Golf club head

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9399157-B2
Application number	US-201514734181-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2015
Priority date	Dec 29, 2011
Publication date	Jul 26, 2016
Grant date	Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

A golf club head includes a body defining an interior cavity. The body includes a sole positioned at a bottom portion of the golf club head, a crown positioned at a top portion, and a skirt positioned around a periphery between the sole and crown. The body has a forward portion and a rearward portion. The club head includes a face positioned at the forward portion of the body. In some embodiments, the crown includes a lattice-like structure having thin regions surrounded by a web of relatively thicker regions. In some embodiments, the club head includes one or more stiffening tubes attached between the sole and the crown to improve the acoustic performance of the golf club head.

First claim

We claim:

1. A golf club head comprising:
a body having a crown, a sole, a heel, a toe, and a striking face, with the body defining an interior cavity, wherein the body is configured to receive one or more weights;
wherein the crown includes an internal surface defining an internal crown surface area and an external surface defining an external crown surface area, the crown having a thickness comprising a minimum distance between the internal surface and the external surface at a given location on the crown;
wherein the crown internal surface includes a plurality of thin regions having a thickness of less than 0.60 mm separated by a plurality of thick regions having a thickness of at least 0.60 mm, with the plurality of thick regions and the plurality of thin regions having a thickness differential of at least 0.05 mm;
wherein each thin region defines a thin region surface area on the internal surface of the crown, and wherein a sum of all of the thin region surface areas comprises the total thin region surface area; and
wherein a ratio of the total thin region surface area to the external crown surface area is between 0.40 and 0.55;
wherein at least some of the thin regions comprise an elongated shape having a length between about 12 mm and 26 mm and a width between about 3 mm and about 13 mm.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the thin regions comprise an elliptical shape.

3. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the total thin region surface area to the external crown surface area is between 0.40 and 0.50.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the total thin region surface area to the external crown surface area is between 0.44 and 0.50.

5. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the crown comprises a titanium alloy.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the crown comprises stainless steel.

7. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the thin regions are arranged in a plurality of rows on the crown internal surface, and wherein the plurality of thick regions define non-linear paths between adjacent rows of thin regions.

8. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thin regions and the plurality of thick regions define a thickness differential of at least 0.10 mm.

9. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thin regions and the plurality of thick regions define a thickness differential of at least 0.15 mm.

10. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the thin regions have a thickness of from about 0.3 mm to about 0.6 mm.

11. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the thin regions have a thickness of from about 0.35 mm to about 0.5 mm.

12. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the thick regions have a thickness of from about 0.6 mm to about 0.8 mm.

13. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the crown includes a forward crown portion and a rearward crown portion, with the forward crown portion being located adjacent the striking face and the rearward crown portion being located between the forward crown portion and a rear of the body;
wherein the plurality of thin regions are located only on the rearward crown portion; and
wherein the forward crown portion has a thickness of from about 0.6 mm to about 1.0 mm.

14. The golf club head of claim 13 , wherein the forward crown portion has a thickness of from about 0.7 mm to about 0.9 mm.

15. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thin regions provides a mass savings of at least 2 gm.

16. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thin regions provides a mass savings of at least 4 gm.

17. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of thin regions provides a mass savings of at least 6 gm.

Assignees

• Taylor Made Golf Co

Inventors

• Greensmith Matthew
• Beach Todd P
• Sargent Nathan T
• Willett Kraig Alan
• Dipert Joshua J

Classifications

• A63B53/04

  Heads · CPC title

• A63B60/52

  with slits · CPC title

• A63B53/0466 Primary

  wood-type · CPC title

• A63B2053/0491

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

• A63B60/00

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