Cobra’s Limit3d is the primary consumer-ready 3D-printed iron within the market.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
Welcome to GOLF.com’s ClubTest Proving Floor, the place managing gear editor Jonathan Wall and senior gear editor Ryan Barath put the most recent designs and groundbreaking expertise within the gear area to the check on the vary and the course.
The instruments: Cobra Limit3d (7-iron; N.S. PRO MODUS³ Tour 105X shaft), Ping i230 (7-iron; N.S. PRO MODUS³ Tour 105X shaft)
The check: To find out if a 3D-printed iron with a $3K price ticket can dwell as much as the hype.
The outcomes: Sticker shock is an efficient technique to seize a golfer’s consideration. Throw a $2K-plus price ticket on a set of irons and watch what occurs. Curiosity normally takes maintain, which is precisely what occurred in 2016 when PXG launched its authentic 0311 irons at $400 per membership. The polymer-filler, hollow-cavity iron was not like something within the trade.
Quick ahead to 2024 and almost each main gear producer has a hollow-cavity players-distance iron.
Who’s to say if Cobra’s 3D-printed Limit3d will observe an identical path, but it surely’s fascinating to notice the 2 irons share some similarities. A sky-high price ticket ($3K per set), restricted availability and groundbreaking expertise. It additionally helps that Bryson DeChambeau is utilizing a set of 3D-printed printed irons with customized bulge and roll baked in.
This may very well be the way forward for iron design. Or it may very well be a fad.
To get a greater deal with on Limit3d’s bona fides, I pitted the 3D design in opposition to my Ping i230 avid gamers to see how they stacked up. Whereas the iron appears to be like like a blade at deal with — it’s barely extra compact than i230 — the lattice design on the again of the pinnacle creates a weight discount that makes it potential so as to add upwards of 100 grams of tungsten inside the heel and toe.
Extra tungsten means higher ball speeds on extreme misses. As Mike Yagley, Cobra’s VP of innovation and AI, famous throughout a latest dialog, he noticed minimal ball pace loss on toe misses throughout his preliminary testing. Simply to place that statement into perspective, it’s pure to see wherever from 13-18 yards of distance loss with comparable better-player fashions, in keeping with GOLF’s robotic information.
It nearly sounded too good to be true.
Nonetheless, based mostly on the numbers I noticed throughout my very own testing, the hype is for actual. Let’s begin with the launch monitor numbers from Foresight’s GCQuad launch monitor.
Cobra Limit3d: 131.1 mph (ball pace) | 20.4 levels | 6,652 RPMs | 179.8 yards (carry)
Ping i230: 127 mph (ball pace) | 20 levels | 6,396 RPMs | 175.3 yards (carry)
Cobra unveils first consumer-ready 3D-printed irons. Right here’s how they work
The numbers above are a mean of the 8 pictures I hit with every iron. The numbers inform an fascinating story that highlights the significance of getting match. The Limit3d was 4 mph sooner than my i230s with an identical launch angle and 300 RPMs extra spin. If I spent the time discovering the best shaft, I would be capable to squeeze a couple of extra yards out of the Limit3d.
Not solely was the iron sooner, it produced spectacular ball pace numbers on toe strikes, too. At one level in the course of the testing session, I hit a number of balls out on the toe to see the way it carried out. For essentially the most half, ball pace dropped roughly 2 mph on even essentially the most excessive toe misses — an indication that the extra tungsten packed contained in the heel and toe was doing its job.
Foresight Sports activities
The general really feel of the membership was what I’d deem to be muscleback strong with a contact of game-improvement safety. It looks like a solid-construction mannequin at influence, however you don’t get the adverse vibrations when it misses out of the toe or heel. The sound at influence was heavy and purposeful. If I didn’t know what I used to be utilizing, I’d swear it was a cast mannequin. It felt that good.
If there was one quibble, it’s that the Limit3d was nearly too far left of the goal line for my liking, which is saying one thing contemplating I like to remain left of the middle with my shot form. The i230 had a tighter total dispersion and was ever-so-slightly left of middle.
Foresight Sports activities
I spent almost a half day constructing my i230 irons at Ping headquarters, so I count on them to be dialed. May I get the Limit3d to provide an identical dispersion sample and shot form? Presumably. However with solely the 7-iron to check, I’m possible going to place an finish to testing as a substitute of constant down the rabbit gap. My greatest concern is discovering the iron to be noticeably higher and never having the chance to check it via the bag.
For the right-handed crew who does have the power to select up a full set, I can affirm the Limit3d does loads of issues rather well. The general really feel and ball pace retention have been critically spectacular, to the purpose that I’m keen to proclaim they’re definitely worth the $3K quantity.
This feels just like the infancy phases of 3D printing within the gear area, however there’s no query Cobra is already onto one thing with its preliminary iron providing.
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