Golf club head

• US 7,500,924 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2006
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: SRI Sports Limited (Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Yokota, Masatoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): BLAU, STEPHEN LUTHER
• Application Number:
  US11/544,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20070117648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 473/324, 473327-329, 473/332, 473345-346
• US Class Current: 473/332
• 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 53/0458 with non-uniform thickness of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/52 with slits

Abstract

A hollow golf club head comprises a face portion whose front face defines a club face for striking a golf ball, a sole portion intersecting the club face at the lower edge thereof, at least one groove being provided on an outer surface of the sole portion, the groove extending in a v-shaped formation whose corner portion is smoothly bended and protrudes toward a leading edge of the head, the groove having a ratio (W/L) of a length w in its front-rear direction to a length L in its toe-heel direction being from 0.20 to 1.50 at least partially, and a distance between the leading edge and the corner of the groove being in the range. of from 5 to 30 mm in the front-rear direction.

Claims

1. A hollow golf club head comprising

a face portion whose front face defines a club face for striking a golf ball,

a sole portion intersecting the club face at the lower edge thereof,

at least one groove being provided in an outer surface of the sole portion,

the groove extending in a V-shaped formation whose corner portion is smoothly bended and protrudes toward a leading edge of the head,

the groove having a ratio (W/L) of a length W in its front-rear direction to a length L in its toe-heel direction being from 0.20 to 1.50, and

a distance between the leading edge and the corner portion of the groove being in the range of from 5 to 30 mm in the front-rear direction, wherein the groove has a width in the range of from 2 to 12 mm and a depth in the range of from 0.5 to 2.0 mm, and the length of the groove measured along the center line thereof is in the range of from 1.0 to 1.6 times the maximum dimension of the sole portion measured along the toe-heel direction.

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

a bottom,

a front wall being connected to the front side of the bottom and

a rear wall being connected to the rear side of the bottom, and

each thickness of the bottom, the front wall and the rear wall is substantially the same.

3. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the groove comprises

a bottom,

a front wall being connected to the front side of the bottom and

a rear wall being connected to the rear side of the bottom, and

in a cross section of the groove, an inclined angle of the front wall with respect to the horizontal line is greater than the angle of the rear wall.

4. The golf club head according to claim 3, wherein

the angles of the front and rear walls are in the range of from 30 to 90 degrees, and

the difference (θ

f-θ

b) between the angles θ

f of the front wall and the angle θ

b of the rear wall is in the range of from 20 to 60 degrees.

5. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the groove has a bilateral symmetry formation with respect to a straight line extending in the front-rear direction through a top of the corner portion thereof.

6. The golf club head according to claim 5, wherein a displacement of the straight line from a normal line which is drawn to the club face from a center of gravity of the club head is within 10mm in a bottom view of the club head.

7. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the length of the groove measured along the center line thereof is in the range of from 1.2 to 1.6 times the maximum dimension of the sole portion in the toe-heel direction.