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GM Industrial Design "communicates gesture of the swing" for golf tournament trophy
Designers at automotive brands GM and Cadillac have created a cast-bronze trophy that combines the form of a golf swing and the curves of a vehicle for the 2026 Cadillac Championship golf tournament in Miami.
The trophy was created for the winner of the inaugural 2026 Cadillac Championship for the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA), which started today at the Trump National Doral in Miami.
Designed by members of the Cadillac Design studio and GM Industrial Design studio, it was designed iteratively using foam-core mock-ups and 3D printing.
The trophy is approximately 20 inches (51 centimetres) high and 6.5 inches (16.5 centimetres) wide.
The final, cast in bronze, is an abstract representation of a figure in mid swing. In the negative space of the trophy, a golf club head is formed, while the vertical curvature evokes the curves of a Cadillac vehicle.
"It communicates the gesture of the swing, and initially communicates that twisted form language that you see in a Cadillac body sides," GM Industrial Design creative designer Peter Durak told Dezeen.
"And then, in the negative space, there's a driver head, a club itself."
This form was rendered in bronze and anodised with automotive body paint in two different tones.
The team said that the treatment was used to create interest in the way it reflects light, adding that the trophy itself was meant to be sculptural.
"I see it as a sculpture in the round, in that from every angle you look, the light reflects off of it differently, and the way that it plays over the surfaces is just intriguing and beautiful," said GM Industrial Design lead designer Simon Wells.
While it recalls golf in its formal language, the trophy also references the sport in its production.
The designers used a lost-wax casting technique to create the piece, similar to that which is used for the heads of golf clubs, and, according to them, for the iconic Cadillac Goddess hood ornament.
"I think that it connects very nicely with the history of the golf equipment fabrication," said Alexandra Dymowska, senior design brand strategy and creative designer for Cadillac Design studio, who added the trophy was designed to show the "dynamic tension and the tautness of surface" seen in Cadillac's vehicles.
The trophy will be presented to the winner of the tournament this weekend.
It is not the only sculpture getting attention ahead of the newly minted PGA stop. Golfers and fans alike have commented on the 15-foot-gold statue of US President Donald Trump that sits on the property, which is owned by The Trump Organization.
Architects and designers have been commissioned to design trophies for a variety of athletic events over the years.
Recently, British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori has designed the Man of the Match trophies for this year's Africa Cup of Nations and Swiss architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron has designed bubbly glass trophies for the Art Basel Awards.
The imagery is courtesy of Cadillac/PGA.
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