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US 11,633,651 B2Granted
Aerodynamic golf club head
AssigneeTaylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
InventorsKraig Alan Willett, Jeffrey J. Albertsen, Michael Scott Burnett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A high moment of inertia aerodynamic golf club head with a low deep center of gravity location and producing reduced aerodynamic drag forces. The club head has crown section attributes that impart beneficial aerodynamic properties and performance.
Claims20
An aerodynamic golf club head comprising:
- A) a hollow body having a club head volume of at least 400 cc, a face, a sole section, a crown section, a front, a back, a heel, a toe, and a front-to-back dimension of 111.8-130.0 mm, wherein the hollow body has a bore having a center that defines a shaft axis that intersects a ground plane to define a ground origin point;
- B) the face having a top edge and a lower edge, wherein a top edge height is the elevation of the top edge above the ground plane, and a lower edge height is the elevation of the lower edge above the ground plane, wherein a portion of the top edge height is at least 50.8 mm;
- C) the crown section having a crown apex located an apex height above the ground plane, and an apex plane passes through the crown apex and is parallel to the ground plane, wherein;
- i) the crown apex is located behind the forwardmost point on the face a distance that is a crown apex setback dimension measured in a direction toward the back and orthogonal to the vertical direction used to measure Ycg and orthogonal to the horizontal direction used to measure Xcg;
- ii) the crown apex is located a distance from the ground origin point toward the toe a crown apex x-dimension distance that is parallel to the vertical plane defined by the shaft axis and parallel to the ground plane;
- iii) the crown section has a 12 degree pitched up orientation crown apex and defining a 12 degree pitched up/8 mm drop contour area (CA), wherein;
- (a) the 12 degree pitched up orientation crown apex is located at a peak height of the crown section when the hollow body is positioned in a 12 degree pitched up orientation that includes an absolute lie angle of 55 degrees, a face angle of 0 degrees, and a pitch angle of 12 degrees up;
- (b) the 12 degree/8 mm drop contour area (CA) is defined as the cross-sectional area of an intersection of the crown section with an offset plane located at an elevation that is 8 mm below the 12 degree pitched up orientation crown apex and parallel to the ground plane when the hollow body is positioned in the 12 degree pitched up orientation;
- and
- (c) wherein the hollow body has a projected area of the face portion (Af), and wherein the 12 degree pitched up/8 mm drop contour area (CA) is greater than the linear expression:
- CA=−1.5395*Af+19.127
- D) a head-shaft connection assembly including a shaft sleeve configured to be received in the bore and the shaft sleeve is secured by a fastening member in a locked position, the head-shaft connection assembly configured to allow the golf club head to be adjustably attachable to a golf club shaft in a plurality of different positions resulting in an adjustability range of different combinations of loft angle, face angle, or lie angle;
- E) wherein the golf club head has a head origin defined as a position on a face plane at a geometric center of the face, the head origin including an x-axis tangential to the face and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in an address position where a positive x-axis extends towards a heel portion and a negative x-axis extends towards a toe portion, a y-axis extending perpendicular to the x-axis and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in the address position where a positive y-axis extends from the face and through a rearward portion of the body, and a z-axis extending perpendicular to the ground, to the x-axis and to the y-axis when the head is in the address position where a positive z-axis extends from the head origin and generally upward, wherein the golf club head has a center of gravity with a x-axis coordinate, a y-axis coordinate is 15-50 mm, and a z-axis coordinate less than about 0 mm;
- and
- F) wherein the golf club head has a moment of inertia about the center of gravity x-axis, Ixx, of 200-500 kg·mm2, a moment of inertia about the center of gravity y-axis, Iyy, of 200-400 kg·mm2, and a moment of inertia about the center of gravity z-axis, Izz, of 350-600 kg·mm2.
12 more elements
An aerodynamic golf club head comprising:
- A) a hollow body having a club head volume of at least 400 cc, a face, a sole section, a crown section, a front, a back, a heel, a toe, and a front-to-back dimension of 111.8-130.0 mm, wherein the hollow body has a bore having a center that defines a shaft axis that intersects a ground plane to define a ground origin point, and the hollow body has a port located adjacent a periphery of the golf club head and a weight attached to the port;
- B) the face having a top edge and a lower edge, wherein a top edge height is the elevation of the top edge above the ground plane, and a lower edge height is the elevation of the lower edge above the ground plane, wherein a portion of the top edge height is at least 50.8 mm and the difference between the top edge height and the lower edge height is 45-65 mm;
- and
- C) the crown section having a crown apex located an apex height above the ground plane of 48-72 mm, and an apex plane passes through the crown apex and is parallel to the ground plane, wherein;
- i) the crown apex is located behind the forwardmost point on the face a distance that is a crown apex setback dimension measured in a direction toward the back and orthogonal to the vertical direction used to measure Ycg and orthogonal to the horizontal direction used to measure Xcg;
- ii) the crown apex is located a distance from the ground origin point toward the toe a crown apex x-dimension distance that is parallel to the vertical plane defined by the shaft axis and parallel to the ground plane;
- iii) the crown section has a 12 degree pitched up orientation crown apex and defining a 12 degree pitched up/8 mm drop contour area (CA), wherein;
- (a) the 12 degree pitched up orientation crown apex is located at a peak height of the crown section when the hollow body is positioned in a 12 degree pitched up orientation that includes an absolute lie angle of 55 degrees, a face angle of 0 degrees, and a pitch angle of 12 degrees up;
- (b) the 12 degree/8 mm drop contour area (CA) is defined as the cross-sectional area of an intersection of the crown section with an offset plane located at an elevation that is 8 mm below the 12 degree pitched up orientation crown apex and parallel to the ground plane when the hollow body is positioned in the 12 degree pitched up orientation;
- and
- (c) wherein the hollow body has a projected area of the face portion (Af), and wherein the 12 degree pitched up/8 mm drop contour area (CA) is greater than the linear expression:
- CA=−1.5395*Af+19.127
- D) a head-shaft connection assembly including a shaft sleeve configured to be received in the bore and the shaft sleeve is secured by a fastening member in a locked position, the head-shaft connection assembly configured to allow the golf club head to be adjustably attachable to a golf club shaft in a plurality of different positions resulting in an adjustability range of different combinations of loft angle, face angle, or lie angle;
- E) wherein the golf club head has a head origin defined as a position on a face plane at a geometric center of the face, the head origin including an x-axis tangential to the face and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in an address position where a positive x-axis extends towards a heel portion and a negative x-axis extends towards a toe portion, a y-axis extending perpendicular to the x-axis and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in the address position where a positive y-axis extends from the face and through a rearward portion of the body, and a z-axis extending perpendicular to the ground, to the x-axis and to the y-axis when the head is in the address position where a positive z-axis extends from the head origin and generally upward, wherein the golf club head has a center of gravity with a x-axis coordinate, a y-axis coordinate is 33 mm to 50 mm, and a z-axis coordinate is −4.0 mm to −8.0 mm;
- and
- F) wherein the golf club head has a moment of inertia about the center of gravity x-axis, Ixx, of 300-500 kg·mm2, a moment of inertia about the center of gravity y-axis, Iyy, of 260-400 kg·mm2, and a moment of inertia about the center of gravity z-axis, Izz, of 500-600 kg·mm2.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.