US-12616881-B2 - Golf club head

US12616881B2US 12616881 B2US12616881 B2US 12616881B2US-12616881-B2

Abstract

Provided is a golf club head in which the restitution performance of a lower part of the face portion can be improved. The golf club head of the invention includes a head body having a crown portion, a sole portion and an opening surrounded by the crown portion and the sole portion, and a face member closing the opening of the head body. The face member is formed in a cup shape having a tabular face portion for hitting the ball and a peripheral portion extending from a periphery of the face portion and joined to an end surface of the opening. The peripheral portion includes a first peripheral region joined to the crown portion and a second peripheral region joined to the sole portion. The second peripheral region is more than 1.6 times larger in width than the first peripheral region, and has a width larger than 8 mm.

Inventors

Masatoshi Kato

Assignees

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20160603
Priority Date: 20150605

Claims (14)

1 . A golf club head comprising: a golf club head body having a crown portion, a sole portion, a face portion, and a hosel portion, and having an opening surrounded by the crown portion and the sole portion; and a face member comprising said face portion, and the face member closing the opening of the golf club head body, wherein: the face member is formed in a cup shape having the face portion that is tabular and hits a ball and a peripheral portion that extends from a periphery of the face portion and is joined to an end surface of the opening, the peripheral portion includes a first peripheral region joined to the crown portion and a second peripheral region joined to the sole portion, a width K1 of the first peripheral region is defined as the length in the face-back direction in the case where the head body is cut in a vertical plane passing through the center of the face, a width K2 of the second peripheral region is defined as the length in the face-back direction in the case where the head body is cut in a vertical plane passing through the center of the face, the width K2 of the second peripheral region is larger than the width K1 of the first peripheral region, the width K2 is more than 1.6 times larger than the width K1, the width K2 of the second peripheral region is larger than 8 mm, when P1 is defined as a plane that intersects an axis of the hosel portion and extends from the toe-heel direction, the entirety of the first peripheral region is disposed face side from said P1, a frontal thick-walled portion is formed in an inner wall surface of the sole portion, the frontal thick-walled portion is thicker than the second peripheral region, a joining portion is formed between the frontal thick-walled portion and the second peripheral region, a length of the joining portion in a face-back direction is 10 mm or less, and a ratio F2/F1 is 1.25 to 10.0, wherein F1 is a height of the frontal thick-walled portion from a undersurface of the sole portion, and F2 is a maximum length of the frontal thick-walled portion in the face-back direction.
2 . The golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein a central thin-walled portion is further formed in the inner wall surface of the sole portion, the central thin-walled portion is arranged on the back side than the frontal thick-walled portion and is thinner than the frontal thick-walled portion.
3 . The golf club head according to claim 2 , wherein a length of the central thin-walled portion in a toe-heel direction is formed so as to decrease toward the back side.
4 . The golf club head according to claim 2 , wherein at least a part of the central thin-walled portion is placed on a placement surface in a reference state and the remaining portion of the central thin-walled portion inclines upward toward the back side.
5 . The golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein a peripheral thick-walled portion is further formed in the inner wall surface of the sole portion, the peripheral thick-walled portion surrounds at least part of the frontal thick-walled portion.
6 . The golf club head according to claim 5 , wherein the peripheral thick-walled portion is thinner than the frontal thick-walled portion.
7 . The golf club head according to claim 5 , wherein the peripheral thick-walled portion is at least partially larger in width on the heel side than on the toe side.
8 . The golf club head according to claim 5 , wherein the peripheral thick-walled portion is formed to have a substantially U-shape projecting toward the back side.
9 . The golf club head according to claim 5 , wherein at least a part of the peripheral thick-walled portion is placed on a placement surface in a reference state and the remaining portion of the peripheral thick-walled portion inclines upward toward the back side.
10 . The golf club head according to claim 5 , wherein a peripheral thin-walled portion is further formed in the inner wall surface of the sole portion, the peripheral thin-walled portion is arranged on the back side of the peripheral thick-walled portion, so as to surround the peripheral thick-walled portion, and is thinner than the peripheral thick-walled portion.
11 . The golf club head according to claim 10 , wherein at least a part of the peripheral thin-walled portion is placed on a placement surface in a reference state and the remaining portion of the peripheral thin-walled portion inclines upward toward the back side.
12 . The golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein an end surface of the peripheral portion of the face member and the end surface of the opening of the golf club head body joined thereto are substantially the same thickness, and are joined by welding.
13 . The golf club head according to claim 1 , wherein an end surface of the first peripheral region of the face member is thicker than the end surface of the opening at the crown portion of the golf club head body.
