CN101190376A - putter head - Google Patents

Abstract

A putter head with little roundabout is provided. Plural grooves (4) are disposed parallel on the pole surface (3) of the putter head (1), following the extending direction of toe-ends. The groove(4) has a width W between 0.5mm and 1.6mm, a slot interval S between 0.25mm and 3.2mm, W/S between 0.5 and 2.0 which is preferably between 0.5 and 1.5, and the depth H between 0.03mm and 1.2mm. The groove (4) section is constructed to be square or U-shaped and grooves (4) can be longitudinal or set into both transverse and longitudinal grooves. Grooves (5) are also positioned on the pole surface (3) with a different depth with grooves (4).

Description

putter head

technical field

The invention relates to a putter head for playing golf, in particular to a putter head with grooves on the club surface.

Background technique

A putter head is a club head of a putter used in golf clubs to roll a ball on a green. As recorded in paragraph 0002 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-777, it is easy to find that through the cutting process of a milling machine, grooves commonly known as milling grooves are formed on the entire club face, and the grooves are equally spaced from the front of the club face. Arc shape. The reason why the grooves are formed is to reduce the contact area between the club face and the golf ball to obtain a soft hitting feeling or prevent the ball from slipping when the club face is wet by rain or dew. In addition, this kind of milling groove has various advantages such as the appearance advantage brought by the design style, and it is often seen in putter heads used by advanced golfers who place importance on hitting feel and ball feel.

Claims 3 to 5 of the publication describe that the groove interval is 0.3 to 3 mm, the groove depth is 0.03 to 0.3 mm, and the arc radius of the arc-shaped groove is 8 to 80 mm.

Contents of the invention

The putter head generally has a loft angle of 2 to 5 degrees, and it is found that the ball produces backspin before the face of the putter head hits and deforms the golf ball by taking pictures with a high-speed camera. This amount of backspin can cause the ball to roll poorly. An object of the present invention is to provide an improved putter head for reducing the amount of backspin.

A plurality of grooves are formed on the face of the putter head according to the present invention (claim 1), and the putter head has at least a first group of grooves parallel to each other and a second group of grooves whose groove depth is different from that of the first group of grooves. Both slots.

On the basis of technical solution 1, the ratio W/S of the width W (mm) of each groove in the first group of grooves of the putter head of technical solution 2 to the groove interval S (mm) is 0.5-2.0.

On the basis of the technical solution 2, the groove width W of each groove of the first group of grooves of the putter head of the technical solution 3 is 0.5-1.6 mm.

On the basis of any one of technical solutions 1-3, on the putter head of technical solution 4, the depth H of the first group of grooves is 0.03-1.2 mm, and the depth H of the second group of grooves is 0.01-0.3 mm.

On the basis of any one of technical proposals 1 to 4, in the putter head of technical proposal 5, the cross-sectional shape of each groove of the first group of grooves is square or U-shaped.

On the basis of any one of technical solutions 1 to 5, on the putter head of technical solution 6, the first group of grooves and the second group of grooves extend along different directions.

On the basis of technical solution 6, on the push rod head of technical solution 7, the second group of grooves is formed by milling grooves.

On the basis of any one of technical solutions 1 to 7, on the push rod head of technical solution 8, any one of the grooves in the second group of grooves is arc-shaped.

On the basis of any one of technical proposals 1 to 8, in the putter head of technical proposal 9, the club face is composed of an insert member of a material different from that of the main body.

On the basis of technical solution 9, in the putter head of technical solution 10, the insert member is composed of a laminated material formed by laminating multiple materials.

In claim 10, in the putter head according to claim 11, at least one layer of the laminate is made of metal, and at least the other layer is made of synthetic resin, rubber or elastic body.

From the research results of the present inventors, it is known that the amount of backspin can be reduced by reducing the contact area between the club face and the ball. In addition, by sticking pressure-sensitive paper on the face of the putter head to study the marks on the face of the putter when playing golf with a putter, it can be known that the diameter of the marks is generally 2 to 3mm. , there are traces with a diameter of 5mm remaining, which shows that the ball is slightly deformed.

