Golf Club Head Center of Gravity Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing golf club heads, particularly high-lofted wedge-type clubs, face challenges in reducing shot dispersion while maintaining desirable performance attributes such as feel, spin, and trajectory, as attempts to minimize dispersion often compromise other essential characteristics.
Innovation Solution
The design of a golf club head with a strategically positioned center of gravity, a virtual vertical plane, and specific dimensions to optimize loft, striking face area, and hosel configuration, which includes a recessed region and a resilient insert to enhance tactile feedback and reduce shot dispersion without adversely affecting other performance attributes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If attempts are made to reduce shot dispersion in high-lofted wedge-type club heads, then precision increases, but other performance attributes such as feel, spin, trajectory shape, and effective bounce are adversely affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a recessed region in the heel-most region of the club head that is filled with a filler material having different density properties than the surrounding metal. This localized modification allows precise control of the center of gravity position without altering the overall club head structure, thereby reducing shot dispersion while preserving traditional feel and performance attributes such as spin and trajectory shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by adjusting the density and volume of the filler material within the recessed region to precisely control the center of gravity position. By varying these parameters, the invention achieves optimal shot dispersion reduction while maintaining other critical performance characteristics that would otherwise be compromised by conventional design modifications.
2Measurement precision
If mass is relocated to decrease dispersion, then precision improves, but ability to successfully carry out a full range of shot types is adversely affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the club head into distinct functional regions: a heel-most region containing the recessed filler material for dispersion control, and the remaining club head structure optimized for versatile shot making. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each region's function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs dimensionality change by positioning the center of gravity adjustment mechanism (recessed filler material) in the heel-most region, which is spatially separated from the striking face and other critical performance zones. This spatial separation in another dimension allows dispersion control without interfering with the club head's ability to execute various shot types.
3Reliability
If traditional feel and design attributes are maintained, then golfer confidence is preserved, but shot dispersion is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses an intermediary approach by introducing a filler material into a recessed region, which acts as a mediating element to adjust the center of gravity position. This intermediary modification allows the club head to maintain its traditional external design and feel attributes while internally optimizing performance to reduce shot dispersion, thereby preserving golfer confidence.
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head includes a striking face, a sole portion, a top portion, a hosel, a rear surface, a loft no less than 40°, a virtual vertical plane, and a center of gravity. The striking face has a face center, a leading edge, and a virtual striking face plane. The hosel includes an internal bore configured to receive a golf shaft and includes a peripheral side wall and a shaft abutment surface configured to abut a tip end of the golf shaft. The rear surface is opposite the striking face and has an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion including a forward-extending recess. The insert covers the recess forming a hollow portion. The virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the striking face plane and passes through the face center. The center of gravity is spaced a distance from the virtual vertical plane in the heel-to-toe direction.