This application claims the benefit of foreign priority to Japanese Patent Application No. JP2021-005975, filed Jan. 18, 2021, which is incorporated by reference in its entirely.
The present disclosure relates to a golf club and a weight piece for golf club.
Golf club balance may impact golf swing of golfers. Golf club balance that fits golfers is different according to the ability of individual golfers. Thus, it would be convenient if the club balance could be easily adjusted.
In order to adjust the club balance of a golf club, the following Patent document 1, for example, discloses installing a weight member in a club shaft on the grip end side.
When manufacturing a golf club as described above, the weight piece is inserted into an inner space of the club shaft. To facilitate this insertion process, the outer diameter of the weight piece should be formed smaller than the inner diameter of the club shaft.
On the other hand, when the outer diameter of the weight piece is smaller than the club shaft, a gap between the weight piece and the club shaft will cause problems such as misalignment of the weight piece and rattling noise.
The present disclosure has been made in view of the above circumstances and has a major object to provide a golf club and a weight piece for golf club capable of suppressing misalignment and rattling noise of the weight piece while facilitating the process of inserting the weight piece into a club shaft.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, a golf club includes a tubular club shaft having a first end with a first inner diameter, a second end, and an inner peripheral surface defining an inner space of the club shaft, a weight piece installed on a first end side of the club shaft, and a golf club head mounted on a second end side of the club shaft. The weight piece includes an insertion portion located in the inner space of the club shaft, and an engagement portion located outside the inner space of the club shaft to engage the first end of the club shaft. The insertion portion includes a first portion on a first end side, and a second portion on a second end side. The first portion has an outer diameter smaller than the first inner diameter. The second portion includes a large diameter portion having an outer diameter larger than the first inner diameter in a state before being placed in the club shaft, and at least one rigidity-lowered portion that elastically deforms the second portion so that the outer diameter of the large diameter portion becomes smaller when receiving an external force. The second portion is placed in the inner space in an elastically deformed state so that the large diameter portion is at least partially in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the club shaft due to its elastic restoring force.
An embodiment of the present disclosure will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same elements or potions are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the embodiments below, and that redundant description of already described elements is omitted.
[Overall Structure of Golf Club]
[Club Shaft]
The club shaft 2, in the shaft axial direction, includes a first end 2a and a second end 2b (shown in
The golf club head 3, which is for striking a ball, is fixed to the second end 2b of the club shaft 2. The golf club head 3, for example, is configured as a wood-type head. In another embodiment, the golf club head 3 may be embodied as iron-type, hybrid-type or putter-type.
[Grip]
The grip 4 is attached to the first end 2a side of the club shaft 2. The grip 4, for example, includes a tubular grip main body 4a that golfers grip, and a grip end face 4b located on a one end of the grip main body 4a. The grip main body 4a has a substantially cylindrical tubular shape, more specifically, having a tapered shape tapering according to away from the grip end face 4b. Additionally, another end side of the grip main body 4a is opened (not illustrated) so that the club shaft 2 can be inserted therefrom. Note that the grip end face 4b is provided with a through hole 4c for removing air from the interior of the golf club 1 when the club shaft 2 is inserted.
Although a material of the grip 4 is not particularly limited, a rubber is preferable, for example. As the rubber, for example, natural rubber, styrene butadiene rubber, EPDM, isoprene rubber and mixtures thereof are preferred. In view of moldability of the grip 4, EPDM and styrene butadiene rubber may further be preferred.
[Weight Piece]
The weight piece 5 is installed on the first end 2a side of the club shaft 2. Thus, the weight piece 5 is located on an opposite side to the golf club head 3 in the shaft axial direction. Such a weight piece 5 can be helpful to provide a counterweighted golf club 1.
As illustrated in
[Insertion Portion]
The insertion portion 6 is a portion that is located in the inner space (i) of the shaft 2, and includes a first portion 10 on the first end 2a side and a second portion 20 on the second end 2b side. On the other hand, the engagement portion 7 is located outside the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2 to engage the first end 2a of the club shaft 1.
[First Portion]
The first portion 10, for example, includes a metal weight body 101 and an elastic body 102 made of plastic, elastomer or rubber covering the weight body 101 at least partially. The elastic body 102 according to the present embodiment, for example, is made of a plastic. The weight body 101, for example, has a columnar shape. Preferably, the weight body 101 and the elastic body 102 are integrally formed in advance by insert molding, etc., for example.
