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Bryson DeChambeau 5-iron, explained: How golf star used 3D printer to create new club for 2026 Masters originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Like any professional athlete with their equipment, golfers can be fairly particular when it comes to their clubs.
One bad stretch of golf can be all it takes for a player, especially at the highest level, to consider making a switch. But for Bryson DeChambeau, with the 2026 Masters approaching, he took matters into his own hands.
DeChambeau, pursuing his first green jacket, shared ahead of the action at Augusta National that he'd be playing with a 5-iron that he created himself with a 3D printer.
Here's what to know about DeChambeau's unique 5-iron at the 2026 Masters Tournament.
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Bryson DeChambeau 3D printed 5-iron
DeChambeau is pursuing his first Masters win in his 10th appearance in 2026. His best previous finishes have both come in the last two years, tying for sixth in 2024, then tying for fifth in 2025.
In order to breakthrough, DeChambeau shared in the days before the Masters that he's trying something new: using a self-created club.
"Building irons, building a driver, so we'll see where it goes. We'll see where it takes me. All I can say now, is that if I don't put them in the bag, it's my fault now," DeChambeau told reporters. "It's my own personal clubs I'm building."
DeChambeau also told ESPN that he'd be playing with a 3D-printed 5-iron at the 2026 Masters.
"That's the plan as of now," DeChambeau told ESPN. ""There's this nature that I have about myself where innovation is a habit of mine, and I really find and take pride in that ability to learn -- even through failure, even through making a bad decision or a good decision -- what I can get from that."
The star golfer also said his clubs were "finally ready" after working on them for years.
DeChambeau, however, didn't get off to a great start in Thursday's first round, shooting four-over par — and he said afterward that he only used his 3D-printed club once.
When asked if he would be able to print another one before the weekend, DeChambeau scoffed and noted it has to be "USGA-conforming" with a "whole process you have to go through."
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How do you use a 3D printer to make a golf club?
The luxury of using a 3D printer to make a golf club is that the creator can customize the club exactly how they want — DeChambeau is known for his physics-based approached to the sport, so making his own club could allow him to dictate the weight, shape, depth, etc. he wants from it.
On its site, one company that helps create 3D-printed clubs, Desktop Metal, says that the technology makes it "possible to design and prototype faster than ever before."
"Golf clubs have a multitude of variables which contribute to their performance—surface area and shape of the contact face, shape and depth of the cavity, club angle and bounce angle, groove design (shapes, patterns, and depths), weight, and many more," the site says. "To develop the optimal golf club, a designer must explore each of these features across numerous iterations and combinations to arrive at the optimal solution, resulting in tens or even hundreds of designs for a single club. With traditional manufacturing methods, this prototyping and development could cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrive at a single design."
The metal 3D printing process for a club not only can be far cheaper, but also allows a golfer maximum customization.
"Once the club geometry is established for that player, it can be printed on demand in a matter of days," Desktop Metal's site says.
Below is a YouTube video from "The Cool Parts Show" that helps break down how a club can be created or altered via 3D printing:
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