Flex-segmented golf club shaft and method of manufacture
OwnerJohn E. Oldenburginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flex-segmented golf club shaft having tip and butt sections of preselected stiffness and flex characteristics, respectively, that are formed as separate pieces, with the larger butt section overlapping and fused to the smaller tip section and forming an external step in the shaft profile. An alternative embodiment has three such sections and two steps. The method of forming the shaft by wrapping a preselected tip section from a selection of available sections on a mandrel having a pronounced step, and then wrapping a preselected butt section from a selection of available sections on the mandrel in overlapping relation with the tip section, to provide optimized characteristics for a particular golf swing.
Claims19
The method of producing a golf club shaft made up of a butt section and a tip section having optimized performance characteristics for a particular golf swing, comprising the steps of:
- providing a selection of at least two different tip sections for said shaft having different predetermined stiffness characteristics;
- providing a selection of at least two different butt sections for said golf shaft having different predetermined flex characteristics;
- producing a selected one of said tip sections as a separate segment having at one end portion for connection to a club head and a second end portion for connection to a butt section;
- and producing a selected one of said butt sections as a separate part having one end portion disposed around and overlapping with the selected tip section and securely joined thereto, whereby the resulting shaft has performance characteristics determined by the combination of the selected tip section and the selected butt section.
The method of producing a golf club shaft having a butt section and a tip section comprising the steps of:
- providing an elongated mandrel having a tip end portion and a butt end portion, the outside surface of said tip end portion being smaller than the outside surface of butt end portion and being joined to the latter by a transition zone of relatively steep slope forming a step in the mandrel;
- wrapping composite material for said tip section on the tip end portion of the mandrel with one end of the tip section extending to said step and being substantially level with the outside surface of said butt end portion;
- and wrapping composite material for said butt section around said butt end portion of the mandrel and extending beyond the step to overlap a portion of the tip section, thereby to join the sections together as the shaft and to form a step in the outside surface of said shaft.
A flex-segmented golf club shaft having tip and butt sections, comprising:
- an elongated tip section of predetermined length and preselected stiffness characteristics composed of composite material and having one end portion for connection to a golf club head and a second end portion for connection to the butt section;
- an elongated butt section composed of composite material and having one end portion disposed around and overlapping said second end portion of said tip section and securely joined thereto and having preselected flex characteristics;
- and a step in the outside surface of said shaft at the end of said one end portion of said butt section;
- said butt and tip sections being separate pieces joined together by the overlapping end portions whereby each section may be designed for optimized performance characteristics for a particular golf swing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.