7 October 2021
CAD for the Hole in One
Is golf one of those sports you think of as high tech? Do you imagine CAD specialists gathered behind the caddy and the golf professional, lending their engineering insight to the power and accuracy of the swing? No? Then you may not be tracking with how far the modern game has come.
3D-printed golf balls have been a thing for a while and there has been an influence on the landscape of the golf course as well. But who, in the general course of things, is thinking about the physics of a woodhead and how to best achieve the perfect contact with the ball, the material used to make the shaft and even the grip, and how these are all essential components that can amplify the skill of the golfer?
That old saw about the bad workman blaming his tools only occurred to Bryson De Chambeau after he had already trashed Cobra Golf, the company that designed his driver, at the Open Championship.
Well, after a recent exchange between a golfer and the company that designed his driver, there may be a few more people aware of CAD's presence in the game.
That old saw about the bad workman blaming his tools only occurred to Bryson De Chambeau after he had already trashed Cobra Golf, the company that designed his driver, at the Open Championship.
Cobra's tour operations manager Ben Schomin was quick to clap back: "Everybody is bending over backwards. We've got multiple guys in R&D who are CAD-ing [computer-aided design] this and CAD-ing that, trying to get this and that into the pipeline faster. [Bryson] knows it."
This great article outlines some things you should consider if you want to become a golf club designer. Mechanical Engineering is definitely high on the list but there is also, unsurprisingly, the suggestion that the designer learn to swing a club as well.
How better to drive down the handicap of your customers than to drive down your own handicap and get a real feel for how the club swings? How close to the hole can you get your ball? No one wants to be playing from the rough or constantly doomed to time in the sand trap.
What's your center of gravity? Adjust the club to tailor it better. Left-handed or right- handed? Your club's design can be made for your handedness. Some golf club manufacturers are putting all these options online for you to make custom clubs; others have you come in for the personal touch and then use any number of patented methods to 3D-print your golf club.
Imagine CAD specialists gathered behind the caddy and the golf professional, lending their engineering insight to the power and accuracy of the swing.
Brooks Koepka loves his club, apparently, but then he is engaged in a rivalry with De Chambeau. Whatever the case, it put CAD design center stage in the golf world for a brief moment. Cobra's VP of innovation is predicting 5-10 % of clubheads will be 3D-printed or have 3D-printed components by 2025.
In the same way you need the right club for the right play, you want the right tool for the right job. Axiom gets you properly teed up with MicroStation® Productivity Toolkit™. Need to import Excel spreadsheets and Word documents into MicroStation with perfect formatting? Your caddy would suggest Microsoft Office Importer™. Need to solve MicroStation reference file problems? RefManager™ will drive that process to a hole in one. Global File Changer™ will knock that handicap into pro territory. If you're looking to be the Collin Morikawa of the CAD world, this is the edge you've been looking for.
