Dunlop Sports Company Limited

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited

Mika Becktor

Keith F Dolezel

Phillip C Seagram

Nick S Trahan

Patrick A Ripp

Adam K Sheldon

Jacob Lambeth

Brian R Herr

Dan S Nivanh

Dustin J Brekke

Jeff D Brunski

Philip C Seagram

Mitch Samson

Joseph Chen

Michael Boyle

Bryce Weir

Phill Seagram

Jesse D Sukman

Kiyofumi Matsunaga

Brent L Newsome

Brian Herr

Naruhiro Mizutani

Takashi Nakamura

Brian D Schielke

Phil Seagram

Tom Carlson

A golf club head includes a striking face, a sole portion, a top portion, a hosel, a rear surface, a loft no less than 40°, a virtual vertical plane, and a center of gravity. The striking face has a face center, a leading edge, and a virtual striking face plane. The hosel includes an internal bore configured to receive a golf shaft and includes a peripheral side wall and a shaft abutment surface configured to abut a tip end of the golf shaft. The rear surface is opposite the striking face and has an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion including a forward-extending recess. The insert covers the recess forming a hollow portion. The virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the striking face plane and passes through the face center. The center of gravity is spaced a distance from the virtual vertical plane in the heel-to-toe direction.

Golf club head

A golf club head includes a striking face having a face center and a virtual striking face plane generally parallel to the striking face. The golf club head further includes a sole portion, a top portion, a rear portion, and a loft L no less than 40°. A virtual vertical plane perpendicular to the striking face plane passes through the face center. A club head center of gravity is spaced from the virtual vertical plane in the heel-to-toe direction by a distance Dthat is no greater than 6.0 mm. The golf club head further includes a hosel including an internal bore configured to receive a golf shaft. The internal bore includes a peripheral side wall and a shaft abutment surface configured to abut a tip end of the golf club shaft. The hosel further comprises an auxiliary recess extending sole-ward from the abutment surface of the internal bore.

A correlated set of golf club heads comprises a first and second golf club head. Each club head has a striking face, a rear surface, a top portion, a sole portion, a toe portion, a heel portion, and a loft. The striking face has a first plurality of scorelines defining a scoreline heel-ward extent and a scoreline toe-ward extent. The plurality of scorelines comprises a scoreline length LS1 being the lateral distance between the heel-ward extent and the toe-ward extent. The loft of the second golf club head is greater than that of the first golf club head. The scoreline length LS2 of the second golf club head differs from that of the first scoreline length LS1.

Golf club head with textured striking face

A putter-type golf club head is disclosed. When oriented in a reference position, the putter-type golf club head comprises a blade member and a central elongate member in communication with, and extending rearwardly from, the blade member. The blade member extends in a heel-to-toe direction and has a striking wall defining a substantially planar striking surface, and an upper surface of the central elongate member comprises at least one generally square-shaped alignment element.

Putter-type golf club head

A putter-type golf club head that, when oriented in a reference position, includes a blade portion having a striking face, a top line, and a sole, the striking face in turn including a face center. The club head further includes a rear portion in communication with, and rearward of, the blade portion, and it includes an alignment element rearward of, and recessed toward the sole from, the top line. The alignment element defines a virtual center line segment oriented in a substantially front-to-rear direction at a height between 19 mm and 24 mm from a lowermost point of the sole, the center line segment having a length no less than 34 mm and being not spaced more than 10 mm from a virtual vertical plane passing through the face center and extending generally perpendicular to the striking face. A width of the club head is no less than 3.0 in.

Putter-type golf club head with alignment feature

A putter-type golf club head has a top portion, a bottom portion, a heel portion, a toe portion, and a striking face having a variably textured region. The variably textured region includes a central portion and an outer portion laterally spaced from the central portion towards one of the heel portion and the toe portion. The central portion has a material ratio of less than 20% at a cutoff height of 0.1 mm and the outer portion has a material ratio greater than that of the central portion at the cutoff height of 0.1 mm. Variation of the textured region provides consistent ball speed upon impact at different lateral positions of the striking face.