When the first portion 10 includes the above-mentioned metal weight body 101, a small volume can provide a sufficiently large weight of the weight piece 5. In addition, since the surface of the first portion 10 is formed by the elastic body 102, it is preferable in that damage to the shaft 2 can be suppressed when the shaft 2 comes into contact with the first portion 10.
[Second Portion]
The second portion 20 is located on the second end 2b side of the first portion 10. The second portion 20 according to the present embodiment is formed in a cylindrical body (conical cylinder body) with a hollow portion 24 on a center side in the shaft radial direction. Specifically, the second portion 20 according to the present embodiment is a cylindrical body obtained by extending the elastic body 102 of the first portion 10 to the second end 2b side. Thus, the second portion 20 according to the present embodiment is made of an elastic material made of plastic, elastomer or rubber.
As illustrated in
In addition, the second portion 20 is provided with at least one rigidity-lowered portion 21. As the rigidity-lowered portion 21, for example, one or more slits 21A may be adopted. The slits 21A can locally reduce stiffness of the second portion 20 by cutting out the same. In some preferred embodiments, the second portion 20 is provided with a plurality of slits 21A extending in the shaft axial direction. By providing a plurality of slits 21A, the second portion 20 is divided into a plurality of claw pieces 26 that extends in the shaft axial direction and is elastically deformable.
The second portion 20 as described above can be elastically deformed so that its outer diameter (the outer diameter D2 of the large diameter portion 22) becomes smaller when receiving an external force. For example, by pushing the claw pieces 26 toward the center side in the shaft radial direction with fingers, each claw piece 26 is elastically bent and deformed from the vicinity of its root side. As a result, the outer diameter D2 of the large diameter portion 22 can be small easily.
Although not particularly limited, in order to easily deform the claw pieces 26, a length L along the shaft axal direction of the slits 21A, for example, is preferably equal to or more than 3.0 mm, more preferably equal to or more than 4.0 mm, still further preferably equal to or more than 5.0 mm From the same viewpoint, a width W (the dimension orthogonal to the length L) of the slits 21A, for example, is preferably equal to or more than 0.5 mm, more preferably equal to or more than 1.0 mm, still further preferably equal to or more than 1.5 mm.
[Engagement Portion]
The engagement portion 7 engages the first end 2a of the shaft 2, and thus the engagement portion 7 cannot enter the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2. This can regulate the insertion position of the weight piece 5 into the club shaft 2 and stabilize the position of the weight piece 5. The engagement portion 7 according to the present embodiment is formed into a flange having an outer diameter D3 larger than the first inner diameter d1 of the club shaft 2. The engagement portion 7 can take various forms as long as it has a shape that engages with the first end 2a of the club shaft 2.
[Process of Inserting Weight Piece into Shaft]
The process of inserting the weight piece 5 into the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2 is performed by the following procedure, for example. First, give an external force to the second portion 20 of the weight piece 5 by, for example, jig, fingers, or other means to deform the second portion 20 elastically so that the outer diameter of the second portion 20 becomes smaller than the first inner diameter d1 of the club shaft 2. Next, in this state, the second portion 20 of the weight piece 5 is pushed into the inner space (i) from the first end 2a side of the club shaft 2. This allows the insertion portion 6 of the weight piece 5 to be easily inserted into the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2. Further, as the insertion of the insertion portion 6 into the shaft 2 progresses, the engagement portion 7 contacts the first end 2a of the club shaft 2 and the insertion position of the weight piece 5 into the shaft 2 is restricted.
Furthermore, when the insertion portion 6 is completely inserted into the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2, the second portion 20 is released from an external force and tries to elastically restore its original shape. However, since the outer diameter D2 of the large diameter portion 22 is originally larger than the first inner diameter d1 of the club shaft 2, the second portion 20 is placed inside the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2 in an elastically deformed state (not completely restored to its original shape). Thus, the large diameter portion 22 of the second portion 20 is expanded by its elastic restoring force, and at least a part of it contacts with the inner peripheral surface 2i of the shaft 2. Therefore, contact friction occurs between the weight piece 5 and the inner peripheral surface 2i of the shaft 2 so that the position of the weight piece 5 can be stable.
