Patent Application
20240316417
Golfers are increasingly demanding greater performance from their equipment. As golf equipment is regulated with particular attention to limiting shot distance, a performance metric of increasing significance is shot dispersion. This metric has special significance for higher-lofted, wedge-type golf clubs, which are often used to hit shots at shorter distances to the pin thus requiring greater precision and control than, say, drives. For mid to high handicap golfers, shot dispersion tends to be significantly greater than for low handicap and professional golfers. Over the years, “game improvement” wedge-type golf club heads have been developed to help to lower this increased shot dispersion. Such golf club heads often include perimeter weighting and rear cavities that attempt to provide a larger sweet area and greater forgiveness on off-center impact.
One reason for the increased shot dispersion among higher handicap golfers is that, often, the swing tendencies of these golfers are such that they tend to make impact with the golf ball in a less than ideal impact location of the golf club head's face. Higher handicap golfers tend to make more inconsistent contact with the golf ball and thus may benefit from using club heads with a larger sweet area. However, conventional club heads, particularly higher-lofted club heads—in combination with increasing sweet area—may not have adequately accounted for impact tendencies of higher-handicapped golfers in a generalized sense. For example, simply increasing sweet area may not sufficiently account for a particular subset of golfers' tendency to impact golf balls at an average point of contact offset as compared to, say, a different subset or a generalized notion of the set of golfers as a whole.
High handicap golfers tend to hit toward the toe side of the golf club head. This tendency is problematic. Due to the conventionally asymmetric shaping of iron and wedge-type golf club heads, the center of gravity (CG) of golf club heads is often heel-side biased. Generally, golfers want to make impact on the “sweet spot” of the golf club head's face, which is the CG location projected onto the face, to impart optimum velocity, trajectory, and spin to the golf ball. Hitting farther away on average from this sweet spot can greatly magnify the effects of overall inconsistent ball contact. Attempts to provide a mass-centered golf club head by, e.g., moving discretionary mass from the heel side of the golf club head to the toc side, can result in a golf club head that appears unbalanced, which may be distracting to the golfer or miscommunicate to the golfer the effectiveness of the club head. Other efforts to provide a more centered golf club head, e.g., by adding high density weighting on the toe side of the golf club head, can be expensive and require undue structuring that could compromise other desirable aspects of the club head.
Thus, there is a need for a game improvement wedge-type golf club head that is forgiving yet takes into account specific tendencies of high handicap golfers.
A golf club head according to a non-limiting example of the present disclosure may, when oriented in a reference position, thus include: a loft no less than 40 degrees; a striking face having a face center and a virtual striking face plane generally parallel to the striking face; a virtual center plane that is vertical and perpendicular to the virtual striking face plane and includes the face center; a sole portion having an upper sole surface and a bottom sole surface; a top portion opposite the sole portion; a toe portion; a heel portion opposite the toc portion; a rear face; a recess extending in a heel-to-toe direction along the upper sole surface and having a depth that varies in the heel-to-toe direction such that a first depth corresponds with a first location heelward of the face center and a second depth corresponds with a second location toe-ward of the face center, the first depth being no less than 10 mm and greater than the second depth by at least 5 mm; an insert received in the recess, the insert having a density no greater than 7.0 g/cm3; and a center of gravity of the golf club head that is spaced no greater than 5.0 mm from the virtual center plane measured in the heel-to-toe direction.
Another golf club head according to a non-limiting example of the present disclosure may, when oriented in a reference position, in turn include: a loft no less than 40 degrees; a striking face having a face center, a leading edge, and a virtual striking face plane generally parallel to the striking face; a sole portion; a top portion; a toe portion; a heel portion opposite the toe portion; a virtual vertical center plane, perpendicular to the virtual striking face plane and passing through the face center; and a hosel. The hosel may include a hosel wall having a thickness no greater than 2.0 mm and defining a virtual central hosel axis, the hosel wall having an exterior surface and an interior surface; and an internal bore formed by the hosel wall, the internal bore configured to receive a golf club shaft. An indentation may be located on the exterior surface of the hosel, the indentation including: a first leg that extends in a first direction; and a second leg that extends in a second direction that is offset from the first direction by an angle no less than 75 degrees and no greater than 135 degrees. And a center of gravity of the golf club head may be spaced no greater than 5.0 mm from the virtual vertical center plane.
