JP5063163B2 - Iron golf club - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an iron golf club having an iron head in which a face member is fixed to a head body.

  Conventionally, in a golf club head structure, bending of the face portion is allowed by bending the periphery of the face portion, thereby improving the flight distance. For example, it is known that the upper side of the face portion can be easily bent by bending the crown side edge of the face portion rearward and abutting the bent end surface against the front end of the crown portion.

  In this way, the face portion can be bent and fixed to the head body to make the face portion flexible, but the iron golf club has a large loft angle. Ingenuity is required. In other words, bending the top side (top side) of the face portion makes it easy for the upper portion of the face portion to bend. However, when hitting a ball above the sweet spot, the impact loft (loft angle at impact) is increased. Further, the deflection of the face portion of the portion becomes large, and a ball is hit at a launch angle larger than the launch angle of a normal loft angle. Thereby, it is considered that the ball blows up and stalls, and the flight distance decreases.

  Therefore, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (see FIG. 6) or Patent Document 2 (see FIG. 4), if the sole side of the face portion is bent, the sole side is easily bent (the top portion). The amount of bending on the side becomes small), and it is considered that the flying up when hitting the ball above the sweet spot can be suppressed and the decrease in the flight distance can also be suppressed. Moreover, in such a configuration, when a ball is hit on the lower side of the sweet spot, an iron golf club in which the face portion bends substantially uniformly in the vertical direction of the normal sweet spot has a low trajectory and a flight distance is reduced. Since the sole side is easy to bend, it is considered that the launch angle can be increased by the amount of bend, and the decrease in the flight distance can be suppressed.

In this way, in a golf club with a large loft angle such as an iron golf club, the sole side of the face portion is made to be flexible so that the total flight distance can be reduced even when a ball is hit in the vertical direction of the sweet spot. It is thought that the balance can be improved.
JP 2002-143356 A JP 2004-358223 A

  As described above, by making the sole side of the face portion easy to bend, an iron golf club having a large loft angle can be considered to be able to suppress a decrease in flight distance in total. A sufficient bending effect cannot be expected simply by bending the sole side edge of the face part and joining it to the sole part.

  In other words, since the face portion of the iron golf club has a certain loft angle, when the ball is hit, the ball collides with the surface of the face portion (face surface) from an oblique direction. On the other hand, the edge on the sole side of the face portion has an acute angle between the sole surface and the face surface, so at the time of hitting, the front end side of the sole portion at the boundary portion between the sole portion and the face portion is It will be in the state pulled up in the direction along a face part, and this will become a factor which hinders the bending in the lower end of a face part greatly. Therefore, the bending effect in the lower region of the face portion is not sufficiently exhibited, and there is room for further improvement in order to suppress the decrease in the flight distance in total.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-described problem, and even if the lower side of the face portion is effectively bent and the sweet spot is removed and the ball is hit, it is possible to suppress a decrease in flight distance. An object is to provide an iron golf club.

In order to achieve the above object, an iron golf club according to the present invention includes a face member having a face surface on which a hit ball is formed, and a fastening region for fastening the face member at a predetermined loft angle. And a head body provided with a sole portion and a shaft attached to the head body at a predetermined lie angle. The face member is directed rearward only at the end portion on the sole side. A bending portion that bends and forms an angle larger than 90 ° with the face surface, and the fastening region fixes the front end surface of the bending portion of the face member in an abutting state. In addition, the top side, toe side, and heel side regions are fixed in a bearing state, and the bent portion is formed wider than the width of the score line formed on the face member. End of the toe side which is receiving the surface is characterized in that the outer side than the end position of the toe side of the bent portion.

  In the iron golf club having the above-described configuration, the face member includes a bent portion that bends toward the rear at the end on the sole side and has an angle greater than 90 ° with the face surface. Yes. For this reason, even if the ball surface has a large loft angle and the ball collision is oblique, the region on the face surface side of the bent portion can effectively allow the face portion to bend during the ball collision. This makes it possible for the lower area of the face portion to bend more flexibly compared to the acute angle state, and even if the ball is hit below the sweet spot, the rebound performance can be prevented from being lowered and the launch angle can be reduced. Therefore, a decrease in flight distance can be suppressed.

