Golf Club Head Adjustable Sole Piece and Loft System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golfers face challenges in modifying their golf clubs to adapt to changes in physical condition or playing style due to the difficulty in replacing club heads or shafts without professional assistance, leading to suboptimal performance.
Innovation Solution
A golf club assembly with a removable shaft and club head connection system using a sleeve with external splines and an internally threaded opening, allowing for easy attachment and detachment by the golfer, along with an adjustable loft system and pivotable sole portion for customizable playing characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If shafts and club heads are manufactured separately and attached by adhesive, then club head-shaft combinations can be customized to suit golfer needs, but replacing either component is not easily done by the consumer and requires professional assistance
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system is divided into separate modular components: a hosel insert with external splines in the club head, and a shaft sleeve with internal splines that fits over the shaft end. These segmented parts can be independently replaced by consumers using the mechanical fastener system, eliminating the need for professional assistance while maintaining customized club head-shaft combinations.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection system transitions from a static adhesive bond to a dynamic mechanical fastening system using a screw that can be easily tightened and loosened. This allows the shaft and club head to be readily assembled and disassembled by consumers, enabling easy replacement and customization without requiring professional intervention.
2Ease of operation
If a mechanical fastener system is used for removable shaft attachment, then consumers can easily assemble and disassemble clubs, but the connection must maintain sufficient load-bearing capacity and resistance to stripping
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system employs asymmetric spline geometries with multiple engagement points between the shaft sleeve and hosel insert. The external splines on the hosel insert mate with internal splines in the shaft sleeve, creating an asymmetric interlocking mechanism that provides high load-bearing capacity and resistance to stripping while allowing easy consumer assembly and disassembly through the screw fastener.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple variations of golf clubs are manufactured to accommodate different golfer physical characteristics and playing conditions, then consumers can find clubs suited to their needs, but the complexity of manufacturing and inventory increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical fastener system with standardized splined connection creates a universal interface that can accommodate multiple shaft and club head combinations. This multi-functional connection system allows a single club head to work with various shafts and vice versa, reducing the need to manufacture entirely separate club variations while still accommodating different golfer physical characteristics and playing conditions through mixed-and-matched components.
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head comprises a sole, a recessed sole port in the sole; and a rotatably adjustable sole piece adapted to be at least partially received within the sole port and comprising a central body having a plurality of contact surfaces adapted to contact the sole port and being offset from each other along a central axis extending through the central body of the sole piece. The sole piece can be positioned at least partially within the sole port at five or more rotational and axial positions with respect to the central axis, wherein at each rotational position, at least one of said contact surfaces of the central body contacts the sole port to set the axial position of the sole piece. The sole port and/or the sole piece can be generally pentagonal in shape.