Bryson DeChambeau’s coach reveals 3D printed curved clubs ‘100,000%’ helped golfer take home trophy

Professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau’s unique 3D-printed golf clubs may have given him an advantage at Sunday’s US Open.

The clubs, made by Avoda, are specially designed with a curved face that allows the player to force the ball straight with minimal adjustment.

That’s compared to traditional flat-faced clubs, which require the golfer to adjust their backswing, which affects the golf direction and speed of the ball – something DeChambeau struggled 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 three feet of the 18th hole.

His final putt, using Avoda’s 3D club, saw him win by one shot.

DeChambeau’s success at the tournament was “100,000 percent” the result of his curved bats, according to his coach Mike Schy, who described himself as DeChambeau’s “secret weapon.”

“He won’t win the US Open without me because I’m the only one who would have given him that stuff and it’s my job to facilitate that,” Schy told DailyMail.com.

Thomas Bailey, founder of Avoda, said DeChambeau often missed to his left, meaning he swung the club too quickly, causing the ball to go off course.

And when DeChambeau tried not to overplay his club, he missed the ball to the right.

“He just always felt like he was fighting with his irons,” Bailey said.

Schy said he approached several major companies about making the curved irons but was told, “You’re crazy,” “not at all” or “not interested.”

But Avoda rose to the challenge and worked with DeChambeau in September to create a set of irons tailor-made for his golfing style.

“The one thing about our relationship,” Schy said, “is that Bryson knows I’ll figure out how to make it work.”

The decision to add a face curvature to the club was not initially part of the plan, but Bailey said Schy had begun testing options to improve the professional golfer’s game, including choosing different club faces .

An iron with a curvature is also not typical on the golf course.

Schy said he sharpened the face of an iron to add a slight curve and after watching DeChambeau strike the ball accurately, the pair decided that was the approach needed for a win.

“He hit it and said, ‘I would put this in my bag right away.’ He couldn’t believe how good it was.’

Schy added that DeChambeau wanted to use the curved irons at the Masters in April, which necessitated using 3D technology to create the set because cutting and molding the irons would have taken too long.

“For prototyping, it doesn’t really make sense to drag out the process so long if we only want to produce one set,” Bailey said.

3D printing uses a powerful heat laser to melt a thin layer of metal powder, often above 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, in a vacuum-sealed chamber.

The system is fed with the design of the metal and the laser builds a new layer on top of each previous layer using a new layer of powder.

It repeats the process until the entire part is built and then undergoes heat treatment to complete the desired shape, aesthetics and finish.

The process is typically used to create small-scale prototypes and custom-designed products, and its efficiency helps companies meet tight deadlines.

It took just a month to create the prototype, and Bailey said that when Avoda tried the curved-surface iron, DeChambeau and Schy noticed a change in the way the professional golfer hit the ball — he no longer hit it to the left.

A standard club has a completely flat face where you strike the golf ball, but in the new model the toe of the iron is pointed slightly to the right and the heel is pointed to the left, while the center remains flat.

This means that when a golfer hits the ball, it no longer deflects to the left or right because the angle of the face of the iron forces it to go straight.

“It made a big difference, and then he was able to play the game he wanted to play,” Bailey said.

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 ready just a week before the Augusta Masters in April.

“So we thought it would still be a testing phase,” Bailey said.

“And the next thing you know, Tuesday of the Masters, he decides to put them in play.”

Schy and DeChambeau sent the prototype for review by the USGA and were initially told that the grooves were “non-compliant” because they were rough and not smooth.

Avoda made the necessary adjustments, which required a grooving machine and a polishing machine to bring the irons into compliance.

“The USGA brought their scanning machine to Augusta and we were able to continuously monitor until they conformed,” Schy said.

Since DeChambeau’s impressive victory at the U.S. Open and his finish in the top six at the Masters, Bailey said other professional golfers have inquired about the type of clubs he used and asked if they could explore the option for themselves.

Asked whether the 3D clubs or the new curvature will become the norm for the pros, Bailey said: “I think you’re going to see a shift in the professional game in terms of where they get their clubs from.

‘…I think you’re going to see a lot more top level players doing it themselves, trying to put together their own equipment, and more going to smaller manufacturers and smaller design companies like us that aren’t looking to enter the market to disrupt and become a top five (manufacturer).”

DeChambeau’s move to the curved 3D clubs comes just a few years after he apologized for saying his Cobra Radspeed was “driver s*cks” after underperforming at the 2021 Open Championship.

“It’s not a good look for me, and we’re still trying to figure out how to make things right after the misses,” DeChambeau said at the time.

Cobra’s tour manager was outraged by the exclamation, tellingly GolfWeek that DeChambeau has “never been truly happy” and that he is “looking for a silver bullet” that “becomes hard to find the faster you swing.”

‘There is a perception in the golf world and in many industries that the bad worker blames his tools. But in the case of golf, if you have the opportunity to put better tools in your bag, you might as well explore that,” Bailey said, adding, “That’s definitely where the industry is going.”

Avoda doesn’t plan to introduce the 3D curved clubs to the mass market anytime soon, but said the lower costs of mass production compared to prototyping would likely cause a price drop for the average consumer.