JP5795919B2 - Golf club head with uneven face - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a golf club head. More specifically, the present invention relates to a golf club head having a thickness-reduced face configured so as to have a stable resilience performance by providing irregularities on the back surface of the face portion of the golf club head having a hollow portion.

  Various improvements have been made to golf club heads in order to increase the flight distance by hitting and to stabilize the direction of the hit ball. In particular, in order to increase the moment of inertia of a golf club, the size of a golf club head has been conventionally increased. However, if this golf club head is enlarged as it is, the mass of the golf club head will increase and hindrance will be hindered.

  For this reason, generally, such a golf club head is hollow. If it is hollow, there is a problem that the flight distance becomes too large. Therefore, a restriction is added and the manufacturing is performed within the restriction based on a certain rule. In recent years, various improvements have been made to the face portion that receives the hit ball. The golf club head is required to have a stable hit among various regulations.

  When the hitting area of the face portion is wide and stable, the range of the ball hitting position becomes wide, and stable ball flight can be realized even if the hitting ball position is slightly shifted. In increasing the sweet area, increasing the moment of inertia and deepening the center of gravity are performed as described above. Further, while durability is also required, there is a weight limit, and the shape of the face part is limited and strength is also required.

  For this reason, titanium or a titanium alloy having a small specific gravity and a high strength is used in the face portion. Along with this, many golf club heads with increased head coefficient of restitution have been developed. As for the coefficient of restitution, the reference value in CT value (characteristic time) is determined in the SLE (spring like effect) rule inspection accompanying the rule change on January 1, 2008, and the upper limit value is 257 μs including the tolerance (micro Sec). This value is COR (restitution coefficient) and is equivalent to 0.830.

  Therefore, it is ideal to construct a face surface that is as high as possible within this upper limit. Many proposals have been made for an improved face part. For example, a thick part is provided at the center of the back face of the face so as to extend substantially in the X direction and gradually decrease in thickness in the longitudinal direction. A configuration in which the back surface of the face is divided into four sections is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As another example, a face portion having a protrusion having a thickness more than twice the thickness formed at the center of the back face of the face, and a rib extending from the protrusion toward the peripheral edge of the face Is known (see, for example, Patent Document 2). As another example, a configuration in which a plurality of thicknesses are provided on the back surface of the face is known (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

  As another example, a technique is also known in which the back surface of the face is processed with different thicknesses from the central portion to the crown portion and the sole portion (see, for example, Patent Document 4). As another example, a configuration in which the thickness of the back surface of the face is changed (for example, see Patent Documents 5 and 6), and a configuration in which a rib is arranged on the back surface of the face (for example, Patent Documents 7 and 8). , 9, 10, 11) are known.

Japanese Patent No. 4241799 Japanese Patent No. 4451797 Japanese Patent No. 3244262 Japanese Patent No. 45337856 JP 2003-154040 A JP 2002-315854 A JP 2011-92242 A JP 2008-132276 A JP 2010-104473 A JP 2010-279431 A JP 2003-290398 A

  As described above, in the golf club head, conventionally, in order to improve the coefficient of restitution, conventionally, the thickness of the face portion of the golf club head is changed or ribs are added. In the conventional configuration, for example, when changing the thickness of the face part, the center part of the face part is thickened, and rib reinforcement is mainly in the vertical direction and straddling the crown part and the sole part in the inclined direction. It is the structure arranged.

  On the other hand, when the crown part and the sole part are joined to the face part by welding different members, it is known that stress concentration occurs in the joint part. When this stress concentration is excessive, the fatigue limit time of the face portion is advanced. In general, the sole portion including the joint portion of the face portion has higher rigidity than the crown portion. This is a portion where the sole portion is in contact with the ground, and the condition at the time of hitting is worse than that of the crown portion, so that it is strengthened.

  To increase the sweet area, it is effective to increase the weight on the rear side of the head main body or increase the weight of the peripheral edge of the head main body, but the weight is inevitably increased. For this reason, recently, a hitting range for increasing the coefficient of restitution, that is, a sweet area for hitting, has been widened. The sweet area is widened so that a stable high restitution coefficient can be obtained at any part of the face surface.

  In the face portion, it is known that the bending and restoring force of the face affects the flight distance. For this reason, it is desirable to reduce the spring constant by increasing the initial velocity of the impact. Conventionally, as described above, a device for reinforcement such as changing the thickness of the face portion or providing a rib has been devised. However, simply changing the thickness of the face portion does not solve the problem. Also, in the type having ribs, it is not always necessary to increase the number of ribs or increase the volume of the ribs. It does not increase the strength of the part and increase the coefficient of restitution.

