Golf club head

• US RE47,653 E1
• Filed: 02/23/2018
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Co., Inc.
• Original Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Co., Inc.
• Inventors: Wahl, Bret H., Larsen, Peter L., Stowe, Loren
• Primary Examiner(s): Doerrler, William C
• Application Number:
  US15/904,245
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• CPC Class Codes: N/A

Abstract

An iron-type golf club head is disclosed having a heel portion, a sole portion, a toe portion, a top-line portion, a front portion, a rear portion, and a striking face. A back wall is also disclosed in the rear portion enclosing a portion of the rear portion to create an enclosed cavity. The cavity is defined by at least a rear surface of the striking face, an inner back wall surface, and the sole portion. A plug and a filler material is located within the enclosed cavity. The filler material surrounds the plug and is configured to hold the plug in place. The plug is lighter than the filler material.

Claims

1. A hollow iron-type golf club head comprising:

a heel portion, a sole portion, a toe portion, a top-line portion, a front portion, a rear portion, and a striking face having an unsupported face surface area within a range of between about 300 mm² to about 4,000 mm²;

a back wall in the rear portion enclosing a substantial portion of the rear portion to create a substantially enclosed cavity, the enclosed cavity being defined by at least a rear surface of the striking face, an inner back wall surface, and the sole portion,;

at least one plug located within the enclosed cavity, the at least one plug being compressed between the rear surface of the striking face and the back wall in the rear portion;

a filler material located within the enclosed cavity, the filler material substantially surrounding the at least one plug and being configured to hold the at least one plug in place occupying about 50% to about 99% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity, the golf club head defining an aperture into the enclosed cavity, the aperture being configured to allow the cavity to be filled with the filler material;

wherein the unsupported face area includes a thickened central region;

wherein the at least one plug is positioned to be in contact with at least a portion of the thickened central region; and

wherein the at least one plug occupies less than 20% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity

wherein the enclosed cavity has a volume between about 10 cc and 20 cc;

wherein the striking face thickness is less than 3 mm; and

wherein a coefficient of restitution of the club head is greater than about 0.8.

2. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the enclosed cavity has a volume between about 1 cc and 200 cc striking face thickness is less than 2 mm.

3. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the enclosed cavity has a volume between about 10 cc and 20 cc striking face thickness is between about 1.5 mm and about 2.5 mm.

4. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the at least one plug has a volume between about 0.1 cc and about 1 cc.

5. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the at least one plug occupies between about 1% to about 10% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity.

6. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the at least one plug occupies between about 0.5% to about 5% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity.

7. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the filler material is an expanding foam material having has a density between about 0.03 g/cc and about 0.19 g/cc.

8. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the filler material occupies about 50% to about 99% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity weighs less than about 20% of the total club head weight.

9. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the back wall includes at least a first aperture, the first aperture being configured to allow the at least one plug to be inserted into the first aperture and is configured to allow the at least one plug to move from a first position to a second position filler material weighs less than about 5% of the total club head weight.

10. The iron-type golf club head of claim 9, wherein the back wall includes at least one slot, the at least one slot being connected to the first aperture and is configured to secure the at least one plug.

26. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1, wherein the top-line portion has a total topline thickness of about 9 mm or less.

27. The iron-type golf club head of claim 26, wherein (a) the striking face has an ideal striking point that defines an origin of a coordinate system in which a CG x-axis is tangential to the striking face at the ideal striking point and is parallel to a ground plane when the club head is in a normal address position, a CG y-axis extends perpendicular to the x-axis and also parallel to the ground plane, and a CG z-axis extends perpendicular to the ground plane, (b) a positive CG x-axis extends toward the heel portion from the origin, a positive CG y-axis extends rearwardly from the origin, and a positive CG z-axis extends upwardly from the ground plane, (c) majority of the back wall has a back wall thickness of about 1 mm to about 3 mm at an elevation above the ideal striking point, and (d) the club head has a center of gravity located between about −

5 mm and about 5 mm along the CG x-axis, less than about 20 mm along the CG y-axis, and less than about 25 mm along the CG z-axis.

28. The iron-type golf club head of claim 27, wherein an upper portion of the enclosed cavity is located at an elevation above the ideal striking point and contains filler material, and the filler material in the upper portion has an upper portion filler thickness measured perpendicular to an exterior surface of the striking face from an interior surface of the striking face to an interior surface of the enclosed cavity in the direction of the CG y-axis.

29. The iron-type golf club head of claim 28, wherein the upper portion is completely filled with the filler material.

30. The iron-type golf club head of claim 28, wherein a lower portion of the enclosed cavity is located at an elevation below the ideal striking point and contains filler material, and the filler material in the lower portion has a lower portion filler thickness measured perpendicular to the exterior surface of the striking face from the interior surface of the striking face to the interior surface of the enclosed cavity in the direction of the CG y-axis.

31. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the lower portion filler thickness is different at two elevations along the CG z-axis.

32. The iron-type golf club head of claim 31, wherein the upper portion filler thickness is different at two elevations along the CG z-axis.

