JP2007130219A - Putter head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correct the deviation of directivity in off-center hitting. <P>SOLUTION: In the putter head for which an insert 4 is mounted on a face surface 3, the depth of the recessed part 5 of the face surface 3 for mounting the insert 4 is made deeper than the thickness of the insert 4, a both-end supporting or both-end fixing structure for freeing the rigid body deformation of the insert 4 is attained, and a gap 5A is formed on the back surface of the insert 4. The front and back of the insert 4 are supported or fixed by supporting beams 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a putter head for golf, and more particularly to a putter head excellent in the directionality of a hit ball at the time of putting.

  There are golf putter heads made of only a single metal material and those having an insert on the face surface. The purpose of this is to improve the hitting ball feeling by mounting the insert at the hitting point position on the face surface. As a material for the insert, a metal material or an elastic body such as a resin is used. In particular, an insert made of an elastic body such as a resin is widely used because its hardness and elastic modulus are relatively lower than that of a metal or the like and a softer shot feeling can be obtained. When hitting with a metal putter head that does not have an insert, or a putter with a putter head made of metal, the hit ball between the hit ball near the sweet spot and the hit ball at a position outside the sweet spot The difference in feeling is relatively small. On the other hand, in the insert made of an elastic body such as resin, the difference in the hit feeling is relatively large between the hit ball in the vicinity of the sweet spot and the hit ball at a position outside the sweet spot. The reason for this is that the head hardly rotates when hitting a ball near the sweet spot, but a relatively large moment that rotates the head acts on the head when hitting the ball outside the sweet spot. This is because it tends to cause movement such as rotational movement and vibration. Such a difference in head behavior slightly affects the golfer's feel at impact and appears as a difference in feel at impact. This difference in the hit feeling is felt as if the hit ball in the vicinity of the sweet spot feels relatively soft and the hit ball in a position outside the vicinity feels relatively hard, particularly in the case of a putter.

  When there is no insert or the insert is made of metal, the material of the face surface is relatively hard, so even if the ball is hit at any position on the face surface, the shot feel is relatively hard, and the difference in the shot feel is relatively small . On the other hand, in the case of an insert made of an elastic body such as a resin, the feel at impact is softened due to the influence of the insert, so that the effect of the insert material and the effect of the hitting position act synergistically in the vicinity of the sweet spot. Will be felt as an extremely soft shot. On the other hand, the shot feeling in the position outside the sweet spot is also relatively soft due to the effect of the insert material, but the shot feeling in the vicinity of the sweet spot is extremely soft due to the synergistic action, so the shot in the vicinity of the sweet spot The difference between the feeling and the hit feeling at a position outside the vicinity is greater than in the case of the metal insert. And this feel at impact becomes harder as the distance from the vicinity of the sweet spot increases. As described above, by providing the insert made of an elastic body such as the resin, a difference in hit feeling between the hit points on the face surface becomes obvious. In this way, the farther away from the vicinity of the sweet spot, the harder the hitting feeling becomes relatively hard. In this case, the player misunderstands such a “hard hitting feeling” as “a hitting feeling hitting stronger than intended” and follows the stroke. It is attempted to adjust the putting distance by reducing. For this reason, a desired putting distance cannot be obtained, and the ball is likely not to reach the cup. Originally, the hitting point far from the sweet spot (off-center hit) has a lower repulsion coefficient of the hit ball than the position near the sweet spot. Therefore, even if the player does not consider the distance adjustment action, the hit at the hit point is short. It's easy to do. In addition, since the above-mentioned player distance adjustment act is added, the degree of the short-circuit becomes higher. In addition, the directionality of the head is likely to go wrong due to the rotational movement of the head due to the off-center hit. As described above, when the elastic body is used as the face insert, there is a problem that the sense of distance is likely to be distorted as the hit point is separated from the vicinity of the sweet spot.

  Therefore, when an elastic face insert is mounted on the face surface, a difference in hit feeling between hit points with different distances from the vicinity of the sweet spot has been eased, and an easy to match distance feeling has been developed. This is configured such that the insert has a thickness changing portion in which the thickness increases as it approaches the periphery of the insert from the vicinity of the sweet spot of the head (see Patent Document 1).