  In addition, even if the ball is hit above the sweet spot, the face member is supported in a bearing state on the top side, so that it does not bend greatly, and therefore the launch angle does not become too high. It is possible to suppress a decrease in flight distance. Thereby, it becomes possible to suppress the fall of a flight distance totally.

  According to the present invention, the lower side of the face portion is effectively bent, and an iron golf club capable of suppressing a decrease in flight distance even when a sweet spot is removed and a ball is hit can be obtained.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an iron golf club according to the present invention will be described.
1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of a golf club (iron type) according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of the golf club, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a head portion, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view of the head portion, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

  The golf club 1 according to this embodiment is configured by fixing a head (iron head) 7 to the tip of a shaft 5, and the shaft 5 and the head 7 hold the golf club 1 with respect to a reference horizontal plane P. At this time, the distance between the axis SX of the shaft 5 and the reference horizontal plane P is set to be a predetermined lie angle α. The head 7 includes a top portion 7a, a sole portion 7b, a toe portion 7c, and a heel portion 7d. The head 7 includes a head body 7H formed integrally with the head body 7H. The plate-like face member 8 configured as shown in FIG. The head main body 7H has a structure (also referred to as a cavity structure) in which the back surface side of the face member 8 to be fixed is provided with an opening (cavity) 9 that opens toward the rear side, as shown in FIGS. Accordingly, the weight is dispersed around the face member 8 to increase the moment of inertia, and the head is less likely to be shaken at the time of hitting the ball so that the directionality can be stabilized. A hosel 10 having a hole into which the shaft 5 is inserted is integrally formed on the upper surface side of the heel portion 7d.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a recess is formed on the inner side of the sole portion 7b or on the sole side, and tungsten, tungsten alloy, lead, copper, and other weight members Wm having a higher specific gravity than the head body are disposed therein. It is good to keep. By disposing the weight member Wm immediately after the face member having improved flexibility as described later, the resilience can be improved efficiently. Further, the back side edge 9a of the opening 9 is formed higher than the upper end edge of an opening end surface 7h (see FIG. 12) described later. Preferably, the height h1 shown in FIG. 4 is set to 10 to 20 mm so that the opening end face 7h is difficult to see through the opening 9.

  The head body 7H is integrally formed of a metal material such as titanium alloy, stainless steel, or carbon steel, and the face member 8 fixed thereto is also titanium alloy, stainless steel, carbon steel, maraging steel, or the like. It is made of a metal material. Further, a score line 8a is formed on the hitting surface side of the face member 8 along the toe-heel direction.

  The face member 8 is formed with a bent portion 8A that is bent rearward at the end on the sole side. The face member 8 has a distal end surface 8b of the bent portion 8A with respect to the head body 7H. While being fixed in the abutting state, other regions are fixed in the bearing state.

Here, the configuration of the face member 8 will be described with reference to FIGS.
In these drawings, FIG. 5 is a front view of the face member (score line is omitted), FIG. 6 is a back view of the face member, and FIG. 7 is taken along line BB in FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 5, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line DD of FIG.

  The face member 8 is integrally formed with a bent portion 8A that is bent rearward at an end portion on the sole side and has an angle θ formed with the face surface 8c larger than 90 °. Here, as shown in FIG. 9, the angle θ is defined by an angle formed by the upper surface 8g of the bent portion 8A and the face surface 8c.

  As described above, the present invention is characterized in that the lower side of the face member 8 (specifically, the lower side than the face center C) is easily bent, and the bent portion 8A is formed on the sole side, and the bent portion is formed. By fixing the front end surface 8b of the portion 8A so as to abut against the head main body 7H, the lower side can be easily bent by the cantilever state by the bent portion 8A. Here, the face center C is defined by the center position of the height (top / sole direction) at a position that is 1/2 of the length of the score line 8a (toe / heel direction).

  In this case, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the face member 8 has a loft angle β larger than that of a wood type (for example, driver) head, and the ball of the face member 8 is hit at the time of hitting. It collides with the face surface 8b from the oblique direction D1, not the vertical direction. Therefore, if the angle θ formed by the bent portion 8A and the face surface 8c defined as described above is an acute angle or a right angle, the face member 8 (specifically, the region below the face member 8) is effective. It will not be possible to flex. This is because when the ball collides with the face surface 8c from the oblique direction D1, the impact force in the direction D2 along the face surface 8c increases as the loft angle β increases, and as θ becomes an acute angle, This is because the flexibility is hindered.

