Coming Soon to CES 2017: 3D Printed Smart Golf Club Coaches You On Your Swing

Perfecting one’s golf swing is no easy task, or so I’m told. I’m not a golfer myself, unless you count miniature golf, and I’m pretty miserable at that, too. After hearing about the invention that CRP Group and CRP USA are debuting in January at CES 2017, however, I might have to give it a shot.

The annual CES show is where most of the coolest new technology of the year is introduced to the world, and we’re already beginning to hear about what we can expect when the conference takes place from January 5-8 in Las Vegas. CRP will be unveiling what they believe is the world’s first Smart Golf Club, designed with the help of Krone Golf. The two companies have been working together on the development of sophisticated golf clubs using advanced manufacturing techniques, including 3D printing, as we saw in a recent case study of the KD-1 composite driver clubhead.

The KD-1 from CRP and Krone Golf

The Smart Golf Club prototype, like the KD-1, was manufactured using a combination of CNC machined titanium and Windform 3D printing materials. While the KD-1 may be more lightweight, the Smart Golf Club actually works with its user to help them improve their swing through an integrated dual 9-axis motion sensor, Launch Monitor and Professional Instructor.

Motion sensors in the head and grip of the club can detect errors or inefficiencies in a golfer’s swing thanks to the Krone Linked system, which collects data in real time. When the golfer swings the club, more than 500 data points are gathered and instantly processed through Krone’s proprietary algorithms, which calculate metrics such as club path at impact, angle of attack, launch angle, spin rate, carry distance, total distance and other dizzying amounts of information. That data is then sent to the user’s smartphone or tablet, where it translates itself into tips on how to alter one’s swing and improve performance.

The Smart Golf Club is so smart that it doesn’t even need to be turned on – it senses when it’s in use and even differentiates between when the user is practicing their swing and when they’re actually hitting a ball. When the club is no longer in use, it returns to sleep mode.

Any time a company claims that they’ve created the “world’s first” anything, I tend to take it with a bit of a grain of salt – a quick Google search, in fact, turns up several other results for smart golf clubs (most of them also claiming to be the world’s first, amusingly), but that doesn’t detract from the careful engineering and advanced technology that went into the design of CRP and Krone’s creation. Both companies have excellent track records of producing high-quality products, so I have no doubt that their Smart Golf Club will prove to be as impressive as it sounds.

Both the Smart Golf Club and the KD-1 will be showcased at CES 2017, along with several other innovations in which CRP and their Windform 3D printing technology have played a role, such as the Energica EVA superbike and the Parrot Bebop 2 leisure drone. CRP will also have many more prototype and end-use parts created with Windform composite materials on display. If you’re going to be at CES, you can drop by Booth #42909 to learn more about CRP and Windform – and maybe practice your golf swing while you’re there.