33. The iron-type golf club head of claim 32, wherein at the ideal striking point the filler material has a striking point filler thickness measured perpendicular to the exterior surface of the striking face from the interior surface of the striking face to the interior surface of the enclosed cavity in the direction of the CG y-axis, and the striking point filler thickness is greater than at least one upper portion filler thickness.

34. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the filler material has a density of between about 0.03 g/cc and about 0.20 g/cc.

35. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the fill material includes a polymer.

36. The iron-type golf club head of claim 35, wherein the polymer is elastic.

37. The iron-type golf club head of claim 36, wherein the polymer is an elastomer.

38. The iron-type golf club head of claim 37, wherein the elastomer is a thermoplastic.

39. The iron-type golf club head of claim 35, wherein the filler material has a modulus of elasticity of less than about 25 GPa.

40. The iron-type golf club head of claim 39, wherein the filler material has a durometer of about 5 to about 95 on a Shore D scale.

41. The iron-type golf club head of claim 35, wherein the striking face thickness is less than about 2 mm.

42. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein at least a portion of the heel portion and the toe portion are formed of carbon steel alloy, and at least a portion of the striking face is formed of maraging steel alloy.

43. The iron-type golf club head of claim 42, wherein at least a portion of the carbon steel alloy is plasma welded to at least a portion of the maraging steel alloy.

44. The iron-type golf club head of claim 42, wherein the carbon steel alloy is 8620 carbon steel alloy.

45. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the coefficient of restitution of the club head is at least 0.8.

46. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the rear portion has a recess configured to receive an insert.

47. The iron-type golf club head of claim 46, wherein the insert is mechanically attached to the recess.

48. The iron-type golf club head of claim 47, wherein the insert is a weight.

49. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the filler material weighs less than about 5% of the total club head weight.

50. The iron-type golf club head of claim 30, wherein the center of gravity is located at least about 12 mm along the CG z-axis.

11. A hollow iron-type golf club head comprising:

a heel portion, a sole portion, a toe portion, a top-line portion, a front portion, a rear portion, and a striking face having an unsupported face area of between about 300 mm² to about 4,000 mm²;

a back wall in the rear portion enclosing a substantial portion of the rear portion to create a substantially enclosed cavity, the enclosed cavity being defined by at least a rear surface of the striking face, an inner back wall surface, and the sole portion;

at least one plug located within the enclosed cavity, the at least one plug being compressed between the rear surface of the striking face and the back wall in the rear portion;

wherein the at least one plug occupies less than 20% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity, and

wherein the back wall includes at least a first aperture, the first aperture being configured to allow the at least one plug to be inserted into the first aperture and being configured to allow the at least one plug to move from a first position to a second position.

12. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the enclosed cavity has a volume between about 1 cc and 200 cc.

13. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the enclosed cavity has a volume between about 10 cc and 20 cc.

14. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the at least one plug has a volume between about 0.1 cc and about 1 cc.

15. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the at least one plug occupies between about 1% to about 10% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity.

16. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the at least one plug occupies between about 0.5% to about 5% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity.

17. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, further comprising a filler material located within the enclosed cavity, the filler material substantially surrounding the at least one plug and being configured to hold the at least one plug in place.

18. The iron-type golf club head of claim 17, wherein the filler material is an expanding foam material having a density between about 0.03 g/cc and about 0.19 g/cc.

19. The iron-type golf club head of claim 17, wherein the filler material occupies about 50% to about 99% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity.

20. The iron-type golf club head of claim 17, wherein the filler material completely fills a remaining cavity volume around the at least one plug.

21. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the coefficient of restitution of the club head is greater than about 0.8.

22. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the back wall includes at least one slot, the at least one slot being connected to the first aperture and is configured to secure the at least one plug.

25. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11, wherein the filler material weighs less than about 5% of the total club head weight.

23. A hollow iron-type golf club head comprising:

a heel portion, a sole portion, a toe portion, a top-line portion, a front portion, a rear portion, and a striking face having an unsupported surface area within a range of about 300 mm² to about 4,000 mm²;

a back wall in the rear portion enclosing a substantial portion of the rear portion to create a substantially enclosed cavity, the enclosed cavity being defined by at least a rear surface of the striking face, an inner back wall surface, and the sole portion;

two or more apertures located in the back wall of the rear portion and extending through the back wall of the rear portion and into the enclosed cavity, wherein at least one of the two or more apertures is configured to allow the enclosed cavity to be filled with a filler material;

wherein the enclosed cavity houses a filler material, and the filler material occupies about 50% to about 99% of the total club head cavity volume in the enclosed cavity;

wherein the filler material weighs less than about 20% of the total club head weight;

wherein the enclosed cavity has a volume between about 10 cc and 20 cc;

wherein the striking face thickness is less than 3 mm;

wherein the striking face includes a welded striking plate; and

wherein the welded striking plate is a forged steel.

24. The iron-type golf club head of claim 23, wherein the coefficient of restitution of the club is greater than about 0.8.