Q&A: Cobra president Dan Ladd on Max Homa, 3D printing and the future of golf

As the president of Cobra-Puma Golf, Dan Ladd oversees a pair of brands that have high visibility on the PGA and LPGA tours. The golf equipment arm of the company, Cobra, was founded in 1973, and the brand's first impactful club was a wooden hybrid called The Baffler that had 23 degrees of loft and a pair of rails on the sole that helped it skim through the turf. Trusty Rusty wedges soon followed, and in 1991, Greg Norman signed an endorsement deal with the company and obtained a 12 percent ownership in the brand.

In 1993, Norman won the British Open at Royal St. George's, giving Cobra its first major win. In the years that followed, stars like Hale Irwin and Ben Crenshaw also played in Cobra gear. They were followed by 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy, Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter and Camilo Villegas.

Today, Rickie Fowler and newly signed star Max Homa are the faces of Cobra Golf, a brand that is one of the most innovative in the industry. So it felt right for Golfweek to sit down with Ladd last week at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, to discuss the show, Cobra's innovations and the company's plans for the future.

GWK: So why is Cobra at an event like this, and what do you try to get out of the PGA Merchandise Show?

Dan Ladd: Yeah, I mean, we love getting with our customers, right? The golf professionals, media people like you, and getting face to face and talking about our brand and our products, our partnerships, and sometimes finding opportunities to solve issues when they're there out there. There's nothing like it. We like to showcase what we have. I think it's also that we like being around the competition, and a lot of it is here. We think we stand up really well against the competition, so we like those moments where we kind of share a stage and show how we can perform.

GWK: The PGA Show was canceled in 2021, and in '22, many companies opted not to come. Are you surprised that it seems like the PGA Show built momentum in 2024 and now in 2025?

DL: I would have anticipated that, and that may be a little bit of a surprise for people, but I think there's energy. I still think there are a lot of things that we need to do, as an industry, to stay strong and stay positive. We need to keep saying how do we make it better, how do we make it more efficient, right?

GWK: For 2025, what will be one or two things Cobra Golf needs to achieve to be successful?

DL: We've got a lot of different innovation stories. Certainly, what we're doing around the future of fitting in our FutureFit (hosel). We think it's a game-changer. We think it's gonna help a lot of golfers or all golfers. So, we're excited to get that in the market and we're excited to deliver better products.

You know, we're commercialized 3D printing. We brought out a limited number, as you know, 500, and it was a great success. We're now going to commercialize that in a big way. The response to that over the last few days has been crazy. People were intrigued, and then when they tried it and they performed better, they were kind of amazed.

GWK: Tell me about when the R&D team came to and said, 'We want to make 3D printed irons, and they're probably going cost about $3,000 a set.' What was what was your initial take on that?

DL: As usual, sometimes when those guys come to me, I think they're crazy, but they're very smart. Our team has been working on 3D printing for eight years. What that is, what it can be. We've got a lot of intellectual property and work around that as well. What we were able to do with Max (Homa), getting him into new product as quickly as we did, which was exactly what he wanted or better than what he wanted. It's been a journey. It hasn't been easy. It's been a huge investment for us, but many times, when people wanted us to give up, our team wouldn't give up. We felt we had something, and now it's coming to life. It's really fun, honestly. It's fulfilling.

GWK: You started with 500 sets of the original line at $3,000 last spring, which sold out, and then Cobra had a second release. As many technologies mature, the prices come down, and now a new iron has come out, and the price is about $500 less. Do you anticipate that in the next five to seven years, Cobra will have a 3D set of irons that breaks below $1,700 or $2,000?

DL: The work that's going on with the teams right now, and that's not only innovation but our development team, our sourcing team, it's not gonna be that long. It's not gonna be five years. It's not gonna be seven years. It's not gonna be three years. I'm pushing for sooner rather than later. But we're not by cheapening anything. It has to perform. It has to perform better, or we're not going to bring it out, but we are doing a lot of things there. So, will it be this time next year? Will you see it? It's not a goal that we're not trying to go after.

GWK: Several advancements changed the world of equipment, like the introduction of multi-layer solid core golf balls, metal drivers, then 460cc drivers, adjustable drivers and moveable weights. Do you think that 3D printing will become something like that?

DL: I think it could be a historic innovation. I think it can be game-changing. I think it can make its mark on the game. As you said, all these different historical moments that came in and changed the game in a way and now has a space in the retail world that is pretty strong. We believe this could be that. I believe it will be on the calendar as something that helped change the game.

GWK: You mentioned Max Homa before. Obviously, he was the marquee signing for this offseason. How did that partnership come about? Explain the process of getting a new player signed. Who talks to who?

DL: We're not a company that is trying to win counts or have the most players, right? So, it's always finding the right people that work within our brands. We've been looking at the list of players through the years, and Max was always at the top of the list. He was always a guy like, wow, he'd be a great fit, a great player, a great ball striker, a great ambassador. He was always on that list but not available. So, all of a sudden, when he had the opportunity to become a free agent, and we started to discussions with his with his agents, and he knows our tour van and the people like Ben Schomin in it, those discussions started. And as a free agent, he wanted to test everything and get to know the people, and that was very important for him. It's a process, a six-month-plus process. We think that for us, he's someone who could move the needle again.

GWK: What are the priorities when you're looking at professional athletes that you might want to sign to endorsement deals?

DL: We look at two things. Certainly, we want someone to help us grow our brands, right, and get exposure to our brands. And that's no secret.

What we say to them, and I think we have a history of it, is we want to talk about their brands and how we can help them grow their brand. I think, historically, what we've done with a Lexi (Thompson) or Rickie (Fowler) or Gary (Woodland), that's important for us. We feel like they deserve that and a company that wants to help build their brand and make them as great as they could be. So, you know, Max is a perfect example. He's got an amazing identity and an amazing brand. One of the things we told him is that we want to help him build that more. We want to amplify that for him, and at the same time, that's going to help us.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Cobra Golf president Dan Ladd talks Max Homa, 3D printing and more