This Application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-147856 filed Jun. 29, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a putter head for a putter for golf, and more particularly, relates to a putter head including a face insert mounted in a face surface of a head main body thereof.
The putter for golf is a club for use mainly for hitting a ball on a green to roll the ball toward a cup. The putter head may be constructed so as to soften a feeling of putting by mounting a face insert in a face surface thereof.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-117635 describes an invention that the face insert is constructed of a high hardness portion and a low hardness portion whereas the high hardness portion is formed such that a thickness thereof decreases gradually from its central portion to its peripheral portion. A putter head using this face insert has a characteristic that the feeling of putting is soft and a putting sound is high.
An object of the present invention is to provide a putter head which ensures an excellent straight advancement of a hit ball.
To achieve the above-described object, according to the present invention, there is provided a putter head having a head main body and a face insert mounted in a face surface of the head main body, the face insert having at least one low hardness portion and at least one high hardness portion, in which the face insert has a boundary face between the at least one low hardness portion and the at least one high hardness portion which is inclined relative to a back-to-forth direction of the putter head.
The face insert may include a plurality of the low hardness portions and a plurality of the high hardness portions so that the low hardness portions and the high hardness portions can be arranged in multiple layers along a direction from a top side to a sole side of the putter head.
The face insert may further include a surface layer of synthetic resin or metal on a front face of the face insert.
Each of the plurality of the high hardness portions may be separated from a front face of the face insert by the low hardness portions so that two low hardness portions adjacent to the high hardness portion can be combined with each other before a front edge of the high hardness portion and the plurality of the low hardness portions can be continuous with each other.
The face insert may have groove portions formed in a front face of the face insert, the groove portions reaching each front edge portion of the plurality of the high hardness portion which recedes relative to each front face of the plurality of the low hardness portions.
The boundary face may decline toward the rear.
The boundary face may rise toward the rear.
The head main body may have a depressed portion in which the face insert is disposed so that a side surface around the face insert can be apart from a side surface of the depressed portion.
The putter head may further include a viscoelastic material applied between the side surface of the face insert and the side surface of the depressed portion.
In the face insert of the putter head of the present invention, because the boundary face between the low hardness portion and the high hardness portion is inclined relative to the back-to-forth direction of the putter head, the spin such as overspin and backspin of the hit ball can be improved.
When the low hardness portions and the high hardness portions are arranged vertically in multiple layers as mentioned above, even if there are variations in ball hitting position in a vertical direction, variations of the spin improvement mentioned above can be eliminated.
When the surface layer of synthetic resin or metal is provided on the front face of the face insert as mentioned above, the feeling of putting a ball can be adjusted by selecting material of the synthetic resin. Additionally, it is easy to form an entire surface of the face with an even appearance.
In cases in which a low hardness portion above the high hardness portion and a high hardness portion under the high hardness portion are combined with each other before a front edge of the high hardness portion such that both the low hardness portions are continuous with each other as mentioned above, the same advantage can be secured.
By forming the groove portions in the front face of the face insert as mentioned above, spin becomes likely to be applied to a ball.
When the face surface of the head main body is provided with the depressed portion and the face insert is disposed within this depressed portion, by providing a gap around the face insert and applying viscoelastic material therein, there is an effect of preventing deformation of the face insert containing differences in hardness and having an inclined boundary face therein from being suppressed.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The depressed portion 2H and the face insert 3 are of a substantially rectangular shape which is horizontally long. The depth of the depressed portion 2H is entirely even and the thickness of the face insert 3 is entirely even. However, they may be provided partly with a deep portion or a thick portion or may be provided partly with a shallow portion or a thin portion.
The lateral and vertical widths of the face insert 3 are slightly smaller than those of the depressed portion 2H and there is a slight gap 4 between top, bottom, right and left side faces 3S of the face insert 3 and the peripheral face 2S of the depressed portion 2H. Preferably, the width of this gap 4 is 0.1 to 1 mm, particularly 0.2 to 0.8 mm. Regarding the size of the face insert 3, the vertical width is preferred to be 16 to 30 mm, particularly 18 to 25 mm, the lateral width is preferred to be 50 to 150 mm, particularly 70 to 100 mm and the thickness is preferred to be 2 to 10 mm, particularly 3 to 6 mm. However, they are not limited to these values.
As shown in
In this embodiment, the sectional shapes taken perpendicularly to the back-to-forth direction of the high hardness portion 3a and the low hardness portion 3b are substantially of a right triangle. A front end of the high hardness portion 3a reaches the front face of the face insert 3. A boundary face between the high hardness portion 3a and the low hardness portion 3b is an inclined face which declines toward the rear. The declining gradient θ of this inclined face is preferred to be 20° to 86°, particularly 30° to 84°. As a result, as compared to ordinary putters, the degree of backspin (i.e., inverse rotation) when a ball is hit is reduced and straight advancement is improved.
As material of the high hardness portion 3a, hard plastic or synthetic resin such as polyester, nylon and urethane and metal such as aluminum, titanium, copper and alloys thereof are preferable. As material of the low hardness portion 3b, materials having elasticity such as thermoplastic elastomer and rubber are preferable. The face insert 3 may be produced by connecting the high hardness portion 3a and the low hardness portion 3b together by bonding or welding. Alternatively, it is permissible to dispose the high hardness portion 3a within a mold and insert-mold the low hardness portion 3b by injecting corresponding material into the mold.
The face insert 3 is disposed within the depressed portion 2H with a left side face in
A putter is constructed by connecting a shaft to a hosel portion 1h of the putter head 1 having the above-described construction. When a ball is putted with this putter (a ball on the green is putted with a face surface), the face surface of the putter strongly pushes an upper area of the ball so that overspin is likely to be applied to the ball because of the above-mentioned inclined face, whereby straight advancement of the hit ball is improved.
According to the present invention, as shown in a face insert 3A of
According to the present invention, as shown in a face insert 3B of
According to the present invention, as shown in a face insert 3C of
The vertical width of the inlet of the groove portion 3g is preferred to be 0.3 to 1.6 mm, particularly 0.4 to 0.8 mm, and the depth of the groove portion is preferred to be 0.05 to 1.1 mm, particularly 0.07 to 0.5 mm. Although the grooves may have only the same cross section, they may have multiple kinds of cross sections.
In the above-described embodiments, the face insert is so constructed that the high hardness portions and the low hardness portions are provided as a set vertically in multiple layers. However, as shown in a face insert 3D of
Because the thickness of the low hardness portion 3i in the back-to-forth direction of the head (width in a right-to-left direction of the low hardness portion 3i in
Although according to the above-described embodiments, the boundary face between the low hardness portion and the high hardness portion is inclined such that it descends toward the rear of the head, conversely, the boundary face may be inclined such that it rises toward the rear of the head.
A face insert 3′ of
When a ball is hit with a putter having the face inserts 3′, 3C′, back spin becomes likely to be applied to the ball due to an effect in which the loft angle is increased by the inclined face, thereby preventing the ball from rolling easily.
In a face insert 3E of
In a face insert 3F of
When a ball is hit with a putter having the face inserts 3E, 3F of
Although referring to
Other configurations in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2010-147856 | Jun 2010 | JP | national |