Multilayer Golf Ball Design for Flight Distance and Impact Feel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf balls struggle to balance flight performance and feel at impact, particularly for drivers and putters, with existing multilayer designs failing to provide both high flight distance and soft feel, leading to difficulties in distance control for beginners during putting.
Innovation Solution
A golf ball design utilizing TH values calculated from the hardness and thickness of each layer, with specific formulas governing the relationships between the core, inner cover, main cover, and outer cover, to achieve a balanced performance by making the main cover relatively hard and thick, and the inner and outer covers relatively thin and flexible.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a golf ball has high resilience performance for excellent flight distance, then flight performance is improved, but feel at impact becomes hard
Solution Approach 1:
The golf ball is divided into multiple layers (core, inner cover, main cover, outer cover) with different hardness and thickness characteristics. The core has high resilience for flight distance, while the outer covers provide soft feel at impact. This segmentation allows each layer to fulfill different functional requirements that cannot be achieved by a single uniform structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the golf ball have different physical properties. The core region has high hardness and resilience for optimal flight performance, while the outer cover regions have lower hardness for soft feel at impact. The TH value calculations (X, S, M, I, O) and their relationships define these local quality variations to achieve both high flight distance and soft feel simultaneously.
2Ease of operation
If a golf ball has soft feel at impact, then feel at impact is improved, but response felt in hands upon putting becomes small making distance control difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The outer covers are designed with specific hardness (Shore C 40-70) and thickness to provide soft feel at impact while maintaining adequate response feedback. The TH value relationships (particularly I-O between -10 and 30) ensure that the outer cover properties are optimized to give both softness and sufficient tactile feedback for distance control during putting.
3Ease of operation
If the inner cover and outer cover are made thinner for soft feel, then feel at impact is improved, but structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The inner cover and outer cover are designed with optimized thickness and hardness combinations. The TH value relationships (I and O values, and their difference I-O) define the precise properties needed to achieve soft feel while maintaining sufficient structural strength. The main cover provides additional structural support to compensate for the thinner outer layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The golf ball uses composite material construction with different layers made from materials with varying properties. The core, inner cover, main cover, and outer cover are composed of different rubber or polymer materials, each selected to provide specific characteristics. This composite structure allows thin outer covers for soft feel while the overall composite construction maintains structural integrity.
Data Source
AI summary
A golf ball (2) includes a core (4), an inner cover (6), a main cover (8), and an outer cover (10). X=Hc×Rc×0.05, S=Hs×Rc×0.05, M=Hm×Tm, I=Hi×Ti, O=Ho×To, and Q=(I+O)/2 that are calculated from a radius Rc of the core (4), a Shore C hardness Hc at a central point of the core (4), a Shore C hardness Hs at a surface of the core (4), a thickness Tm of the main cover (8), a Shore C hardness Hm of the main cover (8), a thickness Ti of the inner cover (6), a Shore C hardness Hi of the inner cover (6), a thickness To of the outer cover (10) and a Shore C hardness Ho of the outer cover (10), satisfy 15≤M−S≤100, 0.25<Q/M<0.5, −10≤I−O≤30, and Q/X≥0.8.