14 . A golf club head comprising: a golf club head body having a crown portion, a sole portion and a hosel portion, and having an opening surrounded by the crown portion and the sole portion; and a face member closing the opening of the golf club head body, wherein: the face member is disposed in a face side other than a surface which passes through an axis of the hosel and extends in a toe-heel direction, the face member is formed in a cup shape having a tabular face portion that hits a ball and a peripheral portion that extends from a periphery of the face portion and is joined to an end surface of the opening, the peripheral portion includes a first peripheral region joined to the crown portion and a second peripheral region joined to the sole portion, a width K1 of the first peripheral region is defined as the length in the face-back direction in the case where the head body is cut in a vertical plane passing through the center of the face, a width K2 of the second peripheral region is defined as the length in the face-back direction in the case where the head body is cut in a vertical plane passing through the center of the face, the width K2 of the second peripheral region is more than 1.6 times larger than the width K1 of the first peripheral region, the second peripheral region increases in width toward a sole portion side from both ends which are joined to the first peripheral region, the width K2 of the second peripheral region is larger than 8 mm, the sole portion includes a joining portion that is joined to the second peripheral region and a frontal thick-walled portion arranged on a back side of the joining portion, the frontal thick-walled portion is thicker than the joining portion and the second peripheral region, and a length of the frontal thick-walled portion in a toe-heel direction decreases toward a back side of the frontal thick-walled portion.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims a priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-115330 filed on Jun. 5, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a golf club head. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Wood-type golf club heads have heretofore undergone many improvements, and various proposals have been made in order to increase carry distance. For example, there are golf club heads that employ a face portion having a so-called cup face structure, such as shown in JP 2005-6698A. Specifically, the head is constituted by a head body in which an opening is formed and a face member that closes the opening of the head body, and the face member is formed in a cup shape having a tabular face portion and a peripheral portion that extends from the periphery of the face portion. When such a peripheral portion is provided in the face member, the effects of improved restitution performance and increased carry distance are obtained as a result of the flexure of the peripheral portion when the ball is hit. Incidentally, with fairway woods and clubs such as utilities, a ball arranged directly on the ground is hit, often resulting in the ball being hit with a lower part of the face portion. Thus, there are calls for clubs having high restitution performance even in a lower part of the face portion. The present invention was made in order to solve the above problem, and an object of the invention is to provide a golf club head in which the restitution performance of a lower part of the face portion can be improved. SUMMARY OF INVENTION A golf club head according to the present invention includes a golf club head body having a crown portion and a sole portion and having an opening surrounded by the crown portion and the sole portion, and a face member closing the opening of the golf club head body. The face member is formed in a cup shape having a tabular face portion that hits a ball and a peripheral portion that extends from a periphery of the face portion and is joined to an end surface of the opening. The peripheral portion includes a first peripheral region joined to the crown portion and a second peripheral region joined to the sole portion, with a width of the second peripheral region being more than 1.6 times larger than a width of the first peripheral region. The width of the second peripheral region is larger than 8 mm. The above golf club head can be configured such that the width of the second peripheral region is 1.8 or more times larger than the width of the first peripheral region. Each of the above golf club heads can be configured such that a thick-walled portion is formed in an inner wall surface of the sole portion, the thick-walled portion is thicker than the second peripheral region, a distance in a face-back direction between the thick-walled portion and the second peripheral region is 10 mm or less, and a ratio F2/F1 is 1.25 to 10.0, where F1 is a height of the thick-walled portion from a undersurface of the sole portion, and F2 is a maximum length of the thick-walled portion in the face-back direction. Each of the above golf club heads can be configured such that an end surface of the peripheral portion of the face member and the end surface of the opening of the golf club head body joined thereto are substantially the same thickness, and are joined by welding. Each of the above golf club heads can be configured such that an end surface of the first peripheral region of the face member is thicker than the end surface of the opening at the crown portion of the head body. A golf club head according to an one aspect of embodiment enables the restitution performance of a lower part of the face portion to be improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a reference state of a golf club head according to an embodiment; FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1; FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating a boundary of a face portion; FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating assembly of the golf club head shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 2 (cross-section passing through a face center); and FIG. 6 is a plan view that projects the inner wall surface of a sole portion of the golf club head of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, one embodiment of a golf club head according to the present invention will be described, with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a reference state of a golf club head according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1. Note that the reference state of the golf club head will be discussed later. 1. Overview of Golf Club Head As shown in FIG. 1, the golf club head according to the present embodiment (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as the “head”) is a wood-type golf club head having a hollow structure and wall surfaces formed by a face portio