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EP-4736965-A2 - GOLF CLUB HEAD HAVING FACE REINFORCING STRUCTURE

EP4736965A2EP 4736965 A2EP4736965 A2EP 4736965A2EP-4736965-A2

Abstract

Some embodiments of the lightweight golf clubs described herein include a thin crown, a thin sole, a mass efficient weight system, and a thin faceplate to maximize performance gains (e.g., ball travel distance, impact efficiency, and ball speed) targeted to individuals with swing speeds less than 85 mph. As will be further described below, in order to achieve a lightweight golf club head (having a thin crown, a thin sole, a mass efficient weight system, and a thin faceplate), the golf club head further comprises a crown-to-faceplate bridge and a sole-to-faceplate bridge to control the characteristic time (CT) properties of the golf club head.

Inventors

  • MILLEMAN, TRAVIS D.
  • MORALES, ERIC J.
  • STOKKE, RYAN M.

Assignees

  • Karsten Manufacturing Corporation

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20201207

Claims (15)

  1. A hollow golf club head comprising: a crown, a sole opposite to the crown and resting on a ground plane when the hollow golf club head is at an address position, a toe end, a heel end opposite to the toe end, a rear, and a strike face opposite the rear, and adjacent to the crown and the sole; wherein the crown, sole, strike face, and rear combine to form an interior cavity; wherein the strike face further comprises a geometric center point and a mid-plane extending through the geometric center point in a direction from the strike face to rear and perpendicular to the ground plane; a sole transition region formed between the strike face and the sole comprising; a sole transition region radius of curvature ranging between 7.62 mm and 20.32 mm (0.30 inch and 0.80 inch); a first transition region thickness; a sole-to-faceplate bridge located entirely within the sole transition region such that the sole-to-faceplate bridge comprises a sole-to-faceplate bridge radius of curvature that is equal to the sole transition region radius of curvature; wherein the sole-to-faceplate bridge comprises a first reinforcement region thickness greater than the first transition region thickness.
  2. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein: the sole-to-faceplate bridge further comprises a first reinforcement region width measured in a heel-to-toe direction and a first reinforcement region length measured in a front-to-rear direction; and the first reinforcement region width varies along the first reinforcement region length.
  3. The hollow golf club head of claim 2, wherein the first reinforcement region width is between 10.16 mm and 20.32 mm (0.40 and 0.80 inches).
  4. The hollow golf club head of claim 3, wherein the first reinforcement region length varies along the first reinforcement region width.
  5. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the sole comprises a sole front portion, a sole middle portion, and a sole rear portion; and wherein the sole front portion comprises a thickness between 4.83 mm and 7.87 mm (0.019 inch and 0.031 inch), and the sole middle portion and the sole rear portion comprise a thickness less than 4.57 mm (0.018 inch).
  6. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the sole-to-faceplate bridge is integrally formed within the sole transition region.
  7. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein a mass of the hollow golf club head ranges from 190 to 200 grams and a volume of the hollow golf club head ranges from 444 cc to 460 cc, such that a club head mass-to-volume ratio is between 0.40 and 0.44.
  8. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein a of the hollow golf club head ranges from 180 grams to 198 grams and a volume of the club head ranges from 165 cc to 180 cc, such that a club head mass-to-volume ratio is between 1.04 and 1.07.
  9. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the rear further comprises a single slot defining a slot interior surface, a slot bottom surface, a slot top surface, and two slot sidewalls; wherein the slot interior surface, the slot bottom surface, the slot top surface, and the two slot sidewalls cooperate to form a slot channel opening to an exterior at the rear and the sole.
  10. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the strike face comprises a variable thickness profile.
  11. The hollow golf club head of claim 10, wherein the variable thickness profile comprises an elliptical central portion.
  12. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the sole-to-faceplate bridge comprises a tapered thickness across a length of the sole-to-faceplate bridge.
  13. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the sole-to-faceplate bridge comprises a tapered thickness across a width of the sole-to-faceplate bridge.
  14. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, wherein the sole-to-faceplate bridge comprises a shape selected from the group consisting of a trapezoid, oval, circle, rounded square, square, and rectangle.
  15. The hollow golf club head of claim 1, comprising a heel-to-toe moment of inertia greater than 4500 g·cm 2 .

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION The present disclosure relates generally to golf clubs. In particular, the present disclosure relates to golf club heads having one or more thickened regions. RELATED APPLICATION DATA This claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/076,859, filed on September 10, 2020, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/073,849, filed on September 2, 2020, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/944,968, filed on December 6, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND Golf can be played by a wide variety of individuals generally categorized by age, gender, physical strength, and flexibility. This diverse group of individuals (or golfers) often leads to golf club manufacturers designing golf clubs that accommodates the full spectrum of golfers, including ones having low, moderate, and high swing speeds. Therefore, often due to golf club manufacturers designing golf clubs that accommodate all individuals; individuals having low and moderate swings speeds may be using golf clubs that are less optimally suited for their specific swing signature. In return, leading to many golfers sacrificing impact efficiency, resulting in a less than maximized ball travel distance. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a golf club head, and more particularly, a driver-type golf club head designed to provide maximum performance to golfers with low and moderate swing speeds. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an external heel and rear side perspective view of a golf club head.FIG. 2 illustrates an external top or crown view of the golf club head of FIG. 1.FIG. 3 illustrates an external bottom or sole view of the golf club head of FIG. 1.FIG. 4 illustrates an external front view of the golf club head of FIG. 1 in an address position.FIG. 5 illustrates a rear, internal view of the faceplate having a variable face thickness of FIG. 4 in an address position.FIG. 6 illustrates a cross sectional view of the golf club head of FIG. 1 having a weight assembly affixed to the club head.FIG. 7 illustrates a cross sectional view of the golf club head of FIG. 1 without a weight assembly affixed to the club head.FIG. 8 illustrates a rear internal view of the golf club head of FIG. 1 with a sole-to-faceplate bridge and a crown-to-faceplate bridge.FIG. 9 illustrates a close-up view of the crown-to-faceplate bridge of FIG. 8.FIG. 10 illustrates a rear, internal view of the golf club head of FIG. 1 with a sole-to-faceplate bridge.FIG. 11 illustrates a close-up view of the sole-to-faceplate bridge of FIG. 10. Other aspects of the disclosure will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. The same reference numerals in different figures denotes the same elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Presented herein are golf clubs, and in particular, lightweight wood-type golf clubs designed for golfers with swing speeds under 38 m/s (85 mph) (e.g., low and moderate swing speeds). Generally, the lightweight golf clubs described herein may comprise a thin crown, a thin sole, a mass efficient weight system, and/or a thin faceplate to maximize performance gains (e.g., ball travel distance, impact efficiency, and ball speed) targeted to individuals with swing speeds less than 38 m/s (85 mph). As will be further described below, in order to achieve a lightweight golf club (having a thin crown, a thin sole, a mass efficient weight system, and a thin faceplate), the golf club head further comprises a crown-to-faceplate bridge and a sole-to-faceplate bridge to control the characteristic time (CT) properties of the club head. Creating golf clubs that are specifically targeted to specific swing speed demographics (i.e. low and moderate swing speeds) can allow these individuals to use golf clubs suited to their swing signature, rather than using golf clubs configured to accommodate the full spectrum of golfers (i.e. low, moderate, and high swing speeds). Therefore, this reduces the need to create golf club heads that can withstand the ultimate loading (and/or ultimate stress) conditions imparted from high speed swing speeds for durability purposes. This allows the golf club heads described herein to have a decreased club head mass-to-volume ratio, improved mass placement, and a thinner faceplate. The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguish