Golf Club Head Face Thickness Layout for Ball Speed and Durability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing golf club heads face challenges in balancing ball flight characteristics, structural integrity, and durability, as adjustments to improve one aspect often compromise others.
Innovation Solution
A golf club head design featuring a striking face with variable thickness, including a thick central portion and tapered heel and toe portions, along with strategically positioned weights in the lower cavity, to enhance ball speed, launch angle, and uniformity while maintaining structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the striking face thickness is uniformly increased to improve structural integrity, then durability is improved, but ball speed and launch angle uniformity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The striking face is designed with non-uniform thickness distribution, where the central portion has greater thickness for structural integrity while peripheral portions have reduced thickness to optimize ball flight characteristics. This local differentiation allows each region to serve its specific function: the thicker central area provides durability and structural support, while the thinner peripheral areas enable better ball speed and launch angle uniformity across the striking surface.
2Speed
If the striking face is thinned to improve ball speed, then ball flight characteristics are improved, but structural integrity and durability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The striking face employs selective thickness reduction only in specific peripheral regions while maintaining adequate thickness in the central area. This localized thinning allows the face to achieve optimal ball speed and flight characteristics without compromising the overall structural integrity of the club head, as the thicker central portion continues to provide necessary strength and support.
Solution Approach 2:
The striking face is effectively segmented into different thickness zones: a thicker central portion for structural support and thinner peripheral portions for optimized ball interaction. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each zone's thickness to fulfill different functional requirements simultaneously.
3Reliability
If weights are added to the lower cavity to adjust center of gravity, then ball flight characteristics are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The weights are integrated directly into the lower cavity structure of the club head, merging the weight adjustment function with the existing structural design. This integration allows center of gravity optimization for improved ball flight control without significantly increasing overall device complexity, as the weights become part of the club head's structural assembly rather than separate add-on components.
Data Source
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AI summary
A golf club head includes a striking face having a substantially flat frontal striking surface, and having a lower leading edge and an opposite upper topline edge; a topline extending rearward from the upper topline edge; a sole extending rearward from the lower leading edge; a support bar protruding rearwardly from the striking face; an upper cavity at least partially surrounded by the topline, an upper section of the striking face, and the support bar; and a lower cavity at least partially surrounded by the support bar, a lower section of the striking face, and the sole, wherein the lower section of the striking face includes a heel portion, a toe portion, and a thick portion between the heel portion and the toe portion, and wherein a thickness of the thick portion is greater than a thickness of the heel portion and a thickness of the toe portion.