As described above, the golf club 1 according to the present disclosure can suppress the misalignment and rattling noise of the weight piece 5 while facilitating the process of inserting the weight piece 5 into the club shaft 2.
By the way, the first inner diameter d1 of the shaft 2 is generally different for each type of golf club 1. In some preferred embodiments, the outer diameter D3 of the engagement portion 7 and the outer diameter D2 of the large diameter portion 22 of the second portion 20 may be formed larger than the first inner diameter d1 of some types of shafts 2, and the outer diameter D1 of the first portion 10 may be formed smaller than the first inner diameter d1 of some types of shafts 2. In this case, the weight piece 5 can be attached to various types of shafts 2 with different first inner diameters d1, which can improve the versatility of the weight piece 5.
Next, some more preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.
[Interval of Rigidity-Lowered Portion (
In
In addition, as illustrated in
[Other Embodiments of Weight Piece (
[Yet Another Embodiment of Weight Piece (
As illustrated in
In the weight piece 5 according to this embodiment, when the first portion 10 is placed in the inner space (i) of the club shaft 2, the protrusions 103 and/or the inner peripheral surface 2i of the club shaft 2 is deformed, so that a high contact pressure may be locally obtained therebetween. Thus, the weight piece 5 can be more securely fixed inside the club shaft 2. Note that the protrusions 103 can be applied to the weight piece 5 in the shape of
[Yet Another Embodiment of Weight Piece (
In some preferred embodiments, the small diameter portion 28 tapers so that the outer diameter continuously decreases toward the second end 2b side. In addition, the slits 21A are formed from the large diameter portion 22 to the small diameter portion 28, for example.
According to the weight piece 5 shown in
[Yet Another Embodiment of Weight Piece (
The thin-walled portions 21B as described above can easily deformed itself when an external force is applied. Thus, in this embodiment as well, when an external force is given to the second portion 20, the outer diameter of the large diameter portion 22 can be elastically deformed to be small. Further, when the rigidity-lowered portions 21 are configured as the thin-walled portions 21B, it may be possible to generate a larger elastic restoring force in each of the claw pieces 26 than in the case of the slits 21A. Thus, the position of the weight piece 5 can be more stable.
In this embodiment, the thin-walled portions 21B connect the claw pieces 26 at a position recessed from the radially outer surface of the shaft of the second portion 20. Alternatively, the thin-walled portions 21B may be provided in a recessed position from the radially inner surface of the shaft of the second portion 20.
Therefore, even in this embodiment, when an external force is applied to the second portion 20, the grooves 21C are locally deformed, and the outer diameter of the large diameter portion 22 can be elastically deformed to a small extent. Further, when the rigidity-lowered portions 21 are configured as the grooves 21C, each claw piece 26 can generate a larger elastic restoring force than the case of the slits 21A. Thus, the position of the weight piece 5 can be more stable.
As the rigidity-lowered portions 21, it is noted that the thin-walled portions 21B or the grooves 21C may be used together with the slits 21A.
While the particularly preferable embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure have been described in detail, the present disclosure is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, but can be modified and carried out in various aspects within the scope of the disclosure.
The following clauses are disclosed regarding the above-described embodiments.
[Clause 1]
A golf club comprising:
The golf club according to clause 1, wherein
The golf club according to clause 1 or 2, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein
The golf club according to clause 2, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 8, wherein
The golf club according to clause 9, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 10, wherein
The golf club according to any one of clauses 1 to 11, wherein
A weight piece for golf club having a tubular club shaft having a first end with a first inner diameter, a second end, and an inner surface therein, the weight piece adapted to be installed on a first end side of the club shaft,
The weight piece for golf club according to clause 13, wherein
The weight piece for golf club according to clause 13 or 14, wherein
The weight piece for golf club according to any one of clauses 13 to 15, wherein
The weight piece for golf club according to any one of clauses 13 to 16, wherein
The weight piece for golf club according to any one of clauses 13 to 17, wherein
The weight piece for golf club according to any one of clauses 13 to 18, wherein
The weight piece for golf club according to any one of clauses 13 to 19, wherein
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2021-005975 | Jan 2021 | JP | national |
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20220226704 | Maeda | Jul 2022 | A1 |
20230057922 | Johnston | Feb 2023 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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6601584 | Nov 2019 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220226704 A1 | Jul 2022 | US |