makes me think about the Forward Golf fitting kit and if something like that could be developed with the Cobra lineup using specific shapes and pieces so a consumer can walk into a fitting bay 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 many grooves as the USGA would allow me to have, a nice compact blade length with just a minimal touch of offset, the topline from the Cobra King CB irons, the sole from the Cobra King MB irons with just a touch more trailing edge relief, and a progressive CG location that helps me separate the top and bottom end of the set by 10-15ft of peak height with the shorter irons launching just a touch lower.
So Cobra, let me know when you’re ready to make the 3DP JM Irons. I’m ready when you are.
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Cobra 3DP Tour Irons are available to custom build from Fairway Jockey.
Cobra 3DP Tour Custom Irons
The KING 3D Printed TOUR irons utilize 3D printing technology to unlock a new realm of performance. Their one of a kind design features the most forgiving blade shape on the market, delivering the forgiveness that aspirational players need, and the sleek looks and soft feel that better players desire.
3D PRINTED STEEL CONSTRUCTION
Each iron is fully 3D printed from 316 stainless steel. 3D printing provides significant advantages over traditional methods of casting and forging, unlocking more design freedom and significant performance improvements.
FORGIVING PLAYERS BLADE SHAPE
3D printing has unlocked new design possibilities, enabling COBRA engineers to create a compact blade shape with the mass properties (high MOI, low CG) of a game improvement iron without sacrificing looks and soft feel that better players demand.
INTERNAL LATTICE STRUCTURE
COBRA took a muscle-back 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 the weight of the club by 33%. That discretionary weight was repositioned to optimize feel, CG position, and MOI.
