The present invention relates generally to a golf club head and, more particularly, to a putter head.
Putting is an important aspect of the game of golf. During a typical round of golf, a putter is the club most often used. To putt effectively, a golfer must predict a path of travel from the golf ball's stationary position to the cup. Then, using the putter, the golfer must strike the ball with the appropriate force and alignment to cause the ball to roll along the predicted path.
Misalignment of the putter with respect to the ball during impact, i.e., off-center hits, is a chief source of error in putting. Upon impact with the ball in an off-center hit, the putter undergoes angular acceleration, both longitudinally (i.e., about a heel-to-toe axis) and laterally (i.e., about a front-to-rear axis). This causes the ball to deviate from the predicted path. A club head's moment of inertia is a measure of the club's ability to resist angular acceleration about a particular axis. Although attempts have been made to counteract angular acceleration from off-center hits, they have been deficient in some respects. For example, prior approaches have not properly accounted for angular acceleration, about both longitudinal and lateral axes.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there exists a need for a putter having enhanced moment of inertia characteristics for improved off-center hit accuracy. The present invention fulfills this need and others.
A putter head is provided having enhanced moment of inertia and alignment characteristics. The putter head includes a front body and a weight body. The weight body has a central weight section extending rearwardly from the front body a prescribed distance to a rear weight section. The putter head is configured such that the rear weight section has a width less than the width of the front body and greater than a width of the central weight section. Thus, the putter head has relatively high longitudinal and lateral moments of inertia to offer greater forgiveness and increased accuracy during putts, even for off-center hits.
In a preferred embodiment, the central weight section includes at least one and more preferably two elongated, high-density elements, such as, tungsten rods, that are visible on a top surface of the sole between the front body and the rear weight section, and the rear weight section includes a rear weight element having a high density. The visibility of the elongated elements, with optional parallel marking(s) on the top surface, also act as alignment aids to the golfer.
In a detailed aspect of a preferred embodiment, the front body includes a face plate that defines at least a portion of the front surface.
In another detailed aspect of a preferred embodiment, the rear weight section has a height greater than the height of the sole and less than the height of the front body.
For purposes of summarizing the invention and the advantages achieved over the prior art, certain advantages of the invention have been described herein above. Of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
All of these embodiments are intended to be within the scope of the invention herein disclosed. These and other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular preferred embodiment(s) disclosed.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings in which:
With reference now to the illustrative drawings, and particularly
With reference now to
With reference now to
As shown in
It should be appreciated from the foregoing that the present invention provides a putter head having enhanced inertia and alignment characteristics. The putter head includes a front body and a weight body. The weight body has a central weight extending rearwardly from the front body a prescribed distance to a rear weight. The putter head is configured such that the rear weight has a width less than the width of the front body and greater than a width of the central weight. Thus, the putter head has relatively high longitudinal and lateral moments of inertia to offer greater forgiveness and increased accuracy during putts, even for off-center hits.
Although the invention has been disclosed in detail with reference only to the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional putter heads can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is defined only by the claims set forth below.
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