Golf ball

Abstract

A golf ball (G) has incorporated therein an IC chip (3) which can input and / or output data relating to at least one item selected from among manufacture history, shot history and flight properties. The ball's own possession of inherent information facilitates operations including ball quality control, ball recycling, and evaluation of flight performance.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No. 2004-017386 filed in Japan on Jan. 26, 2004, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] This invention relates to a golf ball which bears data relating to its own manufacture history, shot history and flight properties so that such data may be read out and used for ball quality control, flight performance measurement or the like. BACKGROUND ART [0003] From the past, information data relating to golf ball materials, manufacture conditions and the date of manufacture and necessary for quality control of respective golf balls, are managed within a ball manufacturing factory on the basis of a manufacture number or mark engraved or printed on the ball surface. [0004] However, once golf balls are shipped from the factory, it is difficult to seize the detail of manufacture history directly. For exampl...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] The golf ball of the invention bears on itself data relating to its own manufacture history, shot history and flight properties, which ensures facile and smooth operation taken for ball quality control, ball recycling, and evaluation of ball properties such as flight performance. In particular, a knowledge about the manufacture history of each ball is useful in determining the time of replacement of used balls in a golf practice range or in resurfacing used balls for recycling. The data relating to the shot history of a ball enable to learn the initial velocity, launch angle, spin rate and other properties of the ball when actually hit, which is very useful in the development of new golf balls.

Problems solved by technology

However, once golf balls are shipped from the factory, it is difficult to seize the detail of manufacture history directly.

For example, in golf practice ranges where balls are used at very high frequencies, it is difficult to time the replacement of overused balls.

However, it is unknown how many times the ball has been recycled.

Although the parameters of a golf ball are measured and recorded by the manufacturer at the time of manufacture, it is difficult for a golf player to learn on a non-personal basis the flight properties of the ball with which the player actually plays.

The IC chip built-in golf ball, however, has the problem that the flight performance and properties of the ball are largely affected by the elongated insert hole 12 that extends from the spherical surface toward the center.

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