And in yet another non-limiting example of the present disclosure, a golf club head may, when oriented in a reference position, include: a loft no less than 40 degrees; a striking face having a face center, a leading edge, and a virtual striking face plane generally parallel to the striking face; a virtual center plane that is vertical and perpendicular to the virtual striking plane and includes the face center; a sole portion having an upper sole surface and a bottom sole surface; a top portion opposite the sole portion; a toe portion; a heel portion opposite the toe portion; a rear face; a recess extending in a heel-to-toe direction along the upper sole surface and having a depth that varies in the heel-to-toe direction such that a first depth corresponds with a first location heelward of the face center and a second depth corresponds with a second location toe-ward of the face center, the first depth being no less than 10 mm and greater than the second depth by at least 5 mm; and a hosel. The hosel may include: a hosel wall having a thickness no greater than 2.0 mm and defining a virtual central hosel axis, the hosel wall having an exterior surface and an interior surface; and an internal bore formed by the hosel wall, the internal bore configured to receive a golf club shaft. An indentation may be located on the exterior surface of the hosel, the indentation including: a first leg that extends in a first direction; and a second leg that extends in a second direction that is offset from the first direction by an angle no less than 75 degrees and no greater than 135 degrees. And a center of gravity of the golf club head may be spaced no greater than 5.0 mm from the virtual center plane.
These and other features and advantages of the invention in its various aspects and demonstrated by one or more of the various examples will become apparent after consideration of the ensuing description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
And
Shown in, e.g.,
The golf club head 100 may be bounded by a toe 102, a heel 104 opposite the toe 102, a top portion 106, and a sole portion 108 opposite the top portion 106. A hosel 120 having an internal bore 124 for securing the club head 100 to an associated shaft (not shown) may extend from the area adjacent the heel 104. The hosel 120 may in turn define a virtual central hosel axis 122 and have a hosel outer diameter 123. The club head 100 may further include a striking face 130 at a front portion thereof. The striking face 130 is the substantially planar exterior surface part of the front portion that generally conforms to a virtual striking face plane 132 and that is arranged to contact a golf ball at a factory-designated loft angle 134 taken between the striking face plane 132 and the central hosel axis 122. This loft angle 134 may be no less than 40 degrees.
Additionally, the striking face 130 may be formed with surface features that increase traction between the striking face 130 and a struck golf ball to ensure both good contact with the ball (for example, in wet conditions) and impart a degree of spin to the ball, e.g., for stability in flight or to control better a struck golf ball once it has returned to the ground by way of backspin. Included in these surface features may be a grid of substantially parallel horizontal grooves or scorelines 150. The scorelines 150 may extend from a toe-ward extent 152 to a heel-ward extent 154 and from an upper extent 156 closest to the top portion 106 to a lower extent 158 closest to the sole portion 108. A face center 136 of the striking face 130 may be halfway between the heel-most extent 154 and the toe-most extent 152 of the scorelines 150 in the heel-to-toe direction and halfway between the uppermost extent 156 and the lowermost extent 158 of the scorelines 150 in the top-to-sole direction. And as shown particularly in
The golf club head 100 in
The golf club head 100 may have a center of gravity 170 spaced in the heel-to-toe direction by a distance 172 from a virtual vertical center plane 174 that passes through the face center 136 of the striking face 130 and is perpendicular to the striking face plane 132 that is generally parallel to the striking face 130. As shown in
The hosel 120 may also be particularly structured to discreetly but substantially shift the center of gravity 170 of the golf club head 100 more towards the toe portion 102. As shown in
In one or more embodiments, the internal hosel bore 124 of the golf club head's hosel 120 may have a depth 125, as measured along the central hosel axis 122 from an upper end of the hosel, of no less than 40 mm. In one or more embodiments, the internal bore depth 125 may be no less than 44 mm. The internal bore depth 125 may be such that the structural integrity of the hosel 120 and the golf club head 100 is not compromised. Preferably, the internal hosel bore 124 may not extend entirely through the golf club head 100. In other words, the hosel bore 124 may not extend through the sole portion 108 of the golf club head 100. Accordingly, structural difficulties such as appropriately contouring the sole surface to be flush with adjacent surfaces and/or exhibit a particularly suitable camber may be avoided as well as the manufacturing expenses associated therewith.