  When the width of the rib is increased, the rigidity may be increased too much. In the rib configuration, as described above, the rib extending in the vertical direction between the crown portion and the sole portion increases the rigidity of the face portion, but does not necessarily improve the coefficient of restitution. As will be described later, it has been found that the variation in the coefficient of restitution is large in the conventional uneven thickness configuration. That is, when the lower limit value is increased, the upper limit value violates the rule, and when the upper limit value is adapted to the rule, there is a region where the restitution coefficient is low. For this reason, there is a demand for a golf club head that has little variation in the coefficient of restitution and that can provide stable rebound performance even when hit at any part off the center of the face portion.

  The present invention was devised to solve such conventional problems and achieves the following object. The purpose of the present invention is to improve the strength of the face part by making the face part a specific uneven thickness structure, there is little variation in the coefficient of restitution over a wide area of the face surface, and the resilience performance even when hitting off the center of the face It is to provide a golf club head that can improve the performance of the golf club.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is achieved by the following means. That is,
The golf club head having the uneven face of the present invention 1
The crown part (3) constituting the upper part, the sole part (4) constituting the lower part, the toe part (5) constituting the tip part, the heel part (6) constituting the rear end part, and the crown part (3) A golf club head having a metal hollow structure, which is longer in the direction from the toe portion to the sole portion (5) than the toe portion (5) and in the heel portion (6) direction, and includes a face portion (2) for hitting a ball. And
It has a region where the wall thickness is uniform, is formed thicker than the other parts of the face part (2), and the center position is in front of and behind the toe part (5) side and the heel part (6) side. A first central thick portion (8) disposed on the face portion (2) that is substantially half the vertical length (c) of the face portion (2) and that coincides with a substantially horizontal direction to be connected ;
Thickness is spaced from the first central thick part (8) in the direction of the heel part (6) at a constant interval of about 1/4 to 1/3 of the effective length in the front-rear direction of the face part (2). Has a uniform region, is formed thicker than other portions of the face portion (2), and the center position is an approximate connection between the front and back of the toe portion (5) side and the heel portion (6) side. A second central thick portion (9) disposed in the face portion (2) that is aligned with the horizontal direction and is approximately ½ of the vertical length (c) of the face portion (2);
Continuously extending from the outer edge of the first central thick part (8) to the crown part (3) and the sole part (4), and gradually thicker than the first central thick part (8). A first inclined portion (10) in which
Continuously extending from the outer edge of the second central thick part (9) toward the crown part (3) and the sole part (4), and gradually thicker than the second central thick part (9). A second inclined part (11) in which
Continuously extending from the outer edges of the first inclined portion (10) and the second inclined portion (11) toward the crown portion (3) and the sole portion (4), the thickness gradually decreases. A third inclined portion (12);
Continuing from the first central thick part (8), the first inclined part (10) and the third inclined part (12) are formed thicker, the crown part (3) side, and the toe part (5) a ridge-shaped first rib portion (15) extending toward the side;
It is connected to the second central thick part (9), is formed thicker than the second inclined part (11) and the third inclined part (12), is on the crown part (3) side, and the heel part (6) It consists of a ridge-like second rib (16) extending to the side ,
Said first central thick portion (8) and said second central thick portion (9) the shape of ridges the first rib portion continuous from (15) and said second rib (16), the crown portion (3 ) Side only, and not on the sole part (4) side.

The golf club head having the uneven face according to the second aspect of the present invention is the first aspect,
The third inclined portion is characterized in that the inclination is gentler than the first inclined portion and the second inclined portion in succession to the first inclined portion and the second inclined portion.
The golf club head having the uneven face according to the third aspect of the present invention is the invention 1,
A face outer peripheral portion having a constant thickness is disposed on the entire outer periphery of the third inclined portion.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the golf club head having the uneven thickness face according to the first or second aspect, wherein a part of the outer edge of the first inclined part is connected to a part of the outer edge of the second inclined part. It has a thick part and a connection part thinner than the second central thick part.

  The golf club head of the present invention is configured such that two thick parts are provided on the face part toward the toe side and the heel side, and an uneven part inclined toward the outer edge of the face part is provided. The configuration in which the ribs are arranged from the two thick portions to the crown side has a wide sweet area where the rebound coefficient is small and the flying distance can be stably extended even if the striking position deviates from the center of the face portion. Moreover, durability was also increased by constituting the two-step inclined portion.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a face portion of a golf club head. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the golf club head. It is a front view which shows the back surface of a face part. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1 and shows the back surface of the face portion. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the face portion showing the CT value of the hit point position. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional CT value of the hit point position, and is an explanatory diagram of the face portion shown in comparison with FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a face portion 2 of a wood type golf club head 1 (hereinafter referred to as “head 1”) based on an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. The head 1 basically includes a face portion 2, a crown portion 3 located above the face portion 2, a sole portion 4 located below the face portion 2, and a toe located further in front of the face portion 2. It is composed of a part 5 and a heel part 6 located at the rear part of the face part 2. Further, the upper portion of the crown portion 3 of the heel portion 6 is a hosel portion 7 to which a shaft (not shown) is connected.

