Games using tangible projectile – Golf – Club or club support
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-20
2001-06-26
Passaniti, Sebastiano (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Golf
Club or club support
C473S350000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06251029
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to golf clubs, particularly to golf club heads, including the heads of both irons and woods. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in or modifications of the sole portion of the golf club head by providing a new sole configuration having benefits and advantages. Even more particularly, the sole configuration has three separately identifiable planar regions angularly inclined to each other, defining a substantially V-shaped ridge formed at the interfaces of the planar surfaces with one another. Even more particularly, the apex of the V-shaped ridge is formed into a peak on the sole of the club head near to the bottom edge of the striking face of the club head. The sole configuration of the present invention allows a greater margin of error or deviation in the swing of a golfer from the ideal swing plane, whilst still producing an effective golf shot, such that there is a greater chance of accurately striking the ball so that it follows closely to the desired flight path.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Although the present invention will be described with particular reference to one form of one golf club head having a novel sole configuration, it is to be noted that the present invention is not limited in scope to the described embodiment, but rather the scope of the present invention is more extensive to include other configurations of the sole of the club head, the use of these configurations in other equipment, and to other applications of the various configurations other than those specifically described.
One of the problems of playing golf is to correctly strike the golf ball as often as possible so that the ball follows the desired trajectory or flight path. All too often, the golf ball is not correctly struck and the ball does not follow the desired trajectory, resulting in a poor shot which adds to the frustration of playing the game, which should ideally be enjoyable. This is particularly so of beginners or players with little experience or occasional golfers. One of the reasons for making a poor shot is that the striking face of the club does not hit the ball square on in the “sweet spot” of the club head, but rather the striking face of the club is skewed sideways or tilted as a result of a poor swing or hitting the ground before the ball, so that the ball, if it travels at all, flies off in the wrong direction.
When playing a golf shot, typically a fairway iron shot, it is desirable that during the swing the club head strikes the ball first, preferably square on to the ball and with the sweet spot of the club head, then continues on and takes a divot from the ground at the beginning of the follow-through of the club head, and then continues on in the full follow-through of the swing, thus producing a good golf shot. If the swing is a good swing, say following the ideal swing plane, taking the divot does not interfere with the flight path or trajectory of the ball as the ball has been struck and has commenced its flight before the club head hits the ground or as the divot is taken, so that even if the club head is skewed it does not affect the flight of the ball. However, if the swing or golf shot is not a “textbook” shot but rather deviates from the correct swing plane, a divot can be taken either before or as the ball is struck, or the club can hit the ground before it hits the ball, which in either case results in the club head being deflected, sometimes considerably, by contact with the ground, from the ideal swing plane so that the club head face is not square on to the ball or the ball is not hit with the sweet spot of the club head when it is struck, if it is struck at all. As a result, the golf shot overall will be poor, such as for example by contact with the ground, causing the club head to twist or skew, thereby causing the ball to spin to the left or right in a hooking or slicing manner, or being mis-hit or even completely missing the ball if the club head is sufficiently deflected far enough from the ideal swing plane to miss the ball. The configuration of the sole of a golf club head plays an important role in producing a “good” golf shot, since the sole portion of the club, being closest to the ground, is that part of the club head which actually makes contact with the ground first when taking a divot or when inadvertently hitting the ground, such as for example when the swing results in the club head being slightly lower than the ideal swing plane. The conventional sole configuration of golf club heads contributes to mis-hitting the ball, due to the shape of the sole being either flat or in the shape of a shallow curve. The conventional sole configuration is a compound curve in that the lower surface of the club head is smooth and extends in one shallow curve which is almost flat from the heel of the club adjacent where the shaft of the club joins to the head to the toe of the club at the other end of the head, and extends in another substantially transverse shallow curve between the front hitting face of the club head to the rear wall. The shape of the curved sole configuration, being essentially elongatedly rounded, means that the sole of the head needs to be accurately aligned with the surface of the ground immediately behind the ball for the shot to be good, or otherwise the shot will be poor since there is little margin for error, because of the relatively long length of the sole that can contact the ground to deflect the club head from its swing path. If the sole of the club head is slightly misaligned due to a poor swing or the like, the sole will strike the ground before or simultaneously with the ball, thereby deflecting the club head, particularly deflecting the front hitting face of the head, from the ideal swing plane, thereby producing a bad shot in which the ball travels in the wrong direction since the ball would not be hit in the sweet spot.
When using a golf club having a head of the conventional shape, being a compound curve, a problem that arises when a golfer's swing is not along the ideal swing plane, but rather intersects the swing plane, causing the ball to be struck off-centre or not square on, is that the golfer often strikes the ground with either the toe or heel of the club before the ball is struck. In doing so, the club head is deflected off-line, causing a poor shot as the ball either hooks, slices or otherwise does not follow the desired flight path, or in extreme circumstances is a mis-hit in which the ball is not struck at all. This is because the bottom surface of the club head or sole extends almost the length of the head from the heel to the toe, as the sole is a shallow curve between the heel and toe, resulting in a significant amount of the length of the club head being close to the ground when the ball is struck, so that the opportunity for hitting the ground with part of the sole of the club is greater. Thus, if anywhere along almost all of the length of the sole configuration, such as from the heel portion to the toe portion, touches the ground before the ball, the club head will be deflected from the ideal swing path, resulting in a “poor” shot with the ball not following the intended trajectory.
Whilst the sole configuration of golf club heads is conventionally flat or smoothly curved in order to provide as flat a surface as possible with which to clear the ground when making a shot, variations of the sole configuration have been made in the past in attempts to improve this characteristic of the golf club head by providing non-planar sole configurations in order to take into account a golfer's swing deviations from the ideal swing plane. However, these variations have not been entirely successful for one reason or another. Some golf club heads are available with a variation of this conventional sole configuration. Other golf club heads have a more complex sole configuration primarily designed to combat one or more specific defects in a player's swing or to address one or more specific situations encountered on t
Burr & Brown
Passaniti Sebastiano
Play Sports Company PTY LTD
LandOfFree
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