Gear: Cobra Limit3d Irons
Price: $2,999.99 (4-PW) with KBS Tour $-Taper shafts
Specs: 3D printed 316L stainless steel body and face with internal tungsten weights.
Available: June 7
Who It’s For: Golfers with deep pockets who want an iron that looks like a muscleback blade but plays like a game-improvement iron.
The Skinny: By 3D printing the Limit3d irons, Cobra removed a massive amount of weight from the middle of each clubhead, then added tungsten weights to boost perimeter weighting and stability without increasing head size.
The Deep Dive: Every iron you have ever owned or seen in pro shops was made in one of two ways: casting or forging. Casting involves heating metal until it melts, then pouring the liquid metal into molds, allowing it to cool and then breaking open the molds before sanding and polishing the heads. The forging process superheats metal rods before they are pressed under massive pressure into the shape of a club. In most cases, the metal is forged several times to produce the final shape.
Both casting and forging have pros and cons, but with the release of the Limit3d irons, Cobra may be providing a glimpse of the future of golf club manufacturing. The Limit3d irons are 3D printed, and this process opens up a world of designs that would be impossible to create using either casting or forging.
Cobra has used 3D printing to create pieces of putters for a few years and quietly 3D printing wedges for staff players like Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland. However, the 500 sets of Limit3d irons are the brand’s first foray into 3D printing irons.
The shape of the Limit3d irons was based on the forged King Tour irons, the clubs Fowler plays on the PGA Tour. They have a compact blade length, a touch of offset and a thin topline.
To make each Limited iron, a computer controls a direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process that applies tiny layers of 316L stainless steel powder. With each pass of the machine, another layer of powdered metal is added on top of the previous layer and bonds to it. In all, there are more than 2,600 layers of stainless steel powder applied to make each head and it takes about 24 hours for the process to be completed. The computer applies the powdered metal in exact locations, adding more layers to some places, less to others, and none where Cobra designers don’t want it.
The Cobra Limit3d irons have an internal lattice and tungsten weights. (Cobra)
After studying several different internal structures…
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