Metal wood club with improved hitting face

• US 20030195058A1
• Filed: 05/01/2003
• Published: 10/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Rice, Scott A., Nardacci, Nicholas M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,029,403 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/329
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0416 Heads having an impact surface provided by a face insert
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0458 with non-uniform 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 60/42 Devices for measuring, verifying, correcting or customising the inherent characteristics of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like, e.g. measuring the maximum torque a batting shaft can withstand
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/014 Resonance or resonant frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02854 Length, thickness
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/045 by imparting shocks to the workpiece and detecting the vibrations or the acoustic waves caused by the shocks measuring resonant frequency G01H13/00; measuring strength properties by application of mechanical stress G01N3/00

Abstract

A golf club head having selectively oriented zones of relatively high flexural stiffness is disclosed. The hitting face is configured and dimensioned so that it includes an inner zone and a concentric intermediate zone. The inner zone has relatively high flexural stiffness and the intermediate zone has relatively lower flexural stiffness. The inner zone may have an elliptical shape or a substantially parallelogram shape. Preferably, the inner zone has a shape that comprises a major axis and a minor axis and the major axis aligns substantially in the direction of high heel to low toe. This arrangement of inner and intermediate zones creates a gradient of flexural stiffness in the direction of high toe to low heel and produces a desirable manipulation COR in that direction. This area of high coefficient of restitution advantageously coincides with the ball impact pattern that golfers typically make on the hitting face. The hitting face also comprises a measurement zone wherein the lowest COR is at least 93% of the highest COR.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising a hitting face wherein the hitting face comprises an elliptical inner zone having a first flexural stiffness and a first major axis, and at least a concentric intermediate zone having a second flexural stiffness, wherein the first flexural stiffness is higher than the second flexural stiffness and wherein the first major axis of the elliptical inner zone forms a first angle from about 10°

to about 60°

with a shaft axis of the club head.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the first angle is about 20°

to about 50°

.

3. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein the first angle is about 25°

to about 45°

.

4. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the hitting face further comprises a distribution of coefficient of restitution, said distribution has a second major axis, and wherein the second major axis lies in the direction of high toe to low heel.

5. The golf club head of claim 4, wherein the hitting face comprises a rectangular measurement zone of 0.5 inch by 1.0 inch, wherein the lowest coefficient of restitution within said zone is at least about 93% of the peak coefficient of restitution within said zone.

6. The golf club head of claim 5, wherein said measurement zone comprises a geometric center of the hitting face.

7. The golf club head of claim 6, wherein the geometric center of the hitting face is located at the center of the rectangular measurement zone.

8. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the inner zone has a thickness of about 1.5 mm to about 7.5 mm.

9. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the intermediate zone has a thickness of about 0.8 mm to about 3.0 mm.

10. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the hitting face is made of a material comprising titanium.

11. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the inner zone further comprises a first minor axis and wherein the ratio of the length of the first major axis to the length of first minor axis is greater than 1.0.

12. The golf club head of claim 11, wherein said ratio is less than about 6.0.

13. The golf club bead of claim 11, wherein the intersection of the first major axis and the minor axis is located at a distance of less than 0.100 inch from a geometric center of the hitting face.

16. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the center of gravity of the golf club head is located about ±

0.050 inch on an X-axis and about −

0.050 inch to about −

0.150 inch on a Z-axis and about 2.0 inch on a Y-axis with respect to a geometric center of the hitting face, wherein the X-axis is defined as a horizontal axis tangent to a geometric center of the hitting face with the positive direction toward the heel of the club head, the Y-axis is a horizontal axis orthogonal to the X-axis with the positive direction toward the rear of the club head and the Z-axis is orthogonal to both the X- and Y-axes with the positive direction toward the crown of the club head, and wherein the three axes intersect at the geometric center of the hitting face.

17. The golf club head of claim 16, wherein the center of gravity of the golf club head is located about 0.015 on the X-axis, about −

0.110 inch on the Z-axis and about 1.35 inch on the Y-axis.

18. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the elliptical inner zone comprises non-circular shapes that have a major axis and minor axis.

19. The golf club head of claim 18, wherein the non-circular shapes are selected from a group consisting of any quadrilateral shapes, geometrical ellipses, quadrilateral shapes with one or more rounded corner(s) and unsymmetrical elliptical shapes.

