Golf club head

• US 7,137,905 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2003
• Issued: 11/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SRI Sports Limited (Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: SRI Sports Limited (Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Kohno, Masaru
• Primary Examiner(s): BLAU, STEPHEN LUTHER
• Application Number:
  US10/725,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20040157678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,084 Days
• Field of Search: 473/314, 473/345, 473/349, 473/338, 473/312
• US Class Current: 473/314
• 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 53/0412 Volume
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0437 with special crown configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/045 Strengthening ribs
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/02 Ballast means for adjusting the centre of mass A63B60/24, A63B60/54 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/52 with slits

Abstract

The present invention provides a golf club head which satisfies the following three conditions in a moment M of inertia around a center line of a shaft axis (g·cm²) and a depth L of center of gravity (mm):
4000≦M≦7000;  (1)
30≦L≦50; and  (2)
M≦200×L−2000.  (3)

Claims

1. A wood-type golf club head, which comprises:

a face portion forming a hitting face hitting a ball;

a crown portion extending from an upper edge of the hitting face and forming an upper surface of the head;

a sole portion extending from a lower edge of the hitting face and forming a bottom surface of the head;

a side portion extending between the crown portion and the sole portion from a toe side edge of the hitting face to a heel side edge of the hitting face through a back face; and

a neck portion formed with a shaft insertion hole to which one end of a shaft is attached, wherein

in a measuring state where an axial center line of the shaft insertion hole is arranged in a vertical plane and is inclined at a lie angle β

determined in accordance with the head, and a face angle is set to zero,

a point at which the axial center line of the shaft insertion hole crosses a virtual plane passing through an upper end surface of the neck portion is set to an origin O, and a two-dimensional X-Y coordinate in which a Y-axis is a nodal line between the horizontal plane and the vertical plane, and an X-axis is an axis line passing through the origin O and being perpendicular to the Y-axis is virtually set on the horizontal plane passing through the origin O, and

in the case where the maximum value of the Y-axis in a profile line of the head projected on the X-Y coordinate system is set to ym and the maximum value of the X-axis is set to xm, a weight member having a great specific gravity is firmly attached to the sole portion in an area where a center of gravity of the weight member is set to 0.2 to 0.7 times of the xm value in the X-coordinate and set to 0.1 to 0.5 times of the ym value in the Y-coordinate,

wherein the specific gravity is in the range of from 6.0 to 25.0,

the weight member is mounted in a concave portion formed on the sole portion, and the golf club head satisfies the following three conditions in a moment M of inertia around a center line of a shaft axis (g·

cm²) and a depth L of center of gravity (mm);

5950 ≦

M≦

7000;

 

 

(1)

30 ≦

L ≦

50; and

 

 

(2)

M≦

(200×

L)−

2000. 

 

(3)

2. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following two conditions:

M≦

200×

L−

2390; and

 

 

(4)

M≧

200×

L−

4500. 

 

(5)

3. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following condition:

5950≦

M≦

6500. 

 

(6)

4. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following condition:

5950≦

M≦

6000. 

 

(7)

5. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following condition:

34≦

L≦

45. 

 

(8)

6. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following condition:

37≦

L≦

42. 

 

(9)

7. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following two conditions:

M≦

200×

L−

2050; and

 

 

(10)

M≧

200×

L−

5000. 

 

(11)

8. The golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following two conditions:

M≦

200×

L−

3450; and

 

 

(12)

M≧

200×

L−

4500. 

 

(13)

9. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the concave portion has a thickness larger than other portions in the sole portion.

10. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the concave portion has a bottom in contact with the weight member.

11. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the weight member is mounted in the concave portion by plastically deforming the concave portion or the weight member itself.

12. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the weight member has a mass of 5% to 15% of the entire mass of the head.

13. The wood-type golf club head according to claim 1, further satisfying the following condition:

5990≦

M≦

7000;

 

 

(14)

14. A wood-type golf club head, which comprises:

a face portion forming a hitting face hitting the ball;

a sole portion extending from a lower edge of the hitting face and forming a bottom surface of the head, said sole portion having a concave portion for inserting a weight member thereto; and

the weight member mounted in the concave portion having a specific gravity in the range from 6.0 to 25.0, said weight member comprising;

a columnar body; and

a tapered portion extending from the columnar body to the outer surface of the sole portion, said tapered portion being covered with a plastically deforming portion of the concave portion so that the columnar body is fixed in the concave portion,

wherein the golf club head satisfies the following three conditions in a moment M of inertia around a center line of a shaft axis (g·

cm²) and a depth L of center of gravity (mm);

5990≦

M≦

7000;

 

 

(1)

30≦

L≦

50; and

 

 

(2)

M≦

(200×

L)−

2000. 

 

(3)