JP4107526B2 - Golf club head - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a golf club head in which a flight distance of a hit ball is increased by improving a material or a structure of a face surface which is a hitting surface of the golf club head.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Using a hard, high-strength and light material such as titanium alloy on the face surface, the rebound coefficient is increased to increase the flight distance of the hit ball, and the head is increased in size by distributing the weight to the outer shell of the head body and the center of gravity of the head It is common practice to increase the moment of inertia around. At this time, in order to further reduce the members constituting the face surface, the thickness of the face surface is set to be extremely thin as 3 mm or less. On the other hand, however, the weight reduction of the face surface has been criticized for deteriorating the feel of hitting. Especially, in an iron club for advanced players with a high head speed, a reinforcing rib is provided on the back side of the sweet spot portion of the face surface. What is being used is often used. Further, recently, a proposal has been made to generate a large deflection or elastic deformation on the face surface at the time of hitting and to increase the flight distance of the hit ball with a restoring force of the deflection (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8 (1998)). -168541). In this case, the material of the face surface is expensive and generally used to reduce the thickness of the face surface to increase elastic deformation (ie, bending) and prevent plastic deformation (permanent deformation) of the face surface, which is a concern due to impact. Limited to special metals that are difficult to obtain.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, as described above, in the club head in which the reinforcing rib is provided on the back of the face surface, the hit feeling is certainly improved, but there is a problem in that the design of the center of gravity position of the head and the moment of inertia are increased. It is accompanied. For example, in the case of a wood club head, the center of gravity of the head moves forward (to the face surface side) due to the attachment of the reinforcing rib, making it difficult for the hitting ball to rise, and the moment of inertia around the vertical axis passing through the center of gravity of the head is reduced. The direction of is worse. In the case of an iron head, the center of gravity of the head becomes deep and the hitting ball is likely to rise, but the inertia moment is remarkably reduced, making it difficult to control the hitting direction. Further, the attachment of the reinforcing rib tends to increase the head weight and make it difficult for a general player to swing. In addition, adopting an expensive and difficult-to-obtain material to increase the deflection of the face surface when hit is a cause of hindering the versatility of the club. In addition, the necessity of thinning in order to increase the deflection of the face surface results in poor feel (giving the player an unreliable sensation when hitting the ball), resulting in poor practicality.
[0004]
Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to improve the face surface without adversely affecting the hit feeling, the center of gravity position of the head, and the moment of inertia, and excellent in the flight distance and directionality of the hit ball. Is to provide a club head.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a golf club head in which the entire face surface is made of the same kind or the same type of material, and the difference in bending rigidity between the material in the central region and the peripheral region of the face surface is When one value is 100% as an index, the other value is 110 to 150%, and it is desired to reduce the bending rigidity between the central region and the peripheral region of the forged metal face surface. The number of forgings is set to 1 to 2 in the region, and the number of forgings is set to 3 to 5 in the region where the bending rigidity is desired to be increased .
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a front view of a fifth (# 5) iron of Example 1 according to the present invention in which the entire head body 1 and the hosel 3 including the face surface 2 are made of soft iron forging. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.
[0007]
In FIG. 1, a hatched area surrounded by a two-dot chain line in the face surface 2 is a central area 10, and this area 10 has been forged five times. The central area 10 is an area that includes most of the sweet area (the area of the face surface that obtains 95% of the maximum flight distance), and corresponds to approximately 55% of the length (l) of the score line 4 in this embodiment. And a substantially square area defined by the same height (30 mm) as the width, and the center thereof coincides with the center (C) of the sweet area. Note that the height of the face surface 2 passing through the center (C) is 45 mm. The peripheral region 11 is a region of the remaining face surface 2 excluding the central region 10, and this region is formed by two forgings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 5 indicates a toe, and reference numeral 6 indicates a heel.
[0008]
Due to the difference in the number of forgings described above, when the bending rigidity of the peripheral region 11 is 100% in terms of an index, the bending rigidity of the central region 10 is set to be 130%. As shown in FIG. 2, the thickness of the face surface 2 is set to be slightly thick at 3.5 mm in the portion where the cavity 7 is formed on the back surface.
[0009]
