Professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau’s one-of-its-kind 3D-printed golf clubs may have given him an advantage during the US Open on Sunday.
The clubs, created by Avoda, were specifically designed with a curve face that allows the player to force the ball straight with minimal adjustment.
That is compared to traditional flat-faced clubs that require the golfer to modify their backswing, which affects the ball’s direction and speed – something DeChambeau had been struggling with before using the 3D clubs.
DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy were neck and neck in the final round of the US Open until a final drive from the bunker brought DeChambeau within four feet of the 18th hole.
His final putt, using Avoda’s 3D club, allowed him to clinch a win by one shot.
Pro Golfer Bryson DeChambeau worked alongside the golf club-maker, Avoda, to create one-of-a-kind curved, 3D-printed clubs that were tailored to improve his golf swing. Pictured: Bryson DeChambeau playing the 11th hole of the final round at the US Open
Avoda, a small golf club maker, teamed up with DeChambeau in September to create a set of clubs tailored to his golfing style
DeChambeau’s success at the tournament was ‘100,000 percent’ the result of his curved clubs, according to his coach Mike Schy, who described himself as DeChambeau’s ‘secret weapon.’
‘Without me, he doesn’t win the US Open because I’m the only one who would have gotten him that stuff and my job is to facilitate that,’ Schy told DailyMail.com.
Thomas Bailey, founder of Avoda, said DeChambeau would often miss to the left, meaning he swung the club too fast, causing the ball to veer off course.
And when DeChambeau tried not to overdraw his club, he missed the ball to the right instead.
‘He was just always feeling like he was fighting his irons,’ Bailey said.
Schy said that he reached out to several major companies to create the curved irons but was told: ‘You’re crazy,’ ‘no way,’ or ‘not interested.’
But Avoda was up to the challenge, and teamed up with DeChambeau in September to create a set of irons tailored to his golfing style.
‘The one thing about our relationship,’ Schy said, ‘is Bryson knows I’ll figure out how to get it done.’
The decision to add a face curvature to the club wasn’t initially part of the plan, but Bailey said Schy had started testing options to improve the pro golfer’s game, including optioning different face heads.
An iron with a curvature is also not typically seen on the golf course.
Schy said he ground down the face of an iron to add a slight curvature to it and after seeing DeChambeau hit the ball accurately, the pair decided that this was the approach necessary for a win.
‘He hit it and said: ‘I’d put this in my bag right now.’ He couldn’t believe how good it was.’
Bailey acknowledged that these clubs wouldn’t make a major difference for a golfer’s game, but it would have a marginal impact that could be the difference between placing in the top 10 and a win. Pictured: DeChambeau celebrated winning the US Open Golf Tournament
Schy added that DeChambeau wanted to use the curved irons at the Masters in April, making it necessary to use 3D technology to create the set because cutting molding and casting the irons would have taken too long.
‘For prototyping, it doesn’t really make sense to drag the process out that much when we’re only looking to produce one set,’ Bailey said.
3D printing works by using a high-powered heat laser to melt a thin layer of metallic powder, often exceeding 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, in a vacuum-sealed chamber.
The system is fed the metal’s design, and the laser builds a new layer on each previous one using a fresh coat of the powder.
It repeats the process until the entire part is built and then undergoes heat treatment to finalize the desired shape, aesthetic, and finish.
The process is most often used to create small-scale prototypes and custom-designed products and its efficiency helps companies meet tight deadlines.
It took only a month to create the prototype, and Bailey said when Avoda trialed the curve-faced iron, DeChambeau and Schy noticed a shift in how the pro golfer hit the ball – he was no longer driving it to the left.
A standard club has a completely flat face where you hit the golf ball, but in the new model, the toe of the iron is pointed slightly right and the heel is pointed left while the center remains flat.
This means that when a golfer hits the ball, it no longer veers to the left or right because the angle of the iron’s face forces it to go straight.
‘It made a big difference, and then he could play the game he wanted to play,’ Bailey said.
Avoda’s 3D-printed curved clubs force the ball to go straight instead of veering to the left or right. The toe curves slightly to the right and the heel curves to the left, meaning the ball can’t stray off course
Since DeChambeau’s impressive win at the Masters and US Open, Bailey said other pro golfers have reached out for information about what kind of clubs he used and requested if they could explore this option for themselves
Avoda created the second prototype in January, and DeChambeau took the clubs to the course to test them out.
After a few minor adjustments, the entire set was completed a mere week before the Augusta Masters in April.
‘So we were thinking that it was still going to be a testing phase,’ Bailey said.
‘And then next thing you know, Tuesday of the Masters, he decides to put them in play.’
Schy and DeChambeau sent the prototype to be reviewed by the USGA and initially were told the grooves were ‘nonconforming’ because they were rough not smooth.
Avoda made the necessary adjustment which required taking a groover and polisher to make the irons compliant.
‘The USGA brought their scanning machine to Augusta and we were able to check constantly until they became conforming,’ Schy said.
Since DeChambeau’s impressive win at the US Open and placing in the top six at the Masters, Bailey said other pro golfers have reached out for information about what kind of clubs he used and requested if they could explore this option for themselves.
When asked if the 3D clubs or the new curvature will become the norm for the pros, Bailey said: ‘I think that you’re going to see a shift in the professional game, as to where they’re getting their clubs from.
‘… I think you’ll see a lot more of the top kind of level players going about it themselves, trying to put together their own equipment, and going more to smaller manufacturers and smaller design companies like ourselves who aren’t looking to disrupt the market and become a top five [manufacturer].’
DeChambeau’s move to the curved 3D clubs comes only a few years after he apologized for saying his Cobra Radspeed ‘driver s*cks’ after he underperformed at the 2021 Open Championship.
‘It’s not a good face for me, and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the mis-hits,’ DeChambeau said at the time.
Cobra’s tour manager was outraged at the exclamation, telling GolfWeek that DeChambeau ‘has never really been happy’ and he’s ‘looking for a magic bullet’ that ‘becomes hard to find the faster you swing.’
‘There’s this idea in golf and a lot of industries, that the bad worker blames his tools – But in the case of golf, when you do have the option to put better tools in your bag, you might as well explore it,’ Bailey said, adding: ‘That’s definitely where the industry is heading.’
Avoda doesn’t intend to introduce the 3D curved clubs to the mass market soon but said the reduced cost of mass-market production compared to prototyping would likely create a drop in price for the average consumer.