Fairway wood center of gravity projection

• US 9,220,953 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Co., Inc.
• Original Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Co., Inc.
• Inventors: Beach, Todd P., Johnson, Matthew David, Sargent, Nathan T., Willett, Kraig Alan, Penney, Michelle, Kronenberg, Marc, Greensmith, Matthew, Hoffman, Joseph Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Passaniti, Sebastiano
• Application Number:
  US13/469,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20120289361A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,328 Days
• Field of Search: 473324-350, 473287-292
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 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 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/047 iron-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0487 for putters A63B53/065 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/06 adjustable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like
• 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

A golf club head includes a body defining an interior cavity. The body includes a sole positioned at a bottom portion of the golf head, a crown positioned at a top portion, and a skirt positioned around a periphery between the sole and crown. The body has a forward portion and a rearward portion. The club head includes a face positioned at the forward portion of the body. The face defines a striking surface having an ideal impact location at a golf club head origin. Embodiments include club heads for a fairway wood that at least one of a high moment of inertia, a low-center-of-gravity, a thin crown and a high coefficient of restitution.

Claims

1. A golf club head, comprising:

a body defining an interior cavity, a sole portion positioned at a bottom portion of the golf club head, a crown portion positioned at a top portion, and a skirt portion positioned around a periphery between the sole and crown, the body also having a forward portion and a rearward portion and a maximum above ground height;

a face positioned at the forward portion of the body; and

a channel defined in the sole adjacent the face and extending into the inner cavity of the club head;

wherein the channel has at least 20% of the height of the face;

wherein a portion of the sole being located between the face and the channel.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the channel has a greatest vertical dimension of least 30% of the height face.

3. The golf head of claim 1, wherein the coefficient of restitution measured at a center of the face is 0.80 or greater.

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

one or more weight ports formed in the body; and

at least one weight configured to be retained at least partially within one of the one or more weight ports.

5. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the face is formed of a maraging steel having a composition that includes about 18% to about 19% nickel, about 8% to about 9.5% cobalt, and about 4.7% to about 5.1% molybdenum.

6. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the body being formed of stainless steel and the face being formed on a non-stainless steel.

7. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the channel includes an added weight received in the channel.

8. The golf club head of claim 7, wherein there is at least one gap between the added weight and at least one adjacent surface.

9. The golf club head of claim 8, wherein the at least one gap provides a flexible boundary.

10. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the CG projection is lower than about 2.0 mm above a center of the face.

11. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the CG projection is lower than about 1.0 mm above the center of the face.