Golf Club Face with Spin Strip for Off-Center Hits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf clubs and putters face challenges in ensuring square contact with the golf ball to achieve straight and accurate shots, as off-center hits can result in undesired spin and reduced distance due to the club face twisting or deviating from the optimal contact location.
Innovation Solution
A golf club head design featuring a ball-contacting region with an elastically deformable material and embedded rigid elements, such as angled blades, which compresses to provide reactive force and enhance accuracy by imparting overspin, helping the ball roll straighter and truer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the club face is made rigid to maintain structural integrity, then strength is improved, but the ability to adapt to off-center hits and maintain square contact deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The club face is divided into multiple independently movable segments that can rotate relative to each other about hinges. This segmentation allows different portions of the club face to independently adjust to off-center ball contacts, maintaining square contact alignment while preserving overall structural strength through the rigid segment connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The club face incorporates movable segments with rotational degrees of freedom that allow dynamic adjustment during the swing. The segments can rotate to compensate for off-center hits, enabling the club face to adapt its geometry in real-time while maintaining structural integrity through controlled mechanical movement rather than rigid fixation.
2Measurement precision
If friction between the club face and ball is increased to reduce spin, then accuracy is improved, but control over ball trajectory deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The club face incorporates regions with different friction characteristics - higher friction zones to reduce unwanted spin and improve directional accuracy, and lower friction zones to allow controlled ball release and trajectory management. This spatial variation in friction properties enables simultaneous achievement of accuracy and controllability.
Solution Approach 2:
The club face design modifies surface parameters such as friction coefficient through material selection and surface treatment in different regions. By changing local friction parameters, the design reduces spin for accuracy while maintaining trajectory control through controlled slip zones.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design ensures more precise direction and trajectory of the golf ball by maintaining square contact and reducing spin, resulting in improved distance and accuracy of shots.
Implementation Method 1
a ball-contacting region (110) having an elastically deformable material
Implementation Method 2
embedded rigid elements, such as angled blades, which compress to provide reactive force
Implementation Method 3
friction between the putter head and the ball at contact can impart spin to the ball
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A golf club head (such as a putter head), has a face that includes a ball-contacting region. The ball-contacting region has an inset containing an elastically deformable material and at least one rigid element disposed within the elastically deformable material. When a golf ball is struck, the elastically deformable material compresses and the rigid element imparts overspin to the ball that causes it to roll more accurately.