Patent Grant
10981039
Technological advances in the golf industry have led to a significant increase in user-customized golf equipment. For example, golfers can learn their golf swing tendencies using swing tracking and ball tracking tools and then use such data in choosing a particular piece of equipment to purchase. Typical equipment choices that golfers may make to suit a particular playing style or skill level include golf ball composition, golf club shaft stiffness, shaft length, golf club head mass, and head moment of inertia.
Golf club manufacturers have long recognized this desire of golfers to customize golf equipment and introduced various ways for implementing such customizability. For example, a golfer using a golf club with interchangeable weights may be able to adjust the club's mass properties. In addition to using adjustable golf clubs to correct undesirable swing tendencies, a golfer may make golf club adjustments to accommodate different playing conditions. For manufacturers, adjustable golf clubs allow for a wider range of features with a reduced number of models that need to be separately designed and produced.
Adjustability that provides a customizable center of gravity location is of particular interest. Unintended spin is a known result of an offset of impact point from a golf club head's “sweet spot” (i.e., the normal projection of the golf club head's center of gravity onto the golf club face): low impact shots relative to the sweet spot on the club head's face launch lower with increased backspin; high impact shots launch higher with decreased backspin; toe side impact shots launch to the right with increased draw or hook spin; and heel impact shots launch to the left with increased fade or slice spin. By providing CG adjustability on a golf club, a golfer's tendency to impact a particular region of the face can be matched to a desired shot trajectory.
Commercial efforts to provide adjustability in golf clubs have focused largely wood-type golf clubs, especially drivers. Due to differences in construction and function, providing adjustability in iron-type and wedge-type golf clubs presents challenges that may not be applicable to wood-type golf clubs. For example, wood-type golf club heads are generally lighter per volume, lower in loft, and larger in volume than heads of iron-type or wedge-type golf clubs, so providing discrete weights may be easier in a wood-type golf club head. In addition, wedge-type golf clubs are generally favored over wood-type golf clubs for short-range pitch shots, chip shots, and flop shots, and thus customization options offered for wood-type or iron-type golf clubs may not be suitable for wedge-type golf clubs.
The inventors sought to provide a convenient way to customize and adjust mass properties of a wedge-type golf club head. By precisely controlling the three-dimensional location of the golf club head's center of gravity using a translatable weight located behind the golf club head's striking face, a golfer can easily adjust the golf club head's mass properties to provide a desired effect on a golf shot's trajectory.
In one or more aspects of the disclosure, a wedge-type golf club, when oriented in a reference position, includes a golf club head that comprises a main body having a striking face, a track member rearward of the striking face that extends along at least a portion of the main body, and a weight member that is translatable along the track member. The weight member may be positioned such that, in a first location of the weight member along the track member, the golf club head has a first center of gravity (CG) defining a first CG depth. The weight member may be positioned such that, in a second location of the weight member along the track member different from first location, the golf club head has a second CG defining a second CG depth different from the first CG depth. A difference between the first CG depth and the second CG depth may be between about 1 mm to about 20 mm. Here, CG depth is measured normal to the face plane such that a positive CG depth corresponds to locations forward of the face plane and a negative CG depth corresponds to locations rearward of the face plane.
According to one or more embodiments of the CG depth adjustable wedge-type golf club, the first CG depth is a negative value and the second CG depth is a positive value. The first CG depth may be between −1 mm to −10 mm and the second CG depth may be between 1 mm to 10 mm.
According to one or more aspects of the disclosure, a CG depth adjustable wedge-type golf club comprises a first CG depth that is about 0 and a second CG depth whose absolute value is 1 mm to 20 mm.
In one example of one or more aspects of the disclosure, a CG depth adjustable wedge-type golf club comprises a track member extending across at least a part of a rear surface of the golf club head's main body. The track member may be non-parallel to a face plane defined by the striking face and a weight member may be translated along the track member. In another example, a CG depth adjustable wedge-type golf club comprises a main body having a sole portion having an upper surface and a lower surface; the track member may extend across at least a portion of the sole portion along one of the upper surface and the lower surface.
