Golf club head

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12268940-B2
Application number	US-202117228511-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2021
Priority date	Dec 16, 2020
Publication date	Apr 8, 2025
Grant date	Apr 8, 2025

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a driver-type golf club head that has a strike face. The strike face has a central region, defined by a 40 mm by 20 mm rectangular area centered on a geometric center of the strike face and elongated in a heel-to-toe direction. The driver-type golf club head is configured such that after 500 impacts of a standard golf ball at the geometric center of the strike face, where at each impact the standard golf ball has a velocity of 52 meters per second, the CT of the strike face at any point within the central region is less than 256 microseconds and the CT at the geometric center of the strike face is no more than five microseconds different than the initial CT value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A driver-type golf club head, comprising:
a forward portion, comprising a strike face, a strike plate that defines the strike face, and a plate opening, wherein the strike plate encloses the plate opening and is made of a non-metal material having a density between 1 g/cm 3 and 2 g/cm 3 ;
a rearward portion, opposite the forward portion;
a crown portion;
a sole portion, opposite the crown portion;
a heel portion;
a toe portion, opposite the heel portion;
a hollow interior region defined by the forward portion, the rearward portion, the crown portion, the sole portion, the heel portion, and the toe portion;
at least one of a crown opening, formed in the crown portion, or a sole opening, formed in the sole portion, each one of the crown opening and the sole opening is open to the hollow interior region; and
an insert covering each one of the at least one crown opening, to form part of the crown portion, and the sole opening, to form part of the sole portion, the insert is made of a non-metal material having a density between about 1 g/cm 3 and about 2 g/cm 3 ;
wherein:
the strike face is void of through-apertures open to the hollow interior region;
a volume of the driver-type golf club head is between 350 cm 3 and 500 cm 3 ;
the golf club head has a center-of-gravity (CG) with an x-axis coordinate, on an x-axis of a head center face origin coordinate system of the golf club head, between-7 mm and 7 mm and a y-axis coordinate, on a y-axis of the head center face origin coordinate system of the golf club head, between 25 mm and 50 mm, and a z-axis coordinate, on a z-axis of the head center face origin coordinate system of the golf club head, less than 2 mm;
the strike face of the forward portion has a central region, defined by a 40 mm by 20 mm rectangular area centered on a geometric center of the strike face and elongated in a heel-to-toe direction;
a coefficient of restitution (COR), at the geometric center of the strike face, is at least 0.8;
a summation of a moment of inertia of the golf club head about a z-axis of a head center-of-gravity coordinate system (Izz) and a moment of inertia of the golf club head about an x-axis of the head center-of-gravity coordinate system (Ixx) is between about 700 kg·mm 2 and about 1,100 kg·mm 2 ;
a characteristic time (CT) of the strike face, within the central region, is no more than 257 microseconds;
before the strike face impacts a golf ball, the CT of the strike face, at the geometric center of the strike face, has an initial CT value of at least 235 microseconds;
the driver-type golf club head is configured such that after 500 impacts of a golf ball at the geometric center of the strike face, where at each impact the golf ball has a velocity of 52 meters per second, the CT of the strike face at the geometric center of the strike face is no more than five microseconds different than the initial CT value, wherein a cover of the golf ball has a Shore D hardness between, and inclusive of, 55 and 75, and the golf ball has a compression rating of between, and inclusive of, 85 and 107;
the forward portion further comprises a plate-opening recessed ledge that defines the plate opening and the plate-opening recessed ledge extends continuously about the plate opening;
the forward portion further comprises a sidewall that is angled relative to the plate-opening recessed ledge and extends about an outermost periphery of the plate-opening recessed ledge;
the strike plate is seatably engaged with the sidewall and the plate-opening recessed ledge of the forward portion;
the strike plate is adhesively bonded to the plate-opening recessed ledge and the sidewall via an adhesive interposed between the strike plate and the plate-opening recessed ledge and between the strike plate and the sidewall; and
the adhesive is adhesively bonded to a bonding surface of the plate-opening recessed ledge;
at least an upper portion of the forward portion comprises an aluminum alloy;
at least an upper portion of the plate-opening recessed ledge comprises an aluminum alloy; and
the strike plate has an outer surface area of no more than 4,300 mm 2 and no less than 3,300 mm 2 .

2. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the CT of the strike face, within the central region, is no more than 251 microseconds.

3. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 2 , wherein the CT of the strike face, within the central region, is no more than 245 microseconds.

4. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the initial CT value is at least 242 microseconds.

5. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 4 , wherein the initial CT value is at least 245 microseconds.

6. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the initial CT value is at least 239 and the CT of the strike face, within the central region, is no more than 245 microseconds.

7. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein, after the 500 impacts of the golf ball at the geometric center of the strike face, the CT of the strike face, within the central region, is no more than between 3 microseconds and 5 microseconds more than the initial CT value.

8. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein, after the 500 impacts of the golf ball at the geometric center of the strike face, the CT of the strike face, within the central region, is no more than between 1% and 2% greater than the initial CT value.

9. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the driver-type golf club head is configured such that after the 500 impacts of the golf ball at the geometric center of the strike face, where at each impact the golf ball has a velocity of 52 meters per second, the CT of the strike face at any point within the central region is less than 245 microseconds.

10. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the COR, at the geometric center of the strike face, is at least 0.81.

11. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the COR of the strike face, within a surface area of the strike face of at least 200 mm 2 , is at least 0.79.

12. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 11 , wherein the COR of the strike face, within a surface area of the strike face of at least 250 mm 2 , is at least 0.79.

13. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the COR is at least 0.8 for at least 25% of the strike face within the central region.

14. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the driver-type golf club head is configured such that after the 500 impacts of the golf ball at the geometric center of the strike face, where at each impact the golf ball has a velocity of 52 meters per second, the CT of the strike face at the geometric center of the strike face is no more than three microseconds different than the initial CT value.

15. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein the strike face is made of a fiber-reinforced polymer.

16. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a total surface area of the bonding surface of the plate-opening recessed ledge to a total surface area of an interior surface of the strike plate opposite the strike face is between 0.21 and 0.45.

17. The driver-type golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein:
the forward portion is a separately formed cup;
the cup has a total mass; and
a portion of the cup comprised of aluminum alloy has a mass of at least 23.9 grams and the club head has a total mass of no more

Assignees

• Taylor Made Golf Co

Inventors

• Greensmith Matthew
• Harbert Christopher
• Beach Todd
• Greaney Mark
• Johnson Matthew D

Classifications

• A63B53/0412 Primary

  Volume · CPC title

• A63B53/042

  the face insert consisting of a material different from that of the head · CPC title

• A63B53/0433

  with special sole configurations · CPC title

• A63B53/0454

  Strengthening ribs on the rear surface of the impact face plate · CPC title

• A63B53/0466

  wood-type · CPC title