Similarly, a putter head improved so that a large difference in the rolling distance of the ball due to a difference in a position where the face surface of the head hits during putting is also known. This is because, in a putter head for golf with an insert, the insert material is made non-uniform in thickness, or the insert material is partially provided with a cavity or a through hole behind the insert material. The repulsive force distribution on the face surface is made non-uniform. As a result, the face ratio of the face surface (= the initial velocity of the ball / the collision velocity of the head) in the putter head can be made uniform, thereby reducing the difference in the rolling distance of the ball caused by the difference in the position of the head face when putting. (See Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-124730 (5th page, FIG. 3) JP 2001-170231 A (page 3, FIGS. 5 and 6)

  None of the above-described conventional examples is for correcting a deviation in distance, and does not correct a deviation in directionality due to a rotation of a putter head due to an off-center hit and a deviation in a surface normal direction based on the rotation. Even if a cavity as described in Patent Document 2 is provided, the insert material is not designed to be free from rigid deformation. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the face surface 100 is a flat surface, the head rotates due to an off-center hit on the toe side, and the normal direction of the face surface 100 after the collision is directed rightward. , 10 indicates that when the face surface 101 is an appropriate concave surface, the head rotates due to an off-center hit on the toe side, but the normal direction of the face surface 101 after the collision maintains the head traveling direction. The effectiveness of the face surface 101 being a concave surface is described. However, there is a circumstance that this was prohibited in order to provide a concave on the face surface 101, and the Golf Rules (Attached Rules II-5-a. General Rules) stated that “For putters… ... (the club face must be smooth, even if it should be slightly indented).

  As a means for improving the left-right directionality, there is an effect of improvement by increasing the inertia ratio in addition to the concave processing of the face surface 101 as described above. However, even if the inertia ratio is large, the head always rotates. appear. In particular, average golfers who are unskilled in the technology cannot avoid the off-center hit with a large swing stroke on an uphill or a long pad. There is.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a putter head that does not cause a directional deviation even at the time of an off-center hit without processing the concave surface of the face surface.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, according to the present invention, in a putter head in which an insert is mounted on a face surface, the depth of the concave portion of the face surface on which the insert is mounted is made deeper than the thickness of the insert, and the rigid deformation of the insert is free. A gap is formed on the back surface of the insert as a double-end support or double-end fixing structure.

  According to the present invention, in the putter head in which the insert is mounted on the face surface, the depth of the concave portion of the face surface on which the insert is mounted is made deeper than the thickness of the insert, or both ends are supported so that the rigid deformation of the insert is free. Since the gap is formed on the back of the insert as a fixed structure at both ends, the self-correction function of the orientation of the face surface against the off-center hit acts by utilizing the rigid deformation of the insert at the time of impact to prevent misdirection. Can do. In addition, the insert is deformed at the time of an off-center hit, so that it is not hard to hit and a sense of distance can be easily met.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The head body 1 of the putter head shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is formed by an appropriate processing method such as forging, casting, or cutting using a relatively hard metal material such as mild steel, stainless steel, or brass. It is attached to one end of the shaft 2. The face surface 3 is provided with an insert 4 made of an elastomer material, a ceramic material, a titanium alloy, or the like. In order to mount the insert 4, the concave portion 5 is formed in the head body 1, the depth of the concave portion 5 is made deeper than the thickness of the insert 4, and both ends of the insert 4 are placed so that the rigid deformation of the insert 4 is free. A gap 5 </ b> A is formed on the back surface of the insert 4. The support beam 6 for supporting the insert 4 in the recess 5 is formed of two pairs of semi-cylindrical columns (a shape obtained by dividing a cylinder vertically in half), and is formed on the bottom of the recess 5 near the toe and the heel, respectively. With the curved surface of the attached semi-cylindrical column facing the face surface 3, the curved portions of the semi-cylindrical column are embedded on the left and right sides of the insert 4, and the insert 4 is supported so that each semi-cylindrical column sandwiches both ends of the insert 4. To do. The upper and lower sides of the semi-cylindrical column (support beam 6) on the face surface 3 side are attached to the head body 1.

  In view of the structure that requires that the insert 4 be freely deformed, the insert 4 is required to be cleaned and maintained, and the insert 4 is preferably configured to be removable. The structure may be a structure in which the upper and lower support beams 6 are divided, or may be a structure in which only the support beam 6 is removable. The structure is selected from the shape type of the putter body (mallet type, pin type, etc.), cosmetic design, and the like.

