GOLF CLUB HEAD

• US 20160361614A1
• Filed: 06/08/2016
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Dunlop Sports Co. Ltd. (Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited)
• Inventors: ABE, Hiroshi, KOHNO, Daisuke
• Granted Patent: US 9,981,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/002 Resonance frequency related characteristics

Abstract

Provided is a golf club head capable of realizing a lower center of gravity without a weight member protruding from a sole portion. The golf club head according to the present invention includes a crown portion, a face portion, and a sole portion having at least one recessed portion. The recessed portion is configured to house the weight member such that the weight member does not protrude externally. The sole portion is provided with a raised portion including the recessed portion and protruding downward, and to be at least partially placed on a placement surface in a reference state. A center of the recessed portion is arranged further to a back side in a face-back direction and to a heel side in a toe-heel direction than a center of gravity of the head.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising:

a crown portion;

a face portion; and

a sole portion having at least one recessed portion,

wherein the recessed portion is configured to house a weight member such that the weight member does not protrude externally,

the sole portion includes;

a raised portion including the recessed portion and protruding downward, and to be at least partially placed on a placement surface in a reference state; and

a center of the recessed portion is arranged further to a back side in a face-back direction and to a heel side in a toe-heel direction than a center of gravity of the head.

2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein

the raised portion is surrounded by a first edge portion that runs along a vicinity of a boundary between the sole portion and the face portion, a second edge portion that extends from the heel side to a vicinity of a midpoint in the toe-heel direction, along a vicinity of a boundary between the sole portion and the crown portion, and a third edge portion that joins an end portion of the second edge portion on a toe side and an end portion of the first edge portion on the toe side.

3. The golf club head according to claim 2, wherein the second edge portion has a protruding portion formed by a part of a peripheral edge of the recessed portion protruding on the heel side.

4. The golf club head according to claim 1, further comprising:

a weight member that is to be arranged in the recessed portion.

5. The golf club head according to claim 4, wherein the recessed portion has a bottom surface that includes the center, the recessed portion has a fixing hole, at the center of the bottom surface, whose size is smaller than that of the recessed portion and that extends inward from the sole portion,

the weight member has a shaft portion,

the shaft portion of the weight member is fitted in the fixing hole.

6. The golf club head according to claim 5, wherein the weight member further has a head portion whose size is bigger than that of the shaft portion, the head portion of the weight member is arranged corresponding to the recessed portion.

7. The golf club head according to claim 4, further comprising:

a decoration member that is to be arranged in the recessed portion,

the decoration member is fixed in the recessed portion by the weight member.

8. The golf club head according to claim 7, wherein, in a plane view, the decoration member is bigger than the weight member and has a step portion that houses the head portion of the weight member at the center thereof,

the head portion of the weight member is housed in the step portion of the decoration member.

9. The golf club head according to claim 8, wherein an exposuer surface of the head portion of the weight member and an exposuer surface of the decoration member are arranged on the same plane.

10. The golf club head according to claim 9, wherein the exposuer surface of the weight member and the exposuer surface of the decoration member coincide with an exposuer surface of the sole portion.

11. The golf club head according to claim 9, wherein the exposuer surface of the weight member and the exposuer surface of the decoration member are positioned inside the exposuer surface of the sole portion.

12. The golf club head according to claim 6, further comprising:

a decoration member that is to be arranged at the bottom surface of the recessed portion,

in a plane view, the decoration member is bigger than the weight member and has a step portion that houses the head portion of the weight member at the center thereof and a through hole at the center thereof,

the decoration member is fixed at the bottom surface of the recessed portion by the head portion of the weight member being housed in the step portion of the decoration member and the shaft portion of the weight member being fitted in the through hole of the decoration member and the fixing hole of the recessed portion.

13. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein, in a plane view of the sole portion, the recessed portion is formed to have circular shape.

14. The golf club head according to claim 13, wherein, in a plane view of the sole portion, the weight member is formed to have circular shape along the recessed portion.

15. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein, when the head in the reference state is seen in back view, at least 60% of an area of the raised portion is arranged further to the heel side than a line extending in the face-back direction through a furthest point on the back side of the sole portion.