Interchangeable shaft system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016045791-A1
Application number	US-201514926411-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 29, 2015
Priority date	Dec 18, 2007
Publication date	Feb 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A golf club incorporating an interchangeable shaft system includes a shaft, a shaft sleeve, a club head. The shaft sleeve is coupled to an end of the shaft and is received in a hosel included in the club head. The shaft sleeve is removably coupled to the club head. Hosel and shaft sleeve alignment features provide discrete orientations between the shaft and club head.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A golf club, comprising:
a golf club head including a hosel that defines a hosel bore; an elongate shaft; a shaft sleeve assembly including a sleeve body, a shaft adapter rotatably coupled to the sleeve body and fixedly coupled to a distal end portion of the shaft, and a locking member that locks the orientation of the shaft adapter relative to the sleeve body, and a fastener that releasably couples the sleeve body to the club head at least partially within the hosel bore, wherein the hosel bore further comprises an upper hosel portion and a lower hosel portion, and wherein the upper hosel portion and the lower hosel portion form a disconnect from one another around at least a portion of the hosel bore.

2 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the upper hosel portion and the lower hosel portion creates an opening between the hosel bore and an internal cavity of the golf club.

3 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein a lower surface of the upper hosel portion and an upper surface of the lower hosel portion are separated by a distance greater than about 14 mm.

4 . The golf club of claim 3 , wherein a lower surface of the upper hosel portion and an upper surface of the lower hosel portion are separated by a distance greater than about 15 mm.

5 . The golf club of claim 4 , wherein a lower surface of the upper hosel portion and an upper surface of the lower hosel portion are separated by a distance greater than about 16 mm.

6 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the lower hosel portion further comprises a retainer, the retainer adapted to retain the fastener.

7 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the lower hosel portion further comprises a plurality of threads, the plurality of threads is adapted to retain the fastener.

8 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the shaft adapter comprises a shaft attachment portion and a projection portion, wherein the sleeve body includes a bore that receives the projection portion.

9 . The golf club of claim 8 , wherein the locking member is coupled to the projection portion and interposed between the sleeve body and the shaft adapter.

10 . The golf club of claim 8 , wherein the bore of the sleeve body is threaded and the projection portion is threaded.

11 . The golf club of claim 10 , wherein the locking member is threaded nut that is received on the threaded projection and interposed between the sleeve body and the shaft adapter.

12 . A golf club, comprising:
a golf club head including a hosel that defines a hosel bore; an elongate shaft; a shaft sleeve assembly including a sleeve body, a shaft adapter rotatably coupled to the sleeve body and fixedly coupled to a distal end portion of the shaft, and a locking member that locks the orientation of the shaft adapter relative to the sleeve body, a fastener that releasably couples the sleeve body to the club head at least partially within the hosel bore, and a wedge member, disposed on the sleeve body and interposed between the sleeve body and the hosel, wherein the wedge member provides a wedge angle between the sleeve body and the hosel, wherein the hosel bore further comprises an upper hosel portion and a lower hosel portion, and wherein the upper hosel portion and the lower hosel portion form a disconnect from one another around at least a portion of the hosel bore.

13 . The golf club of claim 12 , wherein the lower hosel portion further comprises a retainer, the retainer adapted to retain the fastener.

14 . The golf club of claim 12 , wherein the lower hosel portion further comprises a plurality of threads, the plurality of threads is adapted to retain the fastener.

15 . The golf club of claim 13 , wherein the wedge member comprises a wedge alignment feature and the sleeve body comprises a sleeve alignment feature that engages the wedge alignment feature.

16 . The golf club of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the shaft adapter is angled relative to the sleeve body so that the shaft is angled relative to the sleeve body by a shaft angle.

17 . The golf club of claim 16 , wherein a magnitude of the shaft angle is different than the magnitude of the wedge angle.

18 . The golf club of claim 12 , wherein the upper hosel portion and the lower hosel portion creates an opening between the hosel bore and an internal cavity of the golf club.

19 . A golf club comprising:
a golf club head including a hosel that defines a hosel bore;
an elongate shaft;
a shaft sleeve assembly including a sleeve body, a shaft adapter rotatably coupled to the sleeve body and fixedly coupled to a distal end portion of the shaft, and a locking member that locks the orientation of the shaft adapter relative to the sleeve body, and
a fastener that releasably couples the sleeve body to the club head at least partially within the hosel bore,
wherein the hosel bore further comprises an upper hosel portion and a lower hosel portion,
wherein the upper hosel portion and the lower hosel portion form a disconnect from one another around at least a portion of the hosel bore, and
wherein an upper surface of the lower hosel portion further comprises a fastener retainer and a cover, the cover adapted to contain the fastener retainer.

Assignees

• Acushnet Co

Inventors

• Galvan Darryl C
• Cleghorn Richard L
• Zimmerman Gery M
• Perez Eddie G
• Yi Sang
• Myrhum Mark C
• Murphy Stephen S
• Luttrell Stephanie

Classifications

• A63B53/02 Primary

  Joint structures between the head and the shaft · CPC title

• A63B2053/023

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A63B53/0466

  wood-type · CPC title

• A63B53/047

  iron-type · CPC title

• A63B53/0433

  with special sole configurations · CPC title