  If the ball A is hit off-center on the toe side during putting, the head rotates as shown in FIG. 8, and the face surface faces rightward. The deformation behavior of the insert 4 supported near both ends at that time is deformed into a concave surface toward the inside of the putter as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and works to correct the opening in the direction of the face surface 3 as shown in FIG. It will be. The amount of deformation necessary for correcting the opening in the direction of the face surface 3 is greatly related to the amount of off-center and the moment of inertia of the putter head.

  The factors defining the deformation of the support beam 6 have many options, such as the material, shape, and support position, as in the design of the support beam 6. For example, it is said that the impact force exceeds 30 kg with a long pad exceeding 10 m. Assuming that this impact force is generated off-center of 10 mm, design an insert 4 suitable for the putter of FIGS. In the case of titanium alloy 15-5-3 with a span between supports of 66 mm, a width of insert 4 of 15 mm, and a thickness of 3 mm, according to the formula of Mechanical Engineering Handbook 9 A4-29 No. 8, the deflection of the hitting point is 1 It is possible to design an insert that self-corrects the face normal direction of the insert by 1.7 degrees with a face opening of 10 mm off-center by 0.5 mm and a deflection angle of 1.7 degrees. In this formula, “W” indicates load, “v” indicates deflection, and “i” indicates inclination.

  Next, in the case of polyurethane resin with a span between supports of 66 mm, a width of the insert 4 of 15 mm, and a thickness of 10 mm, the deflection of the striking point is 5.8 mm and the deflection angle is 6.8 degrees. It is possible to design an insert 4 in which the opening of 3 is self-corrected with the surface normal direction of the insert 4 close to 7 degrees.

  In another embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the insert 4 is freely deformable at an intermediate portion other than the position where both ends are fixed. In view of the structure of the present invention that requires deformation of the insert 4, the insert 4 is indispensable for cleaning and maintenance, and the insert 4 is preferably structured to be removable. The structure may be a structure in which the upper and lower support beams 6 are divided, or may be a structure in which only the support beam 6 is removable. The structure is selected from the shape type and cosmetic design of the putter body. In this embodiment, the deformation of the insert 4 is somewhat restrained compared to the previous embodiments (FIGS. 1 and 2), but the same effect can be expected. FIG. 5 shows a putter head structure before the insert 4 is mounted. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 5 in which the insert 4 is mounted in the recess 5.

  In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, assuming the same impact as the previous embodiment, the insert 4 with both ends fixed will be designed. In the case of a titanium alloy 15-5-3 with a span between supports of 66 mm, a width of the insert 4 of 15 mm, and a thickness of 3 mm, the deflection of the hitting point is 0 according to the formula of Mechanical Engineering Manual 9 A4-31 No. 16. The insert 4 can be designed to self-correct the opening of the face by 10 mm off-center by 0.6 degrees in the surface normal direction of the insert 4 by .3 mm and a deflection angle of 0.6 degrees.

  Next, in the case of a polyurethane resin having a span between supports of 66 mm, a width of the insert 4 of 15 mm, and a thickness of 10 mm, the deflection of the striking point is 1.4 mm and the deflection angle is 2.3 degrees. It is possible to design an insert 4 whose opening is self-correcting with the surface normal direction of the insert 4 close to 2.3 degrees.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA after the insertion of the insert of FIG. 2. The front view before insert mounting which shows embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the deformation | transformation of the insert at the time of an off-center hit. Explanatory drawing which shows the deformation | transformation part of the insert in FIG. The front view before insert mounting which shows another embodiment. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA after the insert shown in FIG. The top view at the time of off-center hit. The top view after an off-center hit. The top view at the time of off-center hit by the head which made the face surface concave. The top view after the hit of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Head main body 3 Face surface 4 Insert 5 Recessed part 5A Space | gap 6 Support beam

Claims (4)

In the putter head with the insert on the face surface,
The depth of the concave portion of the face surface on which the insert is mounted is made deeper than the thickness of the insert, and a gap is formed on the back surface of the insert as a double-end support or double-end fixing structure that allows the rigid deformation of the insert to be free. Putter head.   The both-end support of the insert is clamped from the front and back by a pair of support beams, and the portion between the two clamping portions and the portion from the clamping portion to the end portion are freely deformed. Item 4. The putter head according to Item 1.   The putter head according to claim 1, wherein the insert is removable from a concave portion of the face surface.   The putter head according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the insert is made of a titanium alloy or a polyurethane resin.

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