Cobra LIMIT3D 3D printed putters: What you need to know

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Cobra has made a series of strides in using 3D printing across its putter, wedge and iron lines, most notably in its LIMIT3D/3DP Tour irons (the first fully 3D printed irons on the market). It now adds to its fully 3D printed collection with two new putters. The Enzo mallet and Pista blade, offered in a limited run, represent a new frontier in putter design. Each is completely constructed from a process that “builds” the head via an additive manufacturing process that uses 316L stainless steel, creating intricate shaping, distinct weighting and unified feel aspects for each design without the need to substitute various lighter materials to save weight.

PRICE: $600. Enzo (mallet, single bend shaft), Enzo-30 (mallet, short slant neck). Pista-45 (blade, plumber's neck hosel), Pista-60 (blade, small flow neck). Run limited to 500 of each model.

3 Cool Things

1. It’s a process. Cobra leads the way in golf when it comes to employing 3D printing in its club designs. It started several years ago in their putter lineup, where intricate structural latticework within the heads of the 3D Printed lines saved mass to create a higher moment of inertia for better stability on off-center hits. The benefit wasn’t merely because the structure saved weight, but because it could be produced in a way that wasn’t possible with traditional methods. The company’s LIMIT3D irons, which later became the 3DP Tour model, took an even bolder step by constructing the entire head via the 3D printing process. The direct metal laser sintering method basically allows for a soft, forged-like feel in an iron with the kind of stability and lower center of gravity seen in more game-improvement style irons.

Unlike a casting (where essentially metal is poured into a mold) or forging (where metal is pressed into a shape), the 3D printing process is fundamentally different because shaping can be more intricate to achieve a unified feel with better performance attributes, all in a more traditional preferred size. That’s what the new LIMIT3D putters, the Enzo mallets and the Pista blades, look to achieve, said Chad DeHart, Cobra’s senior product manager.

“With other manufacturing techniques, you’re always facing tradeoffs in terms of size, getting a target head weight for certain heads, compromising by using multiple materials, getting the right sound, changing your head shape,” he said. “We’re really not constrained anymore when developing concepts with 3D printing.”

The other benefit in the Enzo mallet is how the design process allows for a more forward center of gravity location while still maintaining high moment of inertia. The problem with typical high-stability mallet designs is the CG needs to be deeper, making it more difficult to square the face in the shorter space of the putting stroke.

Specifically, the Enzo mallets feature an almost open-air midsection that’s supported with thinner support beams. It’s a look and a functionality impossible to achieve in a traditional casting or milling manufacturing process. Meanwhile, sections of the Pista blades are selectively thinned out with another intricate lattice work behind the heel, toe and face to create the kind of weight-savings that, like the one-piece mallets, also comes without a feel penalty, DeHart said.

The mallets are manufactured in collaboration with HP, utilizing its Metal Jet 3D Printing process, while the blades employ nearly the same direct metal laser sintering process as the 3DP Tour irons. In both cases, though, the additive manufacturing process has shifted the paradigm, DeHart said, noting that the blade models save 58 grams through the 3D printing process, while the mallet models save 170 grams.

“We're able to maintain that great performance, but still be able to move CG and manipulate that around without compromising size, shape, feel, construction,” DeHart said.

2. Final touch. After the 3D printing process dials in the intricate structures and precise shaping of these heads, a final milling process ensures the aesthetics are sufficiently refined and the face is perfectly flat. But DeHart believes that it won’t be long before those finishing tasks won’t even be necessary, that 3D Printing will be the only part of the manufacturing process.

“We're really taking off the handcuffs between design and the actual development of these products,” he said.

3. Roll player. Like all Cobra putters over the years, the face features the stepped loft design known as Descending Loft Technology from LA Golf. By featuring four different lofts from one degree at the bottom of the face to four degrees at the top of the face, the head is designed to launch the putt at a consistent angle regardless of whether impact is lower or higher on the face. Because of the stepped loft up and down the face, both a downward or upward attack angle on a putting stroke should produce the same 1.5-degree launch angle. That consistent launch is designed to eliminate skidding for a quicker initial roll for better distance control.