Golf clubs with hosel inserts and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9868035-B2
Application number	US-201615003494-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2016
Priority date	Aug 31, 2011
Publication date	Jan 16, 2018
Grant date	Jan 16, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of golf coupling mechanisms are presented herein. Other examples and related methods are also disclosed herein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A golf club head comprising:
a club head body comprising:
a sole portion comprising a sole bottom end, a top portion opposite the sole portion, a heel portion, a toe portion opposite the heel portion, a rear portion, a front portion opposite the rear portion, the front portion comprising a strike face; and
a hosel;

a shaft sleeve insertable into the hosel and configured to couple a golf club shaft with the hosel; and
a securing fastener configured to couple to a sleeve bottom end of the shaft sleeve to secure the shaft sleeve in the hosel;
wherein:
the hosel comprises a hosel bore configured to receive the shaft sleeve;
the shaft sleeve comprises:
a shaft bore configured to receive an end of the golf club shaft;
a shaft sleeve body comprising a sleeve body outer wall, and at least one coupler at the sleeve body outer wall; and
a shaft sleeve cap configured to be coupled with the shaft sleeve body;

the club head body further comprises an assembled club head center of gravity when the club head body is assembled with the shaft sleeve and the securing fastener;
the assembled club head center of gravity is located at an assembled club head CG vertical distance relative to the sole bottom end; and
when the golf club head is at an address position, with the shaft sleeve secured in the hosel:
the shaft sleeve center of gravity is located at a shaft sleeve CG vertical distance less than or equal to approximately 46.5 millimeters relative to the sole bottom end, and the sleeve CG vertical distance is at least approximately 7.6 mm greater than the assembled club head CG vertical distance.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve body comprises an intermediate region;
the shaft sleeve body comprises a sleeve body wall; and
the sleeve body wall comprises an intermediate region thickness of approximately 0.020 inch at the intermediate region.

3. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve body comprises a coupler region;
the shaft sleeve body comprises a sleeve body wall;
the sleeve body wall comprises a coupler region thickness that varies at the coupler region from a greatest thickness of the sleeve body wall to a least thickness of the sleeve body wall;
the greatest thickness of the sleeve body wall is less than or equal to approximately 0.75 inch; and
the least thickness of the sleeve body wall is greater than or equal to approximately 0.020 inch.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the hosel bore comprises at least one receiver configured to engage the at least one coupler; and
when the hosel bore receives the shaft sleeve, the at least one coupler engages the at least one receiver to restrict a rotation of the shaft sleeve relative to the hosel.

5. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve cap is removably coupled with the shaft sleeve body.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one coupler comprises multiple couplers;
the multiple couplers comprise a first coupler and a second coupler; and
a coupler length of the first coupler is the same as the coupler length of the second coupler.

7. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one coupler comprises a coupler length; and
the coupler length is greater than or equal to approximately 0.260 inch and less than or equal to approximately 0.38 inch.

8. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve body comprises a receiving groove;
the shaft sleeve cap comprises an extrusion portion; and
the receiving groove is configured to receive the extrusion portion when the shaft sleeve body is coupled with the shaft sleeve cap.

9. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve cap comprises at least one rib and a cap wall; and
the at least one rib is configured to securely couple and center the shaft sleeve cap.

10. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve cap comprises a cap bore and one or more ribs extending into the cap bore; and
when the shaft bore receives the end of the golf club shaft, the one or more ribs center the golf club shaft within the shaft bore.

11. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the shaft sleeve comprises a shaft sleeve mass of approximately 4.5 grams;
the shaft sleeve body comprises a shaft sleeve body mass less than or equal to approximately 4.1 grams; or
the shaft sleeve cap comprises a shaft sleeve cap mass greater than or equal to approximately 0.3 grams, and less than or equal to approximately 1.0 grams.

12. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
when the shaft sleeve cap is coupled with the shaft sleeve body, and when the fastener is securing the shaft sleeve to the hosel, the golf club head comprises an assembled club head mass;
and
the assembled club head mass is less than or equal to approximately 199 grams.

13. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
when the shaft sleeve cap is coupled with the shaft sleeve body, and when the fastener is securing the shaft sleeve to the hosel, the golf club head comprises an assembled club head mass;
the shaft sleeve comprises a shaft sleeve mass;
and
a ratio of the shaft sleeve mass to the assembled club head mass is less than or equal to approximately 2.2%.

14. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the golf club head comprises a disassembled club head mass;
the shaft sleeve comprises a shaft sleeve mass; and
a ratio of the shaft sleeve mass to the disassembled club head mass is less than or equal to approximately 2.3%.

15. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the shaft sleeve CG vertical distance is less than or equal to approximately 45.3 millimeters relative to the sole bottom end.

16. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
when the shaft sleeve body is coupled to the shaft sleeve cap, the shaft sleeve comprises a shaft sleeve height, and the shaft sleeve height is greater than or equal to approximately 1.78 inches and less than or equal to approximately 1.82 inches;
when the shaft sleeve body is coupled to the shaft sleeve cap, the shaft sleeve comprises a shaft sleeve body height, and the shaft sleeve body height is greater than or equal to approximately 1.529 inches and less than or equal to approximately 1.569 inches; or
when the shaft sleeve body is coupled to the shaft sleeve cap, the shaft sleeve comprises a shaft sleeve cap height, and the shaft sleeve cap height is greater than or equal to approximately 0.46 inches and less than or equal to approximately 0.50 inches.

17. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the shaft sleeve cap comprises soft polymer plastic, wherein the soft polymer plastic can be no greater than 55 on the Shore D durometer scale.

18. A golf club head comprising:
a club head body comprising:
a sole portion comprising a sole bottom end, a top portion opposite the sole portion, a heel portion, a toe portion opposite the heel portion, a rear portion, a front portion opposite the rear portion, the front portion comprising a strike face; and
a hosel;

a shaft sleeve insertable into the hosel and configured to couple a golf club shaft with the hosel; and
a securing fastener configured to couple to a sleeve bottom end of the shaft sleeve to secure the shaft sleeve in the hosel;
wherein:
the hosel comprises a hosel bore configured to receive the shaft sleeve;
the shaft sleeve comprises:
a shaft bore configured to receive an end of the golf club shaft;
a shaft sleeve body comprising a sleeve body outer wall, and at least one

Assignees

• Karsten Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Clarke Jacob
• Morales Eric J
• Stokke Ryan M
• Greer Evan
• Cole Eric V

Classifications

• A63B53/0466

  wood-type · CPC title

• Y10T29/49826

  Assembling or joining · CPC title

• A63B53/02 Primary

  Joint structures between the head and the shaft · CPC title

• A63B2053/023

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A63B53/023

  adjustable angular orientation · CPC title