Cobra’s 3DP MB irons use metal 3D printing to boost ball speed and forgiveness while preserving the look and feel of a classic muscleback blade.
Gear: Cobra 3DP MB irons
Price: $1,980 (six club set) with KBS $-Taper 110 shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips.
Specs: One-piece, 3D-printed 316 stainless steel construction with internal tungsten weights
Available: January 6 (pre-sale), January 9 (in stores)
Who it’s for: Single-digit handicappers and elite ball-strikers who want traditional blade shaping and control with improved distance consistency across the face
What you should know: Cobra’s 3DP MB blends the look and precision of a muscleback blade with a surprising level of forgiveness made possible through metal 3D printing.
The Deep Dive: Muscleback blades have always been prized by professional golfers, college players and elite amateurs for their purity. With a powerful, repeatable swing, they can reward you with exceptional feel, flight and the ability to shape shots on command. They’ve also carried a reputation for being “punishing” when the strike isn’t perfect. Cobra set out to change that equation, and the 3DP MB is the most intriguing rethink of a classic blade design in years.
Instead of forging a billet of steel to create the clubs, Cobra is 3D-printing each head from powdered 316 stainless steel to achieve single-piece construction. Inside is the same type of lattice structure that debuted in the brand’s first 3D-printed irons. It’s not a cosmetic flex — quite the opposite. It’s a design that would be impossible to execute through casting, forging or milling, and it allows Cobra’s engineers to remove weight from the center of the head and reposition it more effectively.
The result is a muscleback that keeps more ball speed when contact drifts slightly from the center, preserving distance more consistently throughout the set.
Tour players helped shape these irons, with Max Homa (who joined Cobra last year) playing a particularly influential role in the final geometry. The six-time PGA Tour winner requested a slimmer top line and subtle offset adjustments. Because Cobra 3D-prints its prototypes, the team delivered changes in weeks instead of months, accelerating the R&D process and helping Homa get exactly what he wanted.
While forgiveness in the 3DP MB doesn’t match the levels found in the 3DP Tour or 3DP X models, it does soften the penalty when a strike is a groove low or a touch toward the toe. Better ball-strikers will still get the workability and trajectory control they demand, now paired with enough consistency to make more golfers comfortable choosing a blade.
For players who love the look of a traditional muscleback but have talked themselves out of it for fear of inconsistency, Cobra’s 3DP MB may be the first blade that rewards artistry and protects the occasional miss-hit. It’s a modern take on a timeless profile, still built for golfers who love shaping shots, just with a little more peace of mind when the swing isn’t perfect.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Cobra 3DP MB irons rethink traditional muscleback blade design
Category: General Sports
