Golf Club Face Insert
AssigneeCallaway Golf Company
InventorCraig E. Abbott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A resilient face insert for a golf club head, preferably a putter head, is disclosed herein. In particular, the face insert comprises a plurality of hinge features spaced from a striking surface to ensure consistent ball speed across the striking surface. At least a portion of each hinge feature extends parallel to the striking surface without making contact with the striking surface. In the preferred embodiment, each hinge feature comprises a tab portion that is spaced from the striking surface by a stem portion and that extends parallel to the striking surface. The hinge features may be co-molded with a polymeric backing material in order to further improve performance of the face insert.
Claims20
A golf club face insert comprising:
- a striking plate comprising a base portion, a plurality of hinge features, a plurality of through-holes, and a first thickness,
- wherein each of the plurality of hinge features comprises a stem portion that extends approximately perpendicular to the base portion and a tab portion that is spaced from the base portion by the stem portion and extends approximately parallel to the base portion without making contact with the base portion, and
- wherein each of the plurality of through-holes is at least partially disposed beneath one of the tab portions of the plurality of hinge features.
A putter head comprising:
- a body comprising a top surface, a bottom surface, a heel side, a toe side, and a front surface comprising a recess;
- and
- a face insert sized to fit within the recess,
- wherein the face insert comprises a metal striking plate comprising a planar base portion, a plurality of hinge features, and a plurality of through-holes,
- wherein each of the plurality of hinge features comprises a stem portion that extends approximately perpendicular to the planar base portion and a tab portion that is spaced from the planar base portion by the stem portion and extends approximately parallel to the planar base portion without making contact with the planar base portion,
- wherein each of the plurality of through-holes is at least partially disposed beneath one of the tab portions of the plurality of hinge features,
- wherein each of the tab portions is spaced from the base portion by a distance of 0.010 to 0.030 inch, and
- wherein the striking plate has a maximum thickness of 0.025 to 0.075 inch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.