Golf club head

• US 10,065,083 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2015
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Co., Inc.
• Original Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Co., Inc.
• Inventors: Beach, Todd P., Sargent, Nathan T., Larsen, Peter L., Willett, Kraig Alan, Chao, Bing-Ling, Lorentzen, John Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Blau, Stephen
• Application Number:
  US14/862,438
• Publication Number:
  US 20160008682A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,077 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/00 Characteristics of used materials
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/02 with reinforcing fibres, e.g. carbon, polyamide fibres
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/04 Heads
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0412 Volume
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0416 Heads having an impact surface provided by a face insert
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/045 Strengthening ribs
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0454 Strengthening ribs on the rear surface of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0458 with non-uniform thickness of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0462 characterised by tapering thickness of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/08 with special arrangements for obtaining a variable impact
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/002 Resonance frequency related characteristics

Abstract

A golf club head is described having a body defining an interior cavity and comprising a heel portion, a toe portion, and a sole portion positioned at a bottom portion of the golf club head, and a crown positioned at a top portion. The body has a forward portion and a rearward portion. A face is positioned at the forward portion of the body. The face has a center face location and includes a center face characteristic time. An off-center location on the face is located at about −40 mm in a heel direction away from the center face location. The off-center location has an off-center characteristic time of at least 80% of the center face characteristic time.

Claims

1. A golf club head having a more consistent trajectory and distance on impact comprising:

a heel portion;

a toe portion;

a crown;

a sole; and

a face having a striking surface for striking a golf ball,

the face having an ideal impact location at a center of the striking surface defining the origin of a coordinate system including a horizontal axis that extends substantially parallel to the face and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in an address position, with the negative direction of the horizontal axis pointing toward the heel portion and the positive direction of the horizontal axis pointing toward the toe portion,

the face further having a first off-center location on the face located in a toe direction away from the center of the striking surface at 40 mm along the horizontal axis and a second off-center location on the face located in a heel direction away from the center of the striking surface at −

40 mm along the horizontal axis,

wherein a characteristic time at 10 mm increment locations on the face along the horizontal axis between the center of the striking surface and the second off-center location deviates from the characteristic time at the center of the striking surface by no more than 20%, wherein one or more ribs are positioned behind the face and extend across at least one of a crown-to-face transition and a sole-to-face transition to alter the stiffness of the striking surface thereby adjusting the characteristic time at various locations along the horizontal axis.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein the one or more ribs are lower ribs.

3. The golf club head of claim 2 wherein the characteristic time at the center of the striking face is between 230 μ

s and 257 μ

s.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein a characteristic time at each 10 mm spaced location on the face along the horizontal axis between the center of the striking face and −

40 mm deviates from the characteristic time at the center of the striking face by no more than 10%.

5. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein a characteristic time at each 10 mm spaced location on the face along the horizontal axis between the center of the striking face and −

40 mm deviates from the characteristic time at the center of the striking face by no more than 5%.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein the center of the striking face is offset along the horizontal axis from a center of gravity of the golf club head.

7. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein the face size is greater than 4,500 mm².

8. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein the face size is greater than 5,500 mm².

9. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein the golf club head has a volume between 400 cc and 500 cc.

10. The golf club head of claim 9 wherein the golf club head has a volume between 450 cc and 475 cc.

11. The golf club head of claim 1 wherein the golf club head is configured to produce a frequency of greater than 3000 Hz when striking a golf ball.

12. The golf club head of claim 11 wherein the frequency is less than 3500 Hz.

13. The golf club head of claim 1 further having a surface ratio of between about 0.70 to 0.96.

14. The golf club head of claim 1 further having a surface ratio of between about 0.80 to 0.90.

15. The golf club head of claim 1 in which the face has a varying thickness.

16. The golf club head of claim 15 in which a thickest portion of the face surrounds the ideal impact location.

17. The golf club head of claim 15 in which a thickness profile of the face defines an inverted cone shape with a thickest portion surrounding the ideal impact location.

18. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the one or more ribs comprise upper ribs spaced across the crown-to-face transition.

19. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the one or more ribs comprise five or more lower ribs spaced across the sole-to-face transition.

20. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the one or more ribs comprise three or more upper ribs spaced across a crown-to-face transition.

21. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the one or more ribs comprise five or more lower ribs spaced across the sole-to-face transition and three or more upper ribs spaced across the crown-to-face transition.

22. The golf club head of claim 21, wherein the upper ribs and the lower ribs each have a linear length between about 5 mm and about 30 mm.

23. The golf club head of claim 21, wherein the upper ribs and the lower ribs each have a linear length between about 15 mm and about 25 mm.

24. The golf club head of claim 21, wherein the lower ribs are spaced apart a distance between about 5 mm and about 30 mm, and the upper ribs are spaced apart a distance between about 5 mm and about 30 mm.

25. The golf club head of claim 21, wherein the lower ribs are spaced apart a distance between about 15 mm and about 25 mm, and the upper ribs are spaced apart a distance between about 15 mm and about 25 mm.

26. A golf club head providing a more consistent trajectory and distance on impact resulting from a relatively constant characteristic time at locations along a horizontal axis passing through an ideal impact location centered on a striking surface of the club, the club head comprising:

a heel portion;

a toe portion;

a crown;

a sole; and

a face comprising the striking surface, wherein the horizontal axis is generally parallel to the striking surface, the face further having a first off-center location on the face located in a toe direction away from the center of the striking surface at 40 mm and a second off-center location on the face located in a heel direction away from the center of the striking surface at −

40 mm;

and the characteristic time at 10 mm spaced locations along the horizontal axis between the ideal impact location and the second off-center location deviates less than 10% from the characteristic time at the ideal impact location, wherein the ideal impact location is offset along the horizontal axis from a center of gravity for the club head, wherein one or more ribs are positioned behind the face and extend across at least one of a crown-to-face transition and a sole-to-face transition to alter the stiffness of the striking surface thereby adjusting the characteristic time at various locations along the horizontal axis; and

wherein each rib is spaced between about 5 mm and 30 mm from adjacent ribs and having a thickness of less than about 10 mm.

27. The golf club head of claim 26 in which the face has a variable thickness comprising an inverted cone shape with its thickest portion surrounding the ideal impact location, the variable thickness adjusting the characteristic time at various locations along the horizontal axis.

28. The golf club head of claim 27 in which the face further includes a minimum thickness of the inverted cone shape and a peripheral end thickness, the peripheral end thickness being greater than the minimum thickness.

29. The golf club head of claim 28 in which the thickest portion has a thickness between about 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm, and the peripheral end thickness is between about 2.0 and 3.0 mm.

30. The golf club head of claim 26 in which the one or more ribs comprise a plurality of upper ribs spaced along the upper edge of the face.

31. The golf club head of claim 30 in which the one or more ribs comprise five lower ribs and three upper ribs.