In one or more aspects of the disclosure, a wedge-type golf club, when oriented in a reference position, includes a golf club head that comprises a main body having a striking face, a track member rearward of the striking face that extends along at least a portion of the main body, and a weight member that is translatable along the track member. The weight member comprises a material having a density equal to or greater than the golf club head main body.
Representative examples of one or more novel and nonobvious aspects and features of the golf club head according to the present invention, disclosed below, are not intended to be limiting in any manner. Furthermore, the various aspects and features of the present invention may be used alone or in a variety of novel and nonobvious combinations and subcombinations with one another.
Referring to
As used herein, “face center,” e.g., the face center 163, denotes a point on a golf club head's striking face that is midway between the heel-to-toe extents of the striking face score lines and midway between the sole-to-topline extents of the striking face.
The golf club head 100 also includes a center of gravity (CG), which alternatively may be referred to as a center of mass. When the golf club head 100 is oriented in a reference position as in
Referring to
As shown in
As used herein, “reference position” denotes an orientation of a golf club head in which the sole rests on the virtual ground plane such that the score lines are horizontal and the virtual vertical hosel plane is parallel to the score lines. Unless otherwise indicated, all parameters of the various embodiments of the disclosure are specified with the golf club head in the reference position.
Advantageously, a translatable weight member according to various embodiments of the disclosure can be moved by a user, e.g. to adjust a golf club head's CG. For example,
As shown in
Referring to
The golf club head 200 of
In a preferred embodiment, the track member 290 is substantially horizontal when the golf club head 200 is in a reference position. In such an embodiment, the CG height CGH of the golf club head 200 remains substantially constant as the weight member 280 is translated along the track member 290. In this embodiment, the golf club head's CG location may be translated so as to correct swing tendencies associated with mishits in the heel-to-toe direction that often result in undesired slice or hook shots.
As shown in
Referring to
The golf club head 300 of
Referring to
The golf club head 400 of
The golf club head 400 of
In another embodiment, as shown in
While
Advantageously, the embodiments discussed herein may be tailored to fit a target user. For example, for a golf club intended to be used for “game improvement” (i.e., for higher less skilled golfers), horizontal shift may be more significant than vertical because the target consumer may be more concerned with correcting slice or hook, while for a wedge intended to be sold to more skilled golfers, spin adjustment is a more significant concern.
The golf club head 600 may also be adjustable in a manner that is swingweight neutral. Herein, a “swingweight neutral” refers to a weight adjustment feature where mass properties, optionally including CG location, may be varied, but in a manner such that swingweight is substantially maintained constant. For example, the feature may specifically enable the relocation of mass in a manner that does not substantially shift the specific location of the CG relative to the intended shaft axis (which may be considered to coincide with the hosel axis). A swingweight neutral golf club head describes a golf club head that, when provided as a part of a golf club with a constant shaft length, has a swingweight that does not substantially vary when a weight member is translated along a track member disposed on its rear surface. Herein, “swingweight” refers to the common golf club fitting variable related to the weight distribution in a golf club as measured on a swingweight scale in units of the Lorythmic scale. A swingweight neutral golf club head may, for example, have a swingweight of “D4” when a translatable weight member is positioned at any position of a track member of the golf club head. In other words, a golf club having a swingweight neutral golf club head has a swingweight that varies less than 1.75 inch-oz and preferably a swingweight that varies less than 0.75 inch-oz. The track member 690 is configured such that the golf club head is swingweight neutral when provided as a part of a golf club with an appropriately weighted shaft and grip.
