Golf club having improved sound properties

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10821335-B2
Application number	US-201916436336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2019
Priority date	Dec 8, 2015
Publication date	Nov 3, 2020
Grant date	Nov 3, 2020

Abstract

A golf club head has a stranded structure such as a cantilevered strand or a beam strand. The stranded structure causes changes in acoustic properties from that of a standard golf club. A gap or through-hole around the stranded structure may be filled with a vibration dampening material, such as flexible polymer, to further adjust the acoustic properties of the golf club. Vibration frequency regions in a golf club may be modified by incorporating stranded structures in the vibration frequency regions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A golf club head comprising:
a metal club face;
a metal crown connected to the metal club face;
a metal sole connected to the metal club face, wherein the metal club face, the metal crown, and the metal sole at least partially define an interior void; and
a polymer plug disposed in a through-hole defined by a cantilevered strand of the at least one of the metal crown and the metal sole, wherein a surface area of the polymer plug is greater than or equal to about 5% of a surface area of the at least one of the metal crown and the metal sole, and the polymer plug has a durometer hardness value within a range of about A20 to about D90, and wherein the through-hole is substantially spiral and the cantilevered strand is substantially spiral.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein an external surface of the polymer plug is contoured to substantially match a contour of an exterior surface defined by at least one of the metal crown and the metal sole.

3. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the polymer plug is made from a vibration dampening material comprising at least one of: an acrylic epoxy, a urethane, a polyurethane, an ionomer, an elastomer, a silicone, and a rubber.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 , further comprising at least one additional through-hole defined by an additional cantilevered strand of the at least one of the metal crown and the metal sole.

5. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the cantilevered strand has a width that is substantially the same as a width of the through-hole.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the cantilevered strand has a length-to-width ratio of at least ten.

7. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the metal crown and the metal sole comprises a plurality of inherent vibration frequency regions, each having a known inherent frequency.

8. The golf club head of claim 7 , wherein the polymer plug is disposed at a predetermined inherent vibration frequency region having a predetermined inherent frequency.

9. The golf club head of claim 8 , wherein the polymer plug is disposed so as to alter a frequency of the predetermined inherent vibration frequency region from the predetermined inherent frequency to a frequency of less than about 200 Hz.

10. A golf club head comprising:
a club face;
a crown connected to the club face;
a sole connected to the club face, wherein the club face, the crown, and the sole at least partially define an interior void; and
a polymer plug disposed in a through-hole defined by a cantilevered strand of the crown, wherein a surface area of the polymer plug is greater than or equal to about 5% of a surface area of the crown, and wherein the through-hole is substantially spiral and the cantilevered strand is substantially spiral.

11. The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the polymer plug has a durometer hardness value within a range of about A20 to about D90.

12. The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the through-hole has a width, the cantilevered strand has a width, and the golf club head has a strand-width-to-gap-width ratio of at least 0.1:1.

13. The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the polymer plug is disposed at a predetermined inherent vibration frequency region of the crown having a predetermined inherent frequency, and the polymer plug is disposed so as to alter a frequency of the predetermined inherent vibration frequency region from the predetermined inherent frequency to a frequency of less than about 200 Hz.

14. A golf club head comprising:
a club face;
a crown connected to the club face;
a sole connected to the club face, wherein the club face, the crown, and the sole at least partially define an interior void; and
a polymer plug disposed in a through-hole defined by a cantilevered strand of the sole, wherein a surface area of the polymer plug is greater than or equal to about 5% of a surface area of the sole, and wherein the through-hole is substantially spiral and the cantilevered strand is substantially spiral.

15. The golf club head of claim 14 , wherein the polymer plug has a durometer hardness value within a range of about A20 to about D90.

16. The golf club head of claim 14 , wherein a surface area containing the cantilevered strand is about 10% of an entire surface area of the sole.

17. The golf club head of claim 14 , wherein the through-hole has a width, the sole has a thickness, and the golf club head has a gap-width-to-sole-thickness ratio between 0.5:1 and 5:1.

Assignees

• Acushnet Co

Inventors

• Frame Nick
• Cleghorn Richard L

Classifications

• A63B2209/00

  Characteristics of used materials · CPC title

• A63B53/0437

  with special crown configurations · CPC title

• A63B60/002

  Resonance frequency related characteristics · CPC title

• A63B60/54

  with means for damping vibrations · CPC title

• A63B53/0466 Primary

  wood-type · CPC title