Putter face configuration with progressively increasing loft

Abstract

A putter type golf club formed of a club head body having a heel, toe, upper surface, bottom and frontal ball striking face. The striking face is characterized by a progressively increasing loft angle on the striking face toward the heel.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to putter type golf clubs and in particular to a golf putter having an improved ball striking face configuration with progressively increasing loft toward the heel of the putter.[0002]Since essentially all golf putting greens are not level and present a variety of slopes, rolls and surface curvatures, various attempts have been made to improve the roll of a golf ball on a putting green by altering the face configuration of a putter. Loft angles of a putter vary from a negative loft to as many as six to eight degrees of loft on some conventional putters. In addition putters have ball striking faces that are rounded, grooved and curved and all these create a different roll characteristic of the golf ball.[0003]Examples of golf putters having ball striking faces made with various angles to control the roll of the golf ball are shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,380 to Yim that discloses a putter with a flat and a ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a putter with a face that is designed to increase in loft towards the heel end. This allows the golfer to close the face of the putter at address, which counteracts the effects of a hanging lie that is often encountered with left to right putts, while still hitting the ball without creating negative loft. The increasing loft also provides a more consistent ball compression and better ball speed anticipation for the putter. Unlike conventional putters, the present invention allows for adjustment of the loft to accommodate a left to right breaking putt without driving the ball into the green surface.

Problems solved by technology

Golf professionals and amateurs alike historically have found that the most difficult putts are those with a left to right break, that is, where the ball will be approaching the hole with a right moving roll path generally away from the position of the golfer.

In this position, the ball tends to break more than perceived by the golfer usually because, even with a proper arc putting stroke, the putter face often contacts the ball low on the clubface creating a weak ball strike.

Typically a golfer will try to compensate for a hanging lie by closing the clubface but with conventional putter faces this puts negative loft on the entire putter face that drives the ball into the putting surface causing the ball to bounce and skid instead of rolling smoothly.

The application is silent as to the overall effect of the loft of the putter face and does not recognize that striking a golf ball on the heel portion of the putter head will tend to decrease the loft of the putter face causing the golf ball to be driven into the green surface causing bouncing and skidding that further effects the accuracy of the roll, even when the ball starts on the intended line to the hole.

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