In another example, a swingweight neutral adjustment feature may comprise a golf club with plural weight ports oriented relative to each other in such a manner that a weight interchanged among them results in a substantially constant swingweight or expected swingweight of a club head when associated with a shaft of a constant length. In other cases, plural weight ports of different locations about a club head and plural weight elements of different masses may be arranged in predetermined and known manners that result in substantially constant swingweight. In such particular cases, instructions or borne-on indicia is preferably provided for guiding the user in how to assemble weights in a manner that maintains a desired swingweight. This feature is particularly suitable for wedge-type club heads where swingweight maintenance can be a large concern with shorter conventional shaft lengths, and the likelihood that weight elements constitute a larger proportion of an overall club head mass.
The ability to adjust the CG location of a golf club head by simply translating a weight member along a track member of a golf club head without changing the golf club's swingweight can be advantageous to a golfer who has a preference for a certain swingweight. Often, swingweight is associated with how the golf club feels to the golfer during a golf swing and so changing the swingweight can adversely affect the golf club's performance and the golfer's confidence. At the same time, the golfer may, for example, prefer to position the golf club head's CG more towards the club head's toe to optimize a tendency to impact the ball on the toe side of the golf club face. A swingweight neutral golf club head, as exemplified by the golf club head 600 in
In other embodiments of the disclosure (or as additional features of any of the above embodiments), adjusting a translatable weight member's position along a track member of a head of a golf club allows a golfer to tune the golf club's swingweight to a preferred swingweight. In these embodiments, a track member extends from an upper heel portion of a rear surface of a golf club head to a lower toe portion. When the weight member is positioned at an upper heel end of the track member, the golf club has a first swingweight substantially lower than a second swingweight when the weight member is positioned at a lower toe end of the track member. Preferably, the first swingweight is at least 1.75 inch-oz less than the second swingweight. Even more preferably, the first swingweight is at least 3.50 inch-oz less than the second swingweight. Advantageously, the weight member may be positioned at other positions along the track member to allow a golfer to fine tune the golf club's swingweight.
In one embodiment, a golf club has a minimal swingweight when a weight member is positioned in a heelward most extent of the track member. The golf club has a second swingweight that is at least 1.75 inch-oz greater than the first swingweight when the weight member is positioned at a central position of the track member. The golf club has a third swingweight that is at least 3.50 inch-oz greater than the first swingweight and greater than the second swingweight when the weight member is positioned at a toemost extent of the track member.
In addition, the rear surface 764 of the golf club head 700 or the track member 790 may be marked by gradations or other indicia (not shown) to denote positions along the track member that correlate to a change in swingweight. The ability to adjust a golf club's swingweight provides significant benefits for golfers. Commonly, golfers affix some amount of lead tape to the golf club's head or grip to make the golf club match a desired swingweight. However, lead tape can easily come off during play and may be visually distracting or aesthetically unpleasing.
Further, the length and position of the tape placement must be optimized, which may be cumbersome without access and use of a swingweight scale. The above described swingweight adjustable golf club head embodiments make such use of lead tape unnecessary.
Referring to
The track member 890 is up to 30 mm in length. In a preferred embodiment, the track member 890 is between 15 mm and 25 mm in length. The magnitude of CGD can be adjusted by up to 10 mm. The maximum CGD change by translating the weight member is at least 3 mm. In one or more embodiments, the maximum CGD change is at least 5 mm.
In one or more embodiments, the CGD increases linearly with rearward displacement of the weight member. In such embodiments, the track member extends parallel to the depth axis of the golf club head.
In embodiments of the disclosure where the depth of CG is adjustable, such as those shown in
In one or more embodiments of a CGD adjustable golf club head, at least a portion of a track member is non-parallel to a face plane of the golf club head. For example, when the golf club 800 in
As another example, when the golf club head 900 in
A sufficiently dense material is necessary to effectively change a golf club head's CG location. A translatable weight member according to the embodiments described above can have densities equal to or greater than a density of a main body of the golf club head. In preferred embodiments, the weight density is greater than 7,750 kg/m3. For example, a translatable weight member can comprise mainly stainless steel, tungsten, or a tungsten alloy. In some embodiments, the weight member comprises more than one material and one side of the weight member may be heavier than another such that rotation of the weight member provides an additional degree of CG adjustability.