FIG. 3 is a front view of the driver wood club of the second embodiment. The head body 1 including the face surface 2 is made of a titanium alloy. The central region 10 has a diameter of about ½ of the face length (l), is circular with the center (C) of the suite area as the center, and is formed by five forgings. The peripheral region 11 has a width of about 5 mm above and below the face surface 2 and surrounds the central region 10 and is formed by two forgings. The thickness of the face surface 2 is 3 mm in both the central region 10 and the peripheral region 11. Also in this embodiment, the bending rigidity of the central region 10 is about 130% when the peripheral region 11 is 100%. In FIG. 3, the code | symbol 8 shows a crown part and the code | symbol 9 shows a sole part.
[0010]
In the present invention, the difference in the number of forgings as means for changing the bending rigidity is preferably 1 to 2 times in a region where the bending rigidity is desired to be reduced and 3 to 5 times in a region where the bending rigidity is desired to be increased. The bending stiffness is measured by producing a plate sample with different number of forgings and performing a bending test with a bending tester normally used in a material test.
[0011]
The difference in bending rigidity set between the central region 10 and the peripheral region 11 is preferably set so that when one is 100%, the other (the larger value) is 110 to 150%. . If the other value is less than 110%, a sufficient trampoline effect and good hitting feeling cannot be obtained. On the other hand, if it exceeds 150%, the bending rigidity of one side is set too low, and when the ball is hit, the deformation of the face surface 2 becomes too large, and the durability of the face surface 2 is concerned. If the value is set too high, the face surface 2 becomes extremely hard and it becomes difficult to control the directionality of the hit ball and the flight distance. Further, in the present invention, the central region 10 is a region including most of the sweet area of the face surface 2, and the peripheral region 11 is a region near the toe 5 and the heel 6 or the crown portion excluding the sweet area. 8 and the area near the sole portion 9.
[0012]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the entire face surface is a golf club head made of the same type or the same type of material, and the difference in bending rigidity between the material in the central region and the peripheral region of the face surface is as follows. When one value is 100% as an index, the other value is 110 to 150%, and it is desired to reduce the bending rigidity between the central region and the peripheral region of the forged metal face surface. The number of forgings is set to 1 to 2 times in the region, and the number of forgings is set to 3 to 5 times in the region where the bending rigidity is desired to be increased. When the bending rigidity of the area around the surface is set low, the hit feeling at the time of striking is felt firmly by the player with the face surface having high bending rigidity, and the bending rigidity of the surrounding area is low. There can be expected to skip restoring force of the deformation by increasing the hitting when the elastic deformation of this portion (commonly known as trampoline effect) the ball by more distant. Also, in wood clubs where the increase in flight distance such as driver clubs is the top priority, the bending rigidity of the center area of the face surface is reduced to increase the elastic deformation of this area when hitting the ball, and its restoring force (trampoline effect) ) Makes it possible to fly the hit ball further away. Furthermore, since a part of the large impact energy at the time of hitting the ball is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the face surface, the energy loss (ie, hysteresis loss) due to the deformation of the ball is reduced. An increase in distance can be expected. At this time, since it is not necessary to set the thickness of the face surface as thin as in the prior art, there is less possibility of the face surface being plastically deformed or having a problem in strength due to a large impact force. In addition, since there is no need to attach reinforcing ribs to the back of the face surface, there is no need to worry about upsetting the center of gravity of the head or reducing the moment of inertia, and the head center of gravity increases, making it difficult to swing. Does not occur. Moreover, it is not necessary to use an expensive special metal for the face surface.
[0013]
In addition, when the face surface is configured by changing the number of forgings in the central region and the peripheral region of the metal forged face surface, the metal composition in the region where the forging frequency is large changes closely, and this region is bent. The rigidity can be easily set high.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an iron club head.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a front view showing an embodiment applied to a wood club head.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Head body 2 Face surface 10 Central region 11 Peripheral region

Claims (3)

A golf club head in which the entire face surface is made of the same or similar material,
The difference in bending rigidity between the material in the central region and the peripheral region of the face surface is such that when one value is taken as 100% as an index, the other value is 110 to 150% ,
In the central region and the peripheral region of the metal face surface formed by forging, the number of forgings is set to 1 to 2 times in the region where the bending rigidity is desired to be reduced, and the number of forgings is set to 3 to 5 times in the region where the bending rigidity is desired to be increased. A golf club head characterized by that. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the bending rigidity of the central region is increased . 2. The center region according to claim 1, wherein the center region has a diameter that is a half of a face length, has a circular shape centered on a center of a sweet area, and is formed by forging five times. 3. A golf club head according to 2.

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