Golf Club Face Plate with Central and Flanking Recesses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern golf club-heads face challenges in maximizing discretionary mass while maintaining structural integrity and compliance with USGA rules, particularly in distributing mass to achieve high rotational moment of inertia and coefficient of restitution without compromising the strike plate's thickness and durability.
Innovation Solution
The club-head design features a face plate with a central recess and an annular ridge, along with horizontal and vertical flanking recesses, which allows for progressive thickness reduction from the maximal thickness of the annular ridge to the flanking recesses, and includes interior ribs in the sole and crown lips to redistribute mass and enhance stiffness without compromising performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the club-head size is increased to provide a larger sweet spot and higher inertia, then the forgiveness is improved, but the wall thickness must be reduced which compromises structural integrity
Solution Approach 1:
The face plate is designed with non-uniform thickness distribution, featuring a central recess with thinner walls and flanking recesses with thicker walls. This local variation in thickness allows the club-head to achieve high forgiveness through overall large size while maintaining structural integrity in critical areas through localized thickening.
2Stability of the object's composition
If discretionary mass is redistributed to increase rotational moment of inertia, then the forgiveness is improved, but the face plate thickness may be reduced which compromises durability
Solution Approach 1:
The face plate incorporates flanking recesses with thicker walls in the heel and toe regions, concentrating mass in these peripheral areas. This local mass concentration increases the rotational moment of inertia for enhanced forgiveness while preserving face plate durability in the high-stress heel and toe zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from uniform two-dimensional face plate design to a three-dimensional thickness variation design with central and flanking recesses at different depth levels. This dimensional change enables sophisticated mass distribution that simultaneously optimizes rotational moment of inertia and structural durability.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the face plate thickness is reduced to maximize discretionary mass, then the coefficient of restitution is improved, but the structural integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The face plate design features a central recess with thinner walls that allows greater deflection and higher coefficient of restitution, while flanking recesses with thicker walls maintain structural integrity. This local differentiation enables the face plate to achieve energy efficiency in the impact zone without sacrificing overall strength.
Data Source
AI summary
Golf club-heads are disclosed that have a body and a face plate. Exemplary club-heads are hollow metal-wood club-heads. The face plate is attached to the front of the body and has obverse and reverse surfaces, and a peripheral zone, toe zone, heel zone, upper zone, lower zone, and central zone. The reverse surface defines in the central zone a recess surrounded by a substantially annular ridge. The reverse surface also defines in the toe zone and heel zone respective horizontal flanking recesses. The reverse surface also defines in the upper zone and lower zone respective vertical flanking recesses. The maximal thickness of the annular ridge is greater than the respective thicknesses of the central recess and flanking recesses, and the respective thicknesses of the flanking recesses are no greater than the thickness of the central recess.