Light weight golf club shaft having controllable 'feel'

Abstract

A light weight golf club shaft is described having a 'modified hourglass' shape which provides many predetermined combinations of flex, stiffness and torque (which together are perceived as shaft and club 'feel') and which is largely immune to breakage in normal play. The shaft is an improvement over our previous shaft defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,872, and reduces shaft weight to the level desired by a golfer by using a substantially uniform shaft wall thickness while maintaining the unique 'hour glass' external profile of our previous shaft. The shaft is formed of a base with axial sections: a grip section, an upper flare section, a flex control section, a lower flare section, and a hosel section, the whole forming an exterior shaft profile. The shaft may be made from metal such as steel, titanium, aluminum or their alloys, or composites formed of reinforcing fibers and polymeric materials. The preferred fibers for reinforcement are the carbon, ceramic, metallic, glass, aramid and extended chain polyethylene fibers, most preferably the carbon fibers. Preferred among the polymers which may be used are thermosetting resins such as the phenolics, polyesters, melamines, epoxies, polyimides, polyurethanes and silicones. The shafts may be produced by a variety of methods, including casting, molding (as around one or more mandrels), expanding or drawing.