Therefore, the same grooves as the corrugations on the iron head were installed on the club face to study the initial amount of backspin and the amount of rolling of the ball. It was found that when the club head is an iron club head, the club head speed is much faster than that of the putter head, and the amount of backspin increases because the ball bites into the corrugations (grooves), but when the club head In the case where the head is a putter head, the amount of backspin is actually reduced.

The present invention is a putter head invented based on the above knowledge.

In the present invention, since a plurality of sets of grooves including at least the first set of grooves and the second set of grooves extending in different directions are provided, the contact area between the club face and the ball is reduced, and the amount of backspin is reduced.

In the present invention, since grooves extending in different directions are provided and the number of grooves is large, machining is troublesome when forming the grooves by cutting. In addition, in the case of producing a grooved putter head by casting, and in the case where any one of the first group of grooves and the second group of grooves is deep, there is a possibility that the partial flow between the grooves may occur during casting. Deterioration of performance and increase of defective rate.

Therefore, in the present invention, the groove depths of the grooves of the first group and the grooves of the second group are made different to facilitate manufacture of the putter head.

With regard to the putter head of the present invention, as described above, since the amount of backspin of the ball being putt is small, the ball rolling on the lawn is topspinned at an early stage of leaving the face and smoothly along the aimed line. rolling. Also, prevents the ball's roll distance from being unexpectedly drastically reduced (longer distance left from the stopped ball to the hole), especially if the grass on the lawn grows inversely to the ball's roll Case. In the present invention, the impact feeling can be adjusted by constituting the club face with an insert member made of a material different from that of the main body.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view of the putter head in the embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line II-II of Fig. 1 .

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 2 .

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the vicinity of the face surface for explaining milling.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the cross-sectional shape of the groove 5 in the embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a front view of a putter head in another embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of Fig. 6 .

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a first insert member.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken along line IX-IX of Fig. 8 .

Detailed ways

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a front view of a putter head in an embodiment. Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line II-II of Fig. 1 . FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the face portion of FIG. 2 .

In this putter head 1 , a shaft (not shown) is inserted into a neck portion 2 and fixed with an adhesive or the like to constitute a putter.

On the face 3 of the putter head 1, a plurality of grooves 4 extending in the toe-heel direction as the first group of grooves are provided in parallel. In addition, the club face 3 is provided with a second group of grooves 5 formed of substantially arc-shaped milled grooves.

The groove 4 extends in the horizontal direction in a grounded state where the center portion in the toe-heel direction of the bottom surface of the putter head 1 is in contact with a horizontal surface. The center of each groove 4 in the longitudinal direction is located near the center of the putter head 1 in the toe and heel directions.

The length of the groove 4 is preferably 5 mm or more, particularly preferably 30 mm or more. The groove 4 may extend over the entire length of the face 3 in the toe-heel direction. The number of grooves 4 is preferably three or more, particularly preferably 3 to 30.

The distance between the lower edge of the lowest groove 4 and the bottom surface of the putter head 1 is preferably 10 mm or less. If the groove is positioned higher than the contact point of the ball in a putt, the effect of reducing the amount of backspin cannot be obtained.

Next, the width, groove interval, depth, and groove cross-sectional shape of the first group of grooves 4 will be described.

In the present invention, the ratio W/S of the groove width W to the groove interval S of the grooves 4 of the first group is preferably 0.5-2, more preferably 0.5-1.5, particularly preferably 0.6-1.3. If W/S is less than 0.5, it will be difficult to form grooves. In addition, if W/S is larger than 2, the ball may contact only the part without grooves and may contact the part with grooves, so that the rolling distance may easily vary.