14. The golf club head of claim 14, wherein said intersection is located less than 0.050 inch from the geometric center of the hitting face.

15. The golf club head of claim 15, wherein said intersection is located less than 0.025 inch from the geometric center of the hitting face.

20. A golf club comprising a hitting face wherein the hitting face has a flexural stiffness that varies across the hitting face, wherein the hitting face comprises a distribution of coefficient of restitution that has a second major axis and wherein the second major axis of the distribution runs substantially in the direction of high toe to low heel.

21. The golf club of claim 20, wherein the hitting face further comprises an elliptical inner zone having a first flexural stiffness and a first major axis, and at least a concentric intermediate zone having a second flexural stiffness, wherein the first flexural stiffness is higher than the second flexural stiffness and wherein the first major axis of the elliptical inner zone forms a first angle in the range of about 10°

to about 60°

with a shaft axis of the club head.

22. The golf club of claim 21, wherein the first angle is about 20°

to about 50°

.

23. The golf club of claim 22, wherein the first angle is about 25°

to about 45°

.

24. The golf club of claim 20, wherein the second major axis and a horizontal center line of the hitting face form a second angle of at least 5°

.

25. The golf club of claim 21, wherein the elliptical inner zone comprises non-circular shapes that have a major axis and minor axis.

26. The golf club of claim 25, wherein the non-circular shapes are selected from a group consisting of any quadrilateral shapes, geometrical ellipses, quadrilateral shapes with one or more rounded corner(s) and unsymmetrical elliptical shapes.

27. A golf club comprising a hitting face wherein the hitting face comprises a distribution of flexural stiffness having a first major axis and a distribution of coefficient of restitution having a second major axis, wherein the first major axis forms a first angle in the range of about 10°

to about 60°

with a shaft axis of the club head, and the second major axis and a horizontal center line of the hitting face form a second angle of at least about 5°

.

28. The golf club of claim 27, wherein the first angle is about 20°

to about 50°

.

29. The golf club of claim 27, wherein the first angle is about 25°

to about 45°

.

30. The golf club of claim 27, wherein the distribution of flexural stiffness comprises an elliptical inner zone having a first flexural stiffness, and at least a concentric intermediate zone having a second flexural stiffness, wherein the first flexural stiffness is higher than the second flexural stiffness.

31. A golf club head comprising a hitting face, wherein the hitting face comprises a rectangular measurement zone having dimensions of 1 inch by 0.5 inch, wherein within the measurement zone the lowest coefficient of restitution is at least about 93% of the highest coefficient of restitution within said zone.

32. The golf club head of claim 31, wherein said measurement zone comprises a geometric center of the hitting face.

33. The golf club head of claim 32, wherein the geometric center of the hitting face is located at the center of the rectangular measurement zone.

34. A golf club comprising a hitting face with a central area having a maximum thickness, the central area having a first generally parallelogram shape with an acute angle between about 40°

and about 85°

.

35. The golf club of claim 34 further comprising a second area having a minimum thickness with an inner perimeter defined by a second generally parallelogram shape.

36. The golf club of claim 34, wherein the acute angle is orientated in the direction of high heel to low toe.

37. The golf club of claim 34, wherein a major axis of the first generally parallelogram shape and a horizontal center line of the hitting face form angle of about 5°

to 45°

.

38. A golf club head comprising a face insert and a face support, wherein the face insert and the face support form a hitting face and wherein the hitting face comprises a maximum thickness inner zone located on the face insert.

39. The golf club head of claim 38 further comprising a minimum thickness intermediate area disposed on both the face insert and the face support.

40. The golf club head of claim 38, wherein the face support defines a cavity sized and dimensioned to receive the face insert.

41. The golf club head of claim 40, wherein said cavity is located on the hitting face.

42. The golf club head of claim 38, wherein the golf club head defines a cavity sized and dimensioned to receive the face insert.

43. The golf club head of claim 38, wherein the face insert comprises at least one side wall.

44. The golf club head of claim 43, wherein the at least one side wall is a partial crown portion.

45. The golf club head of claim 43, wherein the at least one side wall is a partial sole portion.