In one or more embodiments, and as further shown in
In one or more embodiments, and as shown in
As further shown in
In each of the aforementioned embodiments, mass is generally removed from the hosel portion. This strategy is believed to bear several surprising benefits. For example, through inspection, the hosel 120 has been identified as a region of a golf club head in which mass could be removed without substantial detriment to the feel and performance of the club head, e.g., the hosel is believed to conventionally include a high proportion of discretionary mass and may be considered overweight. Second, in the context of the overall goal of shifting the center of gravity 170 toc-ward, mass removal from the hosel may be considered to serve multiple purposes. The mass removal itself significantly shifts the center of gravity toe-ward due to the natural heel-ward location of the hosel. Also, the resulting discretionary mass removed from the hosel may be advantageously re-positioned in a toc-ward location provided an overall club head mass budget. Third, mass could be removed from the hosel in a manner that is discreet. For example, removing material about the internal bore 124 or reducing the hosel wall thickness 121 is not discernible to an observer once a shaft is affixed atop the hosel.
As mentioned previously, in one or more embodiments, the golf club head 100 may include the upper blade portion 162 and the lower muscle portion 164 proximate and formed in the sole portion 108. Nonetheless, a perimeter weighting element 190 may span about the periphery of the rear surface of the club head to form therebetween a rear cavity 192. As shown in
This sole wall portion 198 may have a varying wall height measured parallel to the striking face plane 132 in a direction perpendicular to the heel-to-toe direction, i.e., a direction perpendicular to the direction of scorelines 150 of the striking face 130. The secondary recess 194 may preferably extend and, thus, the upwardly extending sole wall portion 198 may preferably be formed such that, as shown in
Preferably, H3 may be less than H2 and H2 may be greater than or equal to 15 mm primarily as a result of the oblique dimensioning of the upper surface 109 of the sole portion 108 to be obliquely angled in the heel-to-toe direction. The height H of the upwardly extending sole wall portion 198 may generally be considered to be commensurate with a corresponding secondary recess depth, d, at the same heel-to-toc location and thus all recitations of heights H herein should be considered to implicitly disclose corresponding secondary recess depths d of the same values.
In one or more of the embodiments described above, preferably all cross-sectional locations, i.e., the first, second and third locations at distances D1, D2, and D3 may pass through a portion of the secondary recess 194. Furthermore, preferably, the average depth of the portion of the secondary recess 194 extending toc-ward of the virtual central vertical plane 174 is no greater than 10 mm, more preferably no greater than 5.0 mm, and even more preferably between about 2.0 mm and 5.0 mm. Additionally, or alternatively, the average depth of the portion of the secondary recess 194 extending heel-ward of the virtual vertical central plane 174 may preferably be no less than 10 mm, more preferably between 10 mm and 25 mm, even more preferably between 12 mm and 20 mm, and yet even more preferably equal to about 15 mm. Additionally, or alternatively, a difference between the depth, d2, of the secondary recess at the second location at D2 and the depth, d1, of the recess at the first location D1 may be no less than 2.0 mm, more preferably greater than 5.0 mm, even more preferably between 5.0 mm and 25 mm, and yet even more preferably between 5.0 mm and 20 mm. Alternatively, or in addition, a ratio d1/d2 may be no less than 0.10, more preferably between 0.10 and 0.50, even more preferably between 0.10 and 0.30. Additionally, or alternatively, the secondary recess 194 may comprise a maximum depth, dmax, located heel-ward of the virtual vertical central plane 174. The depth dmax may preferably be no less than 15 mm, more preferably no less than 20 mm.