The groove width W of the first group of grooves 4 is preferably 0.5 to 1.6 mm, particularly preferably 0.5 to 1.25 mm, particularly preferably 0.75 to 1.25 mm. If the groove width W is less than 0.5 mm, it will be difficult to form the groove, so the groove width is 0.5 mm or more. The reason why the groove width W is set to be 1.6 mm or less is because the diameter of the ball scar is 2 to 5 mm. If the groove width is larger than 1.6 mm, there is a possibility that the balls may easily deviate in rolling distance at the edge of the groove.

The groove spacing S of the first group of grooves 4 is 0.25 to 3.2 mm, particularly preferably 0.25 to 2.5 mm. If the groove interval S is less than 0.25 mm, it will be difficult to form grooves.

The groove 4 is used to reduce the contact area between the club face 3 and the ball. Therefore, when the groove 4 is deep, there is no influence on the effect, and it is preferably 1.2 mm or less. When the diameter of the scar is approximately 2 to 3 mm, the ball deforms by 0.03 mm, so the groove 4 preferably has a depth of 0.03 mm or more.

The cross-sectional shape of the first group of grooves 4 can be any of V-shaped grooves, U-shaped grooves, and square grooves, but for U-shaped grooves and square grooves, even if the ball deforms, the contact area with the club face is almost unchanged. So U-shaped grooves and square grooves are preferred. In addition, if the corner where the face and the groove meet is rounded, the influence of the amount of backspin can be reduced, so it is preferable that the corner where the face and the groove meet is rounded.

The groove depth of the second group of grooves 5 is preferably smaller than the depth of the first group of grooves 4, and is 0.01 to 0.3 mm, particularly preferably 0.03 to 0.1 mm. The grooves 5 of the second group can also be milled grooves. In addition, in FIG. 4, the definition of the depth and interval of the groove|channel 5 which consists of a milled groove|channel is shown. The groove 5 can be a U-shaped or semicircular cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. 5 , or it can be a square groove.

Each of the grooves 5 is continuously formed by circular arcs with equal radii, and the centers of the circles are set so as to lie on a straight line. The arc center is preferably located at the center of the face 2 in the toe-heel direction. The grooves 5 are provided at least in the area where the grooves 4 of the first group exist.

In this embodiment, the grooves of the first group are formed in the lateral direction, but the grooves of the first group may be formed in the vertical direction. In this case, the width, interval, and W/S of the grooves are as described above. When the groove is a vertical groove, the length of the groove is preferably 5 mm or more. When the groove is a longitudinal groove, the groove is preferably provided in at least the central region of the face in the toe-heel direction. The length in the toe-heel direction of the central region is preferably 5 mm or more.

The material of the putter head of the present invention is any one of metal, synthetic resin, rubber, pottery, carbon and the like. In addition, only the face may be made of a material different from that of the main body of the putter head.

In the above-described embodiment, the groove 4 is linear, but it may be curved such as a circular arc. Furthermore, both transverse and longitudinal grooves may also be provided.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the second group of grooves 5 is formed by milling grooves, but grooves composed of V-shaped grooves, U-shaped grooves, square grooves, etc. can also be provided by cutting or casting.

An embodiment in which a club face is formed using an insert member will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9 . FIG. 6 is a front view of the putter head 1A. Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of Fig. 6 . Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the inner surface side of the insert member. Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken along line IX-IX of Fig. 8 . In addition, this putter head 1A is the same as the above-mentioned putter head 1 except that the insert members 10 and 20 are provided on the face, and the same reference numerals denote the same parts.

The first insert member 10 is substantially in the shape of a rectangular plate, and a part of its inner surface is cut away to form a recess 11 , and the front surface of the insert member 10 is provided with a groove 4 .

A plurality of (twelve in this embodiment) columnar, preferably columnar, projections 12 protrude from the inner surface of the insert member 10 corresponding to the bottom surface of the recess 11 . The convex portion 12 has a height whose top end surface is flush with the rear surface of the peripheral wall portion 13 surrounding the recess 11 .

