Golf club head

• US 20050215354A1
• Filed: 03/15/2005
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Inventors: Kumamoto, Tomio
• Granted Patent: US 7,303,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/349
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/02 with reinforcing fibres, e.g. carbon, polyamide fibres
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0437 with special crown configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type

Abstract

An object of the invention is to improve a directionality of a hit ball. The invention provides a golf club head (1) having a face portion (3), a crown portion (4), a sole portion (5) and a side portion (6). The golf club head includes a head base body (M) made of a metal material and provided with at least one opening portion (O), and a cover body (FR) arranged in the opening portion (O) and made of a lower specific gravity material having a specific gravity smaller than the metal material. In a head toe side portion (1t) and a head heel side portion (1h) virtually sectioned by a vertical surface (VP) including a normal line (N) drawn from a head gravity point (G) to a face surface (2) in a standard state, a surface area (St) of the cover body (FR) covering the opening portion (O) included in the head toe side portion (1t) is made larger than a surface area (Sh) of the cover body (FR) covering the opening portion included in the head heel side portion (1h), and a weight (Wh) of the head heel side portion (1h) is set to 55 to 75% of the entire weight (W) of the head.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising:

a face portion hitting a ball;

a crown portion connected to the face portion and forming an upper surface of the head;

a sole portion connected to said face portion and forming a head bottom surface;

a side portion extending between said crown portion and said sole portion from a toe of the face portion through a back face to a heel,

wherein the golf club head includes a head base body made of a metal material and provided with at least one opening portion, and a cover body arranged in said opening portion and made of a lower specific gravity material having a specific gravity smaller than said metal material,

wherein said opening portion includes at least one of a crown opening portion open in said crown portion, a side opening portion open in said side portion and a sole opening portion open in said sole portion, and

wherein in a head toe side portion and a head heel side portion obtained by virtually sectioning the head by a vertical surface including a normal line drawn from the head gravity point to the face surface in a standard state of being mounted on a horizontal surface at prescribed lie angle and loft angle, a surface area St of a cover body closing said opening portion in said head toe side portion is made larger than a surface area Sh of a cover body closing the opening portion in said head heel side portion, and a weight Wh of the head heel side portion is set to 55 to 75% of the entire weight of the head.

2. A golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein a specific gravity of said low specific gravity material is 1.0 to 2.0, and a specific gravity of said metal material is 4.0 to 10.0.

3. A golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein said low specific gravity material is constituted by a fiber reinforced resin.

4. A golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein in said standard state, a moment of inertia around a vertical axis passing through a head gravity point is 3300 to 5500 (g·

cm²), and a head volume is 300 to 500 (cm³).

5. A golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein said opening portion is structured such that said crown opening portion, said side opening portion and said sole opening portion are connected, and is constituted by one extending to said sole portion from said crown portion across said side portion on a rear side of the head.