  On the other hand, by forming the bent portion 8A so that the above-described angle θ is greater than 90 degrees (obtuse angle), when the force acts in the direction D2, the face member 8 is more flexible. As a result, the region below the sweet spot S can be effectively deflected. In this case, the magnitude of the angle θ formed by the bent portion 8A and the face surface 8c is determined by the relationship with the loft angle β. In the present invention, since the above-described problem caused by the increase in the loft angle β (the ball trajectory decreases and the flight distance decreases when the ball is hit in the region below the sweet spot S) is solved more effectively. The angle θ described above is set in the range of 90 ° to 120 °, preferably 91 ° to 110 ° so that the lower side of the face portion is bent. Correspondingly, the loft angle β of the corresponding iron golf club is 17 ° or more (iron club of 2 iron or more in the case of count).

  In the above range, when the angle θ is less than 90 °, the front surface of the bent portion 8A is subjected to a pulling force along the face surface 8c, and the face surface can be effectively bent. Because it disappears. On the other hand, if θ is too large, problems such as the leading edge being positioned upward and the possibility of top hitting tend to occur. Therefore, the maximum value is preferably set to 120 ° or less.

  The face member 8 is preferably formed so that the thickness on the sole side is thinner than the region of the sweet spot S so that the sole side is easily bent. In this embodiment, in order to obtain such flexibility, a recess 8e is formed on the back surface of the face member above the bent portion 8A along the toe-heel direction.

  The thickness T1 of the recess 8e depends on the material to be formed. For example, when stainless steel is used as the face material, the thickness T1 is about 1.5 to 2.5 mm. Compared with the thickness T (about 1.7 to 2.7 mm) of the area of the spot S, the thickness is reduced and the flexibility on the sole side is improved. Specifically, the thickness difference is 0.1 to 0.8 mm, preferably 0.2 to 0.4 mm. In addition, since it can select arbitrarily as above-mentioned about a material, it changes suitably about a thickness difference. For example, if a titanium alloy is used, the thickness is relatively increased by +0.2 to 0.3 mm.

  In the present embodiment, the groove 8f is also formed in a region other than the bent portion 8A, more specifically, a region along the portion where the surface of the head main body 7H is fixed to the head body 7H. The improvement of flexibility is aimed at. As shown in FIG. 6, the concave groove 8f is continuously formed from the top region to the toe region, and is formed so as to be separated from the recess 8e and overlap on the toe side as the sole region. Has been. Since these recesses 8e and grooves 8f improve the overall flexibility of the face portion, they may be in contact with each other or may be formed continuously, and further on the heel side. May be formed. Further, the width and depth can be appropriately changed according to the face material, and the formation method may be formed not discontinuously but discontinuously.

  In the above-described configuration, it is possible to improve the flexibility without forming the recess 8e and the groove 8f. For example, the entire face member 8 may be formed to have a thin wall thickness (1.5 to 2.0 mm) so that the face member 8 is easily bent. A configuration in which the back surface 8d is gradually thinned (thinned in a tapered shape) or gradually thinned may be employed. As described above, in the configuration in which the periphery is gradually thinned in a tapered manner, the thickness above the bent portion 8A (position corresponding to the recess 8e) should be 1.5 to 2.5 mm. It ’s fine.

  The bent portion 8A is preferably formed over the entire width direction on the sole side, but is formed to be at least wider than the width of the score line 8a (see FIG. 2). It is preferable that That is, in FIG. 2, it is preferable that the positions P1 and P2 at both end portions of the bent portion 8A are formed so as to be located on the outer side in the width direction of the score line 8a which is a portion where the hit ball is mainly formed. Thereby, the amount of deflection of the score line area can be made uniform and the deflection balance can be improved.

  With such a positional relationship, sufficient resilience can be obtained on the ball striking surface (face surface 8c), and the lower side than the face center C can be effectively bent. Further, as will be described later, the toe side end portion (indicated by reference numeral P3) of the region where the face member 8 is faced is also configured to be located outside the above-described position P1, thereby allowing the face member 8 to be located. Can be repelled more effectively.