In one or more embodiments, the secondary recess 194 may have a recess bottom surface 195 that is substantially farther from a virtual horizontal center plane, which passes through the face center and is parallel to the scorelines 150, on the heel side than on the toc side. The recess bottom surface 195 may be planar, e.g., parallel to the virtual ground plane 142, or it may follow a contour of the sole portion 108 of the golf club head 100.
In one or more embodiments, the golf club head 100 may further include a recess insert. For practical reasons, this insert has been omitted from some of
In some such embodiments, the insert may entirely fill the secondary recess 194 and may in such cases comprise a co-molded component or a poured in component permitted to cure in place subsequent to the formation of the main body of the club head 100. Alternatively, the insert may be an after-attached component secured by chemical means, adhesive material such as two-sided adhesive tape optionally including a visco-clastic layer or element, mechanical fastening, interference fit, bonding, welding, or brazing. However, the recess insert preferably only partially fills the secondary recess. That is, the recess insert may be smaller in at least one of a top-to-sole direction and a striking face-to-rear direction than a corresponding dimension of the secondary recess 194 or otherwise permit gapping between the insert and the main body of the club head. In some embodiments, the insert may comprise a cap element providing for a flush upper surface of the sole portion 108 while leaving a majority, more preferably at least 80% of the volume of the secondary recess 194 to be hollow.
A lower portion of the recess insert may be sized such that only a part of the secondary recess 194 is filled by the lower portion. In such an embodiment, a gap, optionally a substantially or fully enclosed hollow region, is formed between the insert and the sole portion 108. One manufacturing advantage of this feature is that the same design for the insert may be utilized for a variety of golf club heads having, e.g., different lofts, which may have differently sized secondary recesses to optimize the mass properties for each loft. Alternatively, hollow portions may be formed elsewhere between the insert and the main body of the club head 100 and, in some cases, entirely within the insert itself. In some embodiments, the insert may be smaller in volume than the secondary recess 194 such that at least a portion, or in some embodiments, the entirety of, the insert is recessed below the peripheral edge of the secondary recess 194. In other cases, preferably, the insert top surface may be substantially flush with the adjacent edge of the secondary recess 194. In yet other cases, the insert at least partially protrudes from the adjacent contour of the sole portion 108.
Regardless of the length or depth of the secondary recess 194 shown in the figures, the recess insert preferably constitutes an opaque, or semi-opaque material and preferably obscures the dimensions of the secondary recess from view. In other words, the insert is preferably configured and secured to the main body such that a golfer is not able to discern a recess in the upper sole surface that is substantially deeper on the heel side because the recess insert extends in a heel-to-toe direction and covers the secondary recess 194 in any of the manners described above.
As noted above, and as shown in
Further, compared to prior art golf club heads, and as shown in
While various features have been described in conjunction with the examples outlined above, various alternatives, modifications, variations, and/or improvements of those features and/or examples may be possible. Accordingly, the examples, as set forth above, are intended to be only illustrative. Various changes may be made without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the underlying principles.
This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 17/476,759 filed Sep. 16, 2021, which is a Divisional of application Ser. No. 16/734,851 filed Jan. 6, 2020, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/846,085, filed May 10, 2019. The disclosure of that prior application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62846085 | May 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16734851 | Jan 2020 | US |
| Child | 17476759 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17476759 | Sep 2021 | US |
| Child | 18678329 | US |
