Golf club head with flexure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016346646-A1
Application number	US-201615167564-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 27, 2016
Priority date	Sep 14, 2012
Publication date	Dec 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A golf club head including a crown, a sole, a hosel, a face and a flexure. The flexure provides compliance during an impact between the golf club head and a golf ball, and is tuned to vibrate, immediately after impact, at a predetermined frequency.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A golf club head, comprising:
a crown defining an upper surface of the golf club head; a face defining a ball striking surface; a sole defining a lower surface of the golf club head and comprising a face transition portion, a rear portion and an aperture interposed between the face transition portion and the rear portion, wherein the face transition portion extends between the face and the aperture, wherein the aperture is defined by a front wall and a rear wall in a central portion of the aperture, wherein the front wall extends from the face transition portion toward a crown of the golf club head, wherein the ball striking surface intersects the sole at a leading edge; a side wall extending between the crown and the sole; a hosel extending from the crown including a shaft bore; and a flexure is constructed as a separate component and disposed in the aperture, wherein the flexure comprises a front wall, a rear wall and a base that extends between the front and rear walls, wherein the flexure defines a cavity that is opened to the interior of the golf club head, wherein the aperture and flexure define a flexure ratio (h 1 /h 4 ) of a vertical height of a lower edge of the cavity relative to the ground plane (h 1 ) to the vertical height of a free end of the front wall relative to the ground plane (h 4 ) that is between about 0.25 and about 0.75.

2 . The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the flexure ratio (h1/h4) is between about 0.50 and about 0.60.

3 . The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein a second flexure ratio (h 2 /h 5 ) of a 45° height of the lower edge of the cavity relative to the ground plane (h 2 ) to the 45° height of the free end of the front wall relative to the ground plane (h 5 ) is between about 0.45 and about 0.65.

4 . The golf club head of claim 3 , wherein the second flexure ratio (h2/h5) is between about 0.50 and about 0.60.

5 . The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein a width of the cavity is between about 0.25 mm and about 4.0 mm.

6 . The golf club head of claim 5 , wherein lower end of the cavity is radiused, and the radius is about equal to one half of the width of the cavity.

7 . The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein an aperture ratio (h 6 /h 5 ) of a 45° height difference between the 45° height of the rear wall of the aperture and the 45° height of the free end of the front wall of the aperture (h 6 ) to the 45° height of the free end of the front wall of the aperture (h 5 ) is between about 0.25 and about 0.45.

8 . The golf club head of claim 7 , wherein the aperture ratio (h6/h5) is between about 0.30 and about 0.40.

9 . The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the front wall of the aperture includes a plurality of thickness pads, wherein the thickness pads are spaced from each other in a heel to toe direction, and wherein a first thickness pad has a first thickness and a second thickness pad has a second thickness that is greater than the first thickness, wherein each of the thickness pads has a length in the heel to toe direction over a constant thickness portion that is between about 6.0 mm and about 26.0 mm.

10 . A golf club head, comprising:
a crown defining an upper surface of the golf club head; a face defining a ball striking surface; a sole defining a lower surface of the golf club head and comprising a face transition portion, a rear portion and an aperture interposed between the face transition portion and the rear portion, wherein the face transition portion extends between the face and the aperture, wherein the aperture is defined by a front wall and a rear wall in a central portion of the aperture, wherein the front wall extends from the face transition portion toward a crown of the golf club head by a height between about 5.0 mm and about 8.0 mm, wherein the ball striking surface intersects the sole at a leading edge; a side wall extending between the crown and the sole; a hosel extending from the crown including a shaft bore; and a curved flexure is constructed as a separate component and disposed in the aperture, wherein the flexure is curved so that it contacts the walls of the aperture at a plurality of contact locations that are spaced from each other by portions of the aperture wall where there is no contact between the curved flexure and the aperture wall.

11 . The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the rear wall of the aperture extends from the rear portion of the sole toward a crown of the golf club head by a height between about 5.0 mm and about 8.0 mm.

12 . The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the flexure contacts the rear wall of the aperture at a plurality of contact locations that comprise at least two contact locations that are spaced from each other by about 50.0 mm to about 52.0 mm.

13 . The golf club head of claim 12 , wherein the flexure contacts the front wall of the aperture at a single contact location.

14 . The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the aperture has a heel to toe length between about 60.0 mm to about 75.0 mm.

15 . The golf club head of claim 14 , wherein the aperture has a fore-aft width W in a vertical plane extending through the geometric face center of the golf club head of between about 9.0 mm and about 10.0 mm.

16 . The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the curved flexure has a thickness that is about 1.2 mm to about 1.6 mm.

17 . The golf club head of claim 10 , wherein a void is formed between the aperture and the flexure and the void is filled with a non-metallic material.

18 . A golf club head, comprising:
a crown defining an upper surface of the golf club head; a face defining a ball striking surface; a sole defining a lower surface of the golf club head and comprising a face transition portion, a rear portion and an aperture interposed between the face transition portion and the rear portion, wherein the face transition portion extends between the face and the aperture, wherein the aperture includes an inner portion and an outer portion that form a shoulder, wherein the ball striking surface intersects the sole at a leading edge; a side wall extending between the crown and the sole; a hosel extending from the crown including a shaft bore; and a compliant plate disposed in the outer portion of the aperture and on the shoulder, wherein the compliant plate includes a plurality of voids.

19 . The golf club head of claim 18 , wherein each of at least a plurality of voids has a curved shape.

20 . The golf club head of claim 18 , wherein the compliant plate is formed in a flat plate, and the compliant plate includes 1 to 20 voids.

Assignees

• Acushnet Co

Inventors

• Bennett Thomas Orrin
• Frame Nick
• Yi Sang
• Murphy Stephen S
• Cornelius David S
• Martens Grant M
• Bac Mitchell E
• Luttrell Stephanie
• Galvan Darryl C
• Cleghorn Richard L
• Golden Charles E
• De La Cruz Noah
• Myrhum Mark C
• Deshmukh Uday V

Classifications

• A63B60/00

  Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like · CPC title

• A63B2209/02

  with reinforcing fibres, e.g. carbon, polyamide fibres · CPC title

• A63B60/54

  with means for damping vibrations · CPC title

• A63B53/0466 Primary

  wood-type · CPC title

• A63B2053/0491

  with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable · CPC title