In addition, the overall thickness T of the insert member 10 is preferably 2 to 6 mm, the depth of the recess 11, that is, the height of the convex portion 12 is preferably 1 to 3 mm, the number of the convex portion 12 is preferably 10 to 30, and the diameter of the convex portion 12 is preferably 1 to 3 mm. It is preferably 1 to 3 mm, and the thickness N of the peripheral wall portion 13 is preferably 1 to 3 mm. The length in the toe-heel direction of the insert member 10 is preferably 40 to 100 mm, and the height is preferably 10 to 30 mm.

In this embodiment, the recess 11 is filled with the second insert member 20 made of synthetic resin, rubber or elastic body. The insert member 10 filled with the second insert member 20 in the recess 11 is fitted and bonded to the recess of the head main body with an adhesive. In addition, it is also possible to expand the inside of the recess and narrow the entrance while using the adhesive, or instead of the adhesive, so that the fitting cannot be easily released. In addition, if both the second insert member 20 and the first insert member 10 are made of metal or ceramics, fixing methods such as riveting, welding, and brazing may be used.

In this way, by providing the insert members 10, 20 on the club face, it is possible to adjust the sensory factors such as impact feeling, ball feeling, and touch feeling of the putter head 1A.

The first insert member 10 is preferably metal such as titanium, titanium alloy, stainless steel, soft iron, aluminum, aluminum alloy, or noble metal, but may also be rubber, synthetic resin, or the like, or ceramic, carbon, or the like.

The synthetic resin constituting the second insert member 20 is preferably polyurethane, nylon, polyester, polyacetate, etc.; the rubber is preferably silicone rubber, neoprene rubber, nitrile rubber, natural rubber, styrene, etc. - Butadiene rubber and the like; as the elastomer, styrene-based elastomers, urethane-based elastomers, vinyl-based elastomers, polyester-based elastomers, vinyl-based elastomers, amide-based elastomers, and the like are preferable. The Shore A hardness of the synthetic resin is preferably 90-98, and the Shore A hardness of the rubber and the elastomer is preferably 20-30.

In addition, in the present invention, the second insert member 20 may be omitted, and only the first insert member 10 may be provided.

Example

Next, Examples and Comparative Examples will be described.

Comparative example 1-4

As the putter head, a flagstick-type putter head (made of stainless steel SUS304) with a loft angle of 4 degrees was used for evaluation.

In Comparative Example 1, neither of grooves 4 and 5 was provided.

In comparative examples 2 to 4, only groove 4 was provided, and groove 5 was not provided.

Specifically, six linear first group grooves 4 are provided on the club face at the ball hitting portion (the middle part of the club face in the toe-heel direction). The groove is a square groove formed by machining. Regarding the length of the groove 4, the groove length at the lowest position is the longest, being 54 mm, and the groove length at the highest position is the shortest, being 37 mm.

Groove 4 has a groove width of 0.75 mm and a groove depth of 0.4 mm. The groove spacing is shown in Table 1.

A steel shaft is attached to each putter head and used as a putter with a club length of 34 inches. A top amateur player (advanced golfer) hits a distance of 2.5 m with the putter in Comparative Example 1. The putters in Comparative Examples 2 to 4 were used to make a putter at the same head speed as this swing, and the ball was rolled on the actual grass. The amount of spin of the ball is measured by taking pictures with a high-speed camera. In addition, the ball flies a certain distance after being hit, then lands and rolls. The test results are shown in Table 1. The unit rpm in the table represents revolutions per minute.

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, the putter head with groove 4 has less initial spin, more forward spin after landing, better rolling, and longer rolling distance.

Comparative example 5-7

Next, an experiment was carried out to study the effect of the groove width under the following conditions: the W/S was set to a constant value of 0.9, except that the groove width was changed, and the others were the same as in Comparative Examples 2-6.

Specifically, as the putter head, W=0.75mm, S=0.83mm, W/S=0.9, H=0.4mm putter head (comparative example 5) and W=1.25mm, S=1.39mm, A putter head with W/S=0.9, H=0.4 mm (Comparative Example 6).