  As described above, it is preferable that the bent portion 8A is gradually thinned as it moves to the tip end side (thinner thickness may be reduced in a tapered shape or may be gradually reduced). That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the dimension of the bent portion 8A on the extension line of the back surface 8d of the face member 8 (this dimension is the dimension in the bent portion base region) is T2, and the thickness of the tip of the bent portion 8A is the thickness. In the case of T3, it is preferable that T2> T3.

  Thus, by thinning the distal end side of the bent portion 8A, the abutting portion (tip surface 8b) serving as a fixing point is thinned, making the face member 8 easier to swing and more flexible. Can be improved. In addition, about the dimension of T2, what is necessary is just about 1.5-5.0 mm, and what is necessary is just about 1.5-2.5 mm can be ensured about T3. In this case, in order to increase the size of T2, the position of the recess 8e can be shifted slightly upward, or the portion of T2 can be overlaid to increase the size. Thus, by increasing the dimension T2, it is possible to prevent damage to the lower end of the face (front end of the sole) even when hitting hard ground or pebbles, and to lower the leading edge. Can be made easier.

  In addition, the length L of the bent portion 8A (the length from the face surface 8c to the tip surface 8b) is not necessary because a sufficient bending effect cannot be exhibited if it is too short. Can be obtained.

Next, the structure of the fixing region of the head main body 7H to which the face member 8 configured as described above is fixed will be described with reference to FIGS.
In these drawings, FIG. 10 is a front view of the head body, FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG. 10, and FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line FF in FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line GG of FIG. 10, and FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line H-H of FIG. In addition, in FIG. 11 to FIG. 14, the face member 8 to be fixed is indicated by an imaginary line.

  As described above, in the present invention, the front end surface 8b of the bent portion 8A formed on the face member 8 is fixed to the head main body in a contact state, and the top side is fixed in a surface receiving state. (In FIG. 10, such a fastening region is indicated by a hatched portion, with the bearing portion as 12 and the abutting portion as 13). In the present embodiment, the region other than the bent portion 8A is fixed in the surface receiving state, but there may be a region that is not partially fixed by the surface receiving. Further, the toe side and the heel side may be welded with substantially no receiving surface, or the upper side (including the toe / heel side) of the sweet spot may be welded and welded. good. The face member 8 can be fixed to the head body 7H by welding, bonding, brazing, or the like.

  The surface receiving portion 12 is configured to receive the outer peripheral edge portion of the face member 8 in a surface state, the width W1 is about 0.5 to 1.0 mm, and the depth Df is the thickness of the face member 8 (1. 7 to 2.7 mm). When the above-described concave groove 8f is formed in the face member 8, the surface receiving portion 12 receives the face member 8 outside the concave groove 8f as shown in FIG.

  Further, the thickness (thickness of the wall for stopping the face member) Wh of the head main body 7H is formed larger than the maximum thickness of the face member (excluding ribs). By doing so, deformation of the top side of the head at the time of hitting is prevented. It is noted that any other fastening structure may be employed such as eliminating the Wh portion shown in FIG. 14 and using the entire surface as a bearing on the back surface of the face member.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the above-described abutting portion 13 is not formed on the opening end surface 7h of the head body 7H, but a notch portion 15 is formed therebelow and a notch front end surface formed on the back side. Is the butting portion 13. That is, the front end surface 8b of the bent portion 8A of the face member 8 is abutted and fixed to the abutting portion 13.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the notch 15 is formed with an inclined surface 15a that gradually separates as it moves to the face surface side so as not to contact the upper surface 8g of the bent portion 8A. A gap SH is formed between the upper surface of the bent portion 8A and the upper surface of the bent portion 8A.

  By forming such a gap SH, the bent portion 8A will not be in a fixed state, the deformation is allowed, and the face member 8 can be easily bent. Further, in the configuration in which the abutting portion 13 and the distal end surface 8b of the bent portion 8A are abutted and both are welded, even if the weld bead flows out of the abutting portion 13, it comes to accumulate in the space SH. The outflow state of such a weld bead can be made invisible through the opening 9 from the rear side. Specifically, the length of the space SH (the length from the abutting portion 13 to the opening end face 7h) L1 is formed to be 0.5 mm or more (preferably 0.5 to 3 mm), so that a bead at the time of welding is formed. It is possible to perform welding so that the film is not exposed.