A method comprising, in a striking face of a golf club head, the striking face being formed of a first material having a first hardness, creating a plurality of initial grooves, the initial grooves having a first cross-sectional area (A) and a first pitch (P) such that A/P>0.0030 in. The method continues with modifying the initial grooves at least by positioning a second material in each of the plurality of initial grooves, the second material having a second hardness that is less than the first hardness, such that the first material and the second material form a plurality of final grooves each having a second cross-sectional area (A) and a second pitch (P) such that A/P<0.0030 in.

Golf club head and method of manufacturing the same

A golf club head includes a striking face, a sole portion, a top portion, a hosel, a rear surface, a loft no less than 40&#xb0;, a virtual vertical plane, and a center of gravity. The striking face has a face center, a leading edge, and a virtual striking face plane. The hosel includes an internal bore configured to receive a golf shaft and includes a peripheral side wall and a shaft abutment surface configured to abut a tip end of the golf shaft. The rear surface is opposite the striking face and has an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion including a forward-extending recess. The insert covers the recess forming a hollow portion. The virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the striking face plane and passes through the face center. The center of gravity is spaced a distance from the virtual vertical plane in the heel-to-toe direction.

A golf club head includes a striking face having a face center and a virtual striking face plane generally parallel to the striking face. The golf club head further includes a sole portion, a top portion, a rear portion, and a loft L no less than 40&#xb0;. A virtual vertical plane perpendicular to the striking face plane passes through the face center. A club head center of gravity is spaced from the virtual vertical plane in the heel-to-toe direction by a distance Dthat is no greater than 6.0 mm. The golf club head further includes a hosel including an internal bore configured to receive a golf shaft. The internal bore includes a peripheral side wall and a shaft abutment surface configured to abut a tip end of the golf club shaft. The hosel further comprises an auxiliary recess extending sole-ward from the abutment surface of the internal bore.

A method of manufacturing a golf club head includes: providing an intermediate golf club head body; prescribing a scoreline length value based on at least a first final spatial attribute of the intermediate golf club head; and texturing a first region of the striking face to exhibit a first average surface roughness Raof greater than 180 &#x3bc;in by surface milling in a first pass to form a plurality of arcuate micro-grooves each having a radius of curvature selected based on at least a second final spatial attribute of the intermediate golf club head. The method further includes texturing a second region of the striking face to exhibit a second average surface roughness Rathat is less than Ra, and it includes forming a plurality of scorelines in the striking face, the plurality of scorelines defining a scoreline length LS substantially equal to the prescribed scoreline length value.

A golf club head includes a striking face, virtual striking face plane generally parallel to the striking face, and scorelines. A hosel portion includes a hosel exterior surface and internal bore to receive a golf shaft. At least a portion of a recessed region is located in the hosel exterior surface where the hosel portion meets at least one of a sole portion, rear portion, and top portion. A first virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the virtual striking face plane and passes through a face center. A second virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the striking face plane and passes through a heel-most extent of the scorelines, and the recessed region is located heel-ward of the second virtual vertical plane. A center of gravity is spaced from the first virtual vertical plane in a heel-to-toe direction by a distance no greater than 6.0 mm.

A putter-type golf club head has a main body and a face component including a first element formed of a resilient material. The putter-type golf club head also has a second element forward of the first element and including a rigid material. The second element is secured directly to the first element. The first element has a thickness that gradually increases toward a sole portion of the club head.

A golf club is disclosed that has a golf club head with a face having peaks or ridges and deep grooves or valleys. The deep grooves or valleys promote improved 'feel' and/or reduced 'smash factor' which may be particularly desirable when the golf club head comprises a putter face. The deep grooves or valleys may eliminate the need for costly soft metal alloy faces and/or polymeric or other resilient inserts between the face and the body of the golf club head.

Growing community of inventors

New York, NY, United States of America

Mika Becktor