Method and apparatus for active control of golf club impact

A golf club head having a ball impacting face for hitting a stationary golf ball, the head comprising;

• a transducer disposed in the golf club head and coupled to said ball impacting face by mounted attachment thereof for converting first mechanical energy of golf ball impact during an impact event into input electrical energy and for converting output electrical energy into second mechanical energy, said transducer by said second mechanical energy changing a mechanical attribute of said ball impacting face in adaptively controlled manner during said impact event;
• and
• a circuit coupled to said transducer for receiving said input electrical energy and supplying said output electrical energy;
• said input electrical energy being a pulse signal responsive to the first mechanical energy and said output electrical energy being an oscillating signal.

A method of reducing the effective coefficient of friction between the face of a golf club head and a golf ball;

• the method comprising the steps of:
• establishing a transducer in said golf club head electromechanically coupled to said face by mounted attachment thereof;
• and,
• automatically actuating said transducer to convert the energy upon ball impact with said face during an impact event into an electro-mechanically actuated ultra-sonic vibration of said face to thereby change a mechanical attribute of said face for the interaction of said face and said ball in adaptively controlled manner during said impact event.

A method of altering the interaction between a golf club head hitting surface and a golf ball being impacted by the hitting surface;

• the method comprising the steps of:
• coupling a piezoelectric element disposed in the golf club head to said hitting surface by mounted attachment thereof to generate a first electrical signal in response to said hitting surface impacting said golf ball during an impact event;
• converting said first electrical signal into a selected second electrical signal;
• selectively connecting said second electrical signal to said piezoelectric element, said piezoelectric element changing a mechanical attribute of said hitting surface responsive to said second electrical signal to thereby alter the behavior of said golf ball in adaptively controlled manner during said impact event.