The same test was performed with the same swing as when the putter head of Comparative Example 1 was used to push the distance of 4.8 m.

For comparison, the same putter head as Comparative Example 1 was also tested under the same conditions (Comparative Example 7). The results are shown in Table 2.

Example 1

In Comparative Example 5, the groove 5 having a narrower groove width and a shallower groove depth than the groove 4 was provided. Groove 5 is a U-shaped groove with a groove depth of 0.075 mm and a groove width of 0.39 mm. Set a plurality of arc-shaped grooves with equal radius, so that the centers of the circles are set one by one at intervals of 1.2mm along the vertical direction. The test results under the same conditions as Comparative Examples 5-7 are shown in Table 2 together.

[Table 2]

As shown in Table 2, when comparing any of Comparative Examples 5 and 6 with Comparative Example 7, it can be seen that the amount of backspin is reduced and the rolling distance is extended.

The amount of backswing in Example 1 is smaller than that of Comparative Example 5, and the rolling distance is also better.

Example 2

Using the first insert member 10 and the second insert member 20, the putter head 1A shown in Figs. 6 to 9 is produced for the golfer to try out and summarize the impact feeling. In addition, in numbers 1 and 2, the second insert member 20 is omitted, and only the first insert member 10 is used.

The dimensions of each part of the first insert member 10 are as follows:

Length in the toe and heel direction: 60mm

Height : 14mm

Thickness T : 4mm

Peripheral wall thickness N : 1.5mm

Depth of recess 11: 2mm

The material combinations of the insert components are as follows: in numbers 3 to 8, the left side of the symbol "+" is the material of the first insert component, and the right side is the material of the second insert component.

No. 1: Only the first insert member 10 made of stainless steel

Number 2: Only the first insert member 10 made of aluminum alloy

No. 3: stainless steel + high hardness resin

No. 4: aluminum alloy + high hardness resin

No. 5: stainless steel + rubber

No. 6: Aluminum alloy + rubber

No. 7: High hardness resin + rubber

No. 8: High Hardness Resin + High Hardness Resin

As stainless steel, SUS304 material is used, and as aluminum alloy, 6061 material is used. As the high-hardness resin, a urethane resin having a Shore A hardness of 95 was used. As the rubber, nitrile rubber having a Shore A hardness of 25 was used.

From the results of ranking the evaluation order of the softness of the hitting feeling from soft to hard, it can be considered that the hitting feeling can be adjusted. Among them, according to the favorable feeling survey of 18 golfers, No. 8 is the highest, followed by No. 5, No. 6, No. 1, No. 2 (tied), No. 3, and No. 7.

Claims (11)

1. A putter head having a plurality of grooves formed on its face, characterized in that, At least two types of grooves are provided: the first group of grooves parallel to each other and the second group of grooves having a groove depth different from the first group of grooves. 2. The putter head of claim 1, wherein: The ratio W/S of the groove width W (mm) of each groove in the first group of grooves to the groove interval S (mm) is 0.5-2.0. 3. The putter head of claim 2, wherein: The groove width W of the first group of grooves is 0.5-1.6 mm. 4. The putter head according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The depth H of the first group of grooves is 0.03-1.2 mm, and the depth H of the second group of grooves is 0.01-0.3 mm. 5. The putter head according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The cross-sectional shape of each groove in the first group of grooves is square or U-shaped. 6. The putter head according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the grooves of the first group and the grooves of the second group extend in different directions. 7. The putter head of claim 6, wherein: The second set of grooves consists of milled grooves. 8. The putter head according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: Any one of the grooves in the second group is substantially arc-shaped. 9. The putter head according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The face is composed of an insert member made of a different material from the main body. 10. The putter head of claim 9, wherein: The insert member is composed of a laminate in which a plurality of materials are laminated. 11. The putter head of claim 10, wherein: At least one layer of the laminate is made of metal, and the other at least one layer is made of synthetic resin, rubber or elastomer.

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