Golf club head

A golf club head having a more consistent trajectory and distance on impact comprising:

• a heel portion;
• a toe portion;
• a crown;
• a hosel defining a hosel axis;
• a sole;
• a face having a striking surface for striking a golf ball,
• the face having an ideal impact location at a center of the striking surface defining the origin of a coordinate system including a horizontal axis that extends substantially parallel to the face and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in an address position, with the negative direction of the horizontal axis pointing toward the heel portion and the positive direction of the horizontal axis pointing toward the toe portion,
• the face further having a first off-center location on the face located in a toe direction away from the center of the striking surface at 40 mm along the horizontal axis and a second off-center location on the face located in a heel direction away from the center of the striking surface at −40 mm along the horizontal axis,
• wherein a characteristic time at 10 mm increment locations on the face along the horizontal axis between the center of the striking surface and the second off-center location deviates from the characteristic time at the center of the striking surface by no more than 20%,
• wherein the face has a face size of about 4,000 mm2 to about 7.000 mm2, wherein face size is measured by:
• (i) determining an extended front wall surface using an average bulge radius of the striking surface and an average roll radius of the striking surface,
• (ii) offsetting the extended front wall surface by 0.5 mm toward a center of the club head along an axis that is parallel to a face surface normal vector at the center of the striking surface, wherein the offset extended front wall surface has a boundary defined by a curved line Sf at an intersection between the offset extended from wall surface and a surrounding portion of the club head external surface and a straight line that intersects Sf a first location Pa and at a second location Pb, wherein Pa is the intersection of Sf with a 30-mm diameter cylindrical surface that is co-axial with the hosel and the straight line is normal to the hosel axis,
• (iii) projecting the offset extended front wall surface onto a plane that is tangent to the center of the striking surface;
• a weight port configured to receive a weight, the weight port extending from the crown and the sole in a front-to-back direction at a rear portion of the club head such that a longitudinal axis of the weight port intersects the face;
• and
• a non-metal face plate that contacts the ball at impact, wherein the face plate defines the striking surface and comprises a lay-up of multiple, composite prepreg plies, wherein at least a portion of the plies comprises a plurality of elongated prepreg strips arranged in a criss-cross pattern defining an overlapping region at the center of the striking surface where the strips overlap each other, the lay-up having a first thickness at a location spaced from the overlapping region and a second thickness at the overlapping region, the second thickness being greater than the first thickness, thereby adjusting the characteristic time at various locations along the horizontal axis.

A golf club comprising:

• a shaft;
• a golf club head comprising:
• a heel portion;
• a toe portion;
• a crown;
• a hosel defining a hosel axis, wherein the shaft is connected to and extends from the hosel;
• a sole;
• a face having a striking surface for striking a golf ball,
• the face having an ideal impact location at a center of the striking surface defining the origin of a coordinate system including a horizontal axis that extends substantially parallel to the face and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in an address position, with the negative direction of the horizontal axis pointing toward the heel portion and the positive direction of the horizontal axis pointing toward the toe portion,
• the face further having a first off-center location on the face located in a toe direction away from the center of the striking surface at 40 mm along the horizontal axis and a second off-center location on the face located in a heel direction away from the center of the striking surface at −40 mm along the horizontal axis,
• wherein a characteristic time at 10 mm increment locations on the face along the horizontal axis between the center of the striking surface and the second off-center location deviates from the characteristic time at the center of the striking surface by no more than 20%,
• wherein the face has a face size of about 4,000 mm2 to about 7,000 mm2, wherein face size is measured by:
• (i) determining an extended front wall surface using an average bulge radius of the striking surface and an average roll radius of the striking surface,
• (ii) offsetting the extended front wall surface by 0.5 mm toward a center of the club head along an axis that is parallel to a face surface normal vector at the center of the striking surface, wherein the offset extended front wall surface has a boundary defined by a curved line Sf at an intersection between the offset extended front wall surface and a surrounding portion of the club head external surface and a straight line that intersects Sf a first location Pa and at a second location Pb, wherein Pa is the intersection of Sf with a 30-mm diameter cylindrical surface that is co-axial with the hosel and the straight line is normal to the hosel axis,
• (iii) projecting the offset extended front wall surface onto a plane that is tangent to the center of the striking surface;
• and,
• a non-metal face plate that contacts the ball at impact, wherein the face plate defines the striking surface and comprises a lay-up of multiple, composite prepreg plies, wherein at least a portion of the plies comprises a plurality of elongated prepreg strips forming one or more areas of increased thickness of the lay-up where the strips overlap each other within the lay-up;
• the cross-sectional profile of the face plate comprises a first thickness at the center of the striking surface that is greater than a second thickness at a peripheral edge of the striking surface, thereby adjusting the characteristic time at various locations along the x-axis;
• the horizontal axis is an x-axis and the face further includes a y-axis extending substantially perpendicular to the x-axis and generally parallel to the ground when the head is in the address position and a z-axis extending substantially perpendicular to the x-axis and to the y-axis;
• a moment of inertia about a center-of-gravity (CG) x-axis, passing through a CG of the golf club head and parallel to the x-axis, is between about 300 kg·mm2 and about 500 kg·mm2;
• wherein a moment of inertia about a CG z-axis, passing through the CG of the golf club head and parallel to the z-axis, is between about 450 kg·mm2 and about 650 kg·mm2;
• the golf club head has a depth of at least 111.76 mm, a CG y-axis coordinate of 30-50 mm, and a CG z-axis coordinate of between about −10 mm and about 5 mm;
• and
• the plurality of prepreg strips are arranged in a criss-cross pattern defining an overlapping region at the center of the striking surface where the strips overlap each other, wherein the cross-sectional profile of the lay-up has the first thickness at the overlapping region, and wherein the peripheral edge defining the second thickness is spaced from the overlapping region.