Golf Club Face with Asymmetric Thin Parts for Toe-Down Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf clubs with hollow structures face a decrease in rebound performance on off-center hits due to the toe-down phenomenon during swing, where the center of gravity shifts, causing variations in ball-hitting positions and reduced performance.
Innovation Solution
A golf club with a hollow structure featuring a specific thickness distribution in the face portion, including a central thick part and thin parts on the toe and heel sides, optimized to minimize the decrease in rebound performance by controlling the angle and area of these thin parts relative to the horizontal plane, ensuring consistent ball-hitting positions across the face.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the face portion is made with a hollow structure including thin parts, then the rebound performance on off-center hit is improved, but the toe-down phenomenon during swing causes variations in ball-hitting positions and reduces rebound performance
Solution Approach 1:
The face portion is designed with non-uniform thickness distribution, featuring a central thick part and toe-crown-side and heel-sole-side thin parts. This local quality variation optimizes rebound performance at different face regions while compensating for toe-down effects during swing, maintaining consistent ball-hitting positions despite the hollow structure
Solution Approach 2:
The invention specifies precise parameter ranges for the thickness distribution of the face portion, including the area ratios of thin parts (5-9% for toe-crown-side, 3-8% for heel-sole-side) and angle ranges (θA: 38-45 degrees, θB: 40-45 degrees). These parameter optimizations balance the rebound performance improvement from thin parts with the stability maintenance needed to counteract toe-down phenomenon
2Speed
If the center of gravity is positioned at a distance from the shaft center line, then the club head moves closer to the swing plane during swing, but the shaft bends and toe comes down causing toe-down phenomenon
Solution Approach 1:
The face portion thickness distribution is designed in advance to counteract the toe-down phenomenon that occurs during swing. The central thick part and strategically positioned thin parts create a structural configuration that compensates for the club head orientation changes caused by the offset center of gravity, maintaining face stability despite the dynamic swing conditions
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 optimized thickness distribution and angles of the thin parts on the face portion enhance the rebound performance by maintaining a fixed range of toe-down variations, thereby minimizing the decrease in carry distance and directional stability during off-center hits, particularly for golfers with head speeds between 45 to 55 m/s.
Implementation Method 1
the thin parts of the face portion whose rebound characteristic is high are arranged in a specific distribution suitable for the variations of the ball-hitting-positions
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club has a reverse flex is 80 to 110 mm. The face portion includes a central thick part, a toe-crown-side thin part on a crown-side and on a toe-side of the central thick part, and a heel-sole-side thin part on a sole-side and on a heel-side the central thick part. In the front view of the head, a first straight line passing an area centroid of the toe-crown-side thin part and an area centroid of a back surface of the face portion has an angle θA of 38 to 45 degrees, and a second straight line passing an area centroid of the heel-sole-side thin part and the area centroid of the back surface of the face portion has an angle θB of 40 to 45 degrees, each with respect to the horizontal plane.