A translatable weight member can have a mass of up to 50 g and is at least 5 g. Preferably, the mass is between 15 g and 40 g. This particular range ensures the mass is sufficient to alter the center of gravity location of the club head in a manner effective to counter-act a common degree of slice or draw, effect an appreciable reduction or addition of spin to an impacted golf ball, and/or increment swingweight by at least one standard swingweight interval. The weight member may be circular or may be another shape. By configuring the weight member to exhibit a non-circular planer shape, e.g. a polygonal shape such as a square or hexagon, the weight member may bear built-in rotation-inhibiting attributes relative to the track member in which it is located, which may add to the secure placement of the weight member.
According to some embodiments, a track member comprises a groove or a rib. In one or more embodiments, the track member is recessed from the surrounding surface such that a weight member surface is flush. The translatable weight member comprises a coupling member that allows the weight member to be retained onto the track member and for the weight member to be translated to any point along the track member. For example, the track member may comprise a rib having a T-shaped cross-section and the coupling member may comprise a compatibly shaped groove.
According to the USGA Rules, all parts of a golf club head must be fixed. In other words, no part of a golf club head may exhibit movement relative to any other part thereof when subject to an external force. In the above embodiments, a fastening member, such as a set screw, locks the weight member onto a position of the track member so that the weight member is stationary when the golf club head is in use. The fastening member need not be discrete and may be integrated as part of the translatable weight member.
In contrast to other mass adjustable golf clubs, such as those incorporating interchangeable weight members in a limited number of fixed weight ports, by providing an adjustable CG location through the coupling of one or more translatable weight members to one or more track members on a rear side of the golf club head, golfers can tune the mass distribution of a golf club head to any point within a range of configurations. In doing so, golfers can, for example, optimize moments of inertia of the golf club head (e.g., about a vertical axis through the golf club head's CG, Izz, or about a horizontal axis through the golf club head's CG parallel to the face, Ixx) to match their swing tendencies and swing speed, and thus optimize the golf club head's feel during a swing. In embodiments of the golf club head where the weight member is translated generally laterally, Izz can be adjusted by up to 1,200 g*cm2. In embodiments where the weight member is translated generally from a topline to sole direction, the Ixx can be adjusted by up to 500 g*cm2.
For example, Table 1 lists physical properties of an exemplary golf club head having a rear surface track mounted weight member that is translatable laterally (i.e., in a heel to toe direction). The weight member has a mass of 35 g that is positioned at the center, heel end, or toe end of the track member for the data shown. Importantly, translating the weight member laterally shifts the CGO and changes the MOI about a vertical axis through the CG, Izz, by up to 852 g*cm2 while the MOI about a horizontal axis through the CG (parallel to face) remains relatively unchanged.
In one or more embodiments, a wedge-type golf club head having a track mounted weight member has an adjustable CGD and an adjustable MOI. In these embodiments, translating the weight member to increase CGD effectively increases the golf club head's Izz by up to 1,000 g*cm2. Preferably, a maximum Izz change of such a CGD adjustable golf club head is at least 250 g*cm2. Even more preferably, the maximum Izz change is at least 500 g*cm2.
Golfers may also prefer to adjust the golf club head's CG location to account for playing conditions. For example, factors such as course moisture level and wind speeds can favor golf shots with a certain level of spin. Advantageously, a CG adjustable wedge-type golf club provides for such customization without the need, for example, to affix lead tape.
The contour plot shown in
While the track members shown in the drawings extend linearly, curvilinear track members are also possible to accommodate various shapes, surface contours, and weight distributions in golf club heads and thus may vary to a degree from optimal orientation without being considered to deviate from the spirit of this disclosure.
Although the golf club heads shown in
The particulars shown herein are by way of example only for purposes of illustrative discussion, and are not presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, no attempt is made to show any more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the different features of the various embodiments, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how these may be implemented in practice.
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