Putter Head Grooves Filled With Soft Polymer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current putter designs do not cater to the personal preferences of golfers regarding feel and performance, as the 'feel' of a golf club is highly subjective and influenced by weight, weight distribution, aerodynamics, and sound, making it challenging to find a single putter structure suitable for all players.
Innovation Solution
A putter head design featuring a ball striking face made of a material with a first hardness characteristic, incorporating a cavity and multiple openings filled with a softer polymeric material, which also forms part of the ball striking surface, allowing for weight distribution adjustment and influencing ball spin, sound, and feel characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single putter structure is used for all players, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but it cannot satisfy the personal preferences of golfers regarding feel and performance
Solution Approach 1:
The putter head incorporates a ball striking face member made of a material with a first hardness characteristic, while the cavity is filled with a polymeric material having a second hardness characteristic that is softer than the first. This creates local quality differences in hardness and material properties at different regions of the putter head, allowing the face to provide durability and consistent contact while the softer polymeric material enhances feel and vibration damping, thus accommodating diverse player preferences without requiring multiple complete putter designs
Solution Approach 2:
The putter head utilizes a composite construction combining a metal or hard material ball striking face member with a softer polymeric material filling the cavity. This composite approach integrates materials with different hardness characteristics and physical properties into a single putter head, enabling it to deliver both the performance consistency of hard materials and the feel benefits of softer materials, thereby increasing adaptability to different player preferences while maintaining a unified structure
2Stability of the object's composition
If weight is distributed throughout the putter head, then structural integrity is maintained, but moment of inertia and center of gravity control are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The putter head is divided into distinct segments: a ball striking face member and a cavity portion. The cavity is filled with polymeric material that can be selectively distributed to specific regions. This segmentation allows independent optimization of weight distribution within the cavity to control moment of inertia and center of gravity, while the overall structural integrity is maintained by the face member and the cohesive polymeric material filling
Solution Approach 2:
The invention enables control of moment of inertia and center of gravity by adjusting the distribution and volume of the polymeric material within the cavity. By changing the parameters of material distribution (density, volume, spatial arrangement), the weight characteristics of the putter head can be optimized for different performance requirements while maintaining structural integrity through the constrained cavity design
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 allows for weight savings, enabling redistribution of weight for improved moment of inertia and center of gravity control, while the polymeric material enhances ball spin and 'feel' by damping vibrations, providing a customized performance for each golfer.
Implementation Method 1
the polymeric material enhances ball spin and 'feel' by damping vibrations
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 2C~2D
AI summary
Putters include a putter body having a ball striking face member (204) made of a material having a first hardness characteristic. Independent and separate openings (206) are defined in the ball striking face member extending rearward with respect to the ball striking face member and at a non-perpendicular angle with respect to the ball striking surface. Optionally a cavity (208) is present behind the ball strikign surface. A polymeric material at least partially fills the openings and the cavity, wherein the polymeric material has a second hardness characteristic that is softer than the first hardness characteristic. The ball striking face member and the polymeric material exposed in at least some of the openings provide a ball striking surface of the putter. The ball striking surface may include grooves or scorelines to affect the launch angle, spin, and/or roll of the ball during a putt. Methods for making such putter devices also are described.