  In the above configuration, the head main body 7H obstructs the flexibility of the face member 8 if the gap between the opening end surface 7h and the back surface 8d of the face member 8 is too narrow, and if it is too long, Therefore, the head body is preferably formed so that the gap L2 between the opening end surface 7h and the back surface 8d of the face member 8 is about 1.0 to 5.0 mm.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 10, 11 and 13, the face receiving part 12 and the abutting part 13 do not continuously attach the face member 8 in the direction along the top and bottom. The opening end surface 7h and the inclined surface 15a are cut at both ends in the width direction. That is, cutting is performed so that a gap SF is generated between the face receiving portion 12 and the abutting portion 13 without being continuous, and a bent region where the bent portion 8A of the face member 8 is formed is free. To be able to fluctuate.

  As a result, the both ends on the sole side of the face member 8 are allowed to be deformed because the surface receiving portion 12 and the abutting portion 13 are not continuous, so that the lower region of the face member 8 can be more easily bent. It becomes possible. As shown in FIG. 11, the length L3 for cutting the opening end surface 7h and the inclined surface 15a tends to hinder the flexibility when it is too short, so that the length L3 is 1.5 mm or more, preferably 3 mm. It is good to do it above.

  In the iron golf club configured as described above, the face member 8 is bent toward the rear at the end on the sole side, and the angle formed between the face member 8 and the face surface is greater than 90 °. Since the portion 8A is provided, even if the ball collides in an oblique direction due to the large loft angle β, the bending of the bent portion 8A is less affected by the bending, and the lower region of the face member 8 Can be effectively bent.

  Thereby, even if a ball is hit below the sweet spot S, the launch angle does not decrease, and a decrease in flight distance can be suppressed. Further, even when the ball is hit above the sweet spot S, the face member 8 is supported by the surface receiving portion 12 at the top portion in the surface receiving state, so that the upper side is not greatly bent. Therefore, even if a ball is hit at such a position, the launch angle does not become too high, and a decrease in flight distance can be suppressed. As a result, it is possible to obtain a golf club that can suppress a decrease in flight distance in total.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to above-described embodiment, It can change variously. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the head 7 has been described by exemplifying a cavity type. However, the head 7 can also be applied to a so-called plain type or hollow type. Further, the bent portion is formed over the entire width direction on the sole side, but may be a partially formed configuration. Further, it can be applied to a golf club having a wood type and a loft of 14 ° or more.

1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a golf club (iron type) according to the present invention. The enlarged view of a head part. The side view of a head part. Sectional drawing along the AA line of FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view of a face member to be tried on the golf club shown in FIG. 1. The back view of a face member. Sectional drawing along the BB line of FIG. Sectional drawing along CC line of FIG. Sectional drawing along the DD line | wire of FIG. The front view of a head body. Sectional drawing along the EE line of FIG. Sectional drawing along the FF line of FIG. Sectional drawing along the GG line of FIG. Sectional drawing along the HH line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Golf club 5 Shaft 7 Head 7b Sole part 7H Head main body 8 Face member 8c Face surface 8A Bending part 12 Surface receiving part 13 Abutting part

Claims (5)

A face member including a face surface on which a hit ball is formed, a fixing region for fixing the face member at a predetermined loft angle, a head body including a sole portion, and a predetermined amount with respect to the head body An iron golf club having a shaft mounted at a lie angle of
The face member includes a bent portion that is bent backward only at an end portion on the sole side, and an angle formed between the face member and the face surface is larger than 90 °.
The fastening region is fixed in a state in which the front end surface of the bent portion of the face member is abutted, and the region on the top side, the toe side, and the heel side is fixed in a surface receiving state,
The bent portion is formed wider than the width of the score line formed on the face member, and the toe side end received by the surface is outside the toe side end position of the bent portion. Iron golf club characterized by that.   The iron golf club according to claim 1, wherein the face member is thinner on a sole side than a sweet spot region.   3. The iron golf club according to claim 2, wherein a recess along the toe-heel direction is formed above the bent portion on the sole side of the back surface of the face member. 4. The iron golf club according to claim 1, wherein a concave groove is formed on a back surface of the face member along a periphery from a top side to a toe side. 5.   5. The iron golf club according to claim 4, wherein the concave groove is formed to be separated from the concave portion and overlap on a toe side serving as a sole region.

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