  The members of the head 1 are generally composed of a face portion 2, a crown portion 3, and a sole portion 4 including a toe portion 5 and a heel portion 6. These members are formed of the same metal material or different metal materials, and each member is joined by welding. The face portion 2 according to the present invention is made of a titanium alloy and is pressed. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and the orientation is displayed with the crown portion 3 as the upper portion and the lower portion as the sole portion 4 side. FIG. 4 shows a BB cross section of FIG.

  The back surface of the face part 2 has an uneven thickness structure according to the present invention, and shows a form having a thickness that varies depending on the part. In the central portion, two central thick portions having a uniform thickness, that is, a first central thick portion 8 and a second central thick portion 9 are formed. The first central thick part 8 and the second central thick part 9 have two island shapes and are provided adjacent to each other. In the face part 2, the thickest thick part is formed. The areas of the first central thick part 8 and the second central thick part 9 are each configured in the range of 0.5% to 10% with respect to the face area, but are preferably about 1% to 2%. .

  As described above, the top portions of the first central thick portion 8 and the second central thick portion 9 are regions having uniform thickness, and the peripheral shape is not limited, but is circular or elliptical. The shape is rectangular. From the peripheral edges of the first central thick part 8 and the second central thick part 9, a first inclined surface 10 and a second inclined surface 11 are formed so as to surround the central thick part, respectively. The surface length of these inclined surfaces is approximately three times the length of the central thick portion.

  Further, the center positions of the two first central thick parts 8 and the second central thick part 9 coincide with each other in a substantially horizontal direction connecting the front and rear of the toe part 5 side and the heel part 6 side, and the interval a is defined by the face It is set to approximately ¼ to ３ of the effective length b in the front-rear direction of the portion 2. Further, the center positions of the two first central thick portions 8 and the second central thick portion 9 are approximately ½ of the vertical length c of the face portion 2. That is, the center position is a position having a length d substantially the same as the length on the crown portion 3 side and the length on the sole portion 4 side.

  A third inclined surface 12 having a gentler inclination than the first inclined surface 10 and the second inclined surface 11 is formed from the outer edge of the first inclined surface 10 and the second inclined surface 11 toward the periphery of the face portion. The third inclined surface 12 is a common inclined surface provided continuously across the first inclined surface 10 and the second inclined surface 11. The edge portion of the third inclined surface 12 reaches the face portion edge portion 13 constituting the thin portion, and is formed to extend to the crown portion 3, the sole portion 4, the toe portion 5, and the heel portion 6.

  Further, a fourth surface portion 14 is formed from the outer edges of the first inclined surface 10 and the second inclined surface 11 toward the crown portion 3 side. The end portion of the fourth surface portion 14 is formed across the edge portion of the face portion 2 on the crown portion 3 side. The thickness of the fourth surface portion 14 is matched with the upper thickness of the third inclined surface 12, and constitutes a flat surface or a gently inclined surface.

  Furthermore, from the peripheral part of the 1st center thick part 8 and the 2nd center thick part 9, it extends over the 1st inclined surface 10, the 2nd inclined surface 11, and the 4th surface part 13, and each is a convex shape, and is a ridge shape. A first rib 15 and a second rib 16 are formed. The end portions of the first rib 15 and the second rib 16 are formed across the edge portion of the face portion 2 on the crown portion 3 side, like the above-described fourth surface portion 14.

  The first ribs 15 and the second ribs 16 are arranged in the radial direction toward the periphery of the face portion 2, and the arrangement angles e and f are in the range of approximately 30 to 45 degrees with respect to the reference line in the vertical direction. The 4th surface part 14, the 1st rib 15, and the 2nd rib 16 are provided only in the crown part 3 side. Further, a connecting portion 17 is formed across the first inclined surface 10 and the second inclined surface 11 between the first central thick portion 8 and the second central thick portion 9. The connecting portion 17 is located substantially along the horizontal center line of the face portion 2 and increases the rigidity of the central portion between the first central thick portion 8 and the second central thick portion 9.

  The face portion 2 is configured as described above, and the two first central thick portions 8 and 9 are separated from the toe portion 5 side and the heel portion 6 side at the central portion of the face portion 2. By arranging the first inclined surface 10 and the second inclined surface 11 together, the rigidity balance in the front-rear direction can be achieved. Furthermore, since the fourth surface portion 14 and the first ribs 15 and the second ribs 16 are provided only on the crown portion 3 side, the rigidity on the crown portion 3 side is lower than that of the sole portion 4 that originally has high rigidity. This strengthened the balance of rigidity in the vertical direction.

  By doing so, the face part 2 has less variation in the coefficient of restitution over a wide range both in the vertical direction and in the front-rear direction, and even if it is a low-grade person in addition to an advanced person, it is stable even if it strikes off the center. Therefore, the head can improve the flight distance.

  An embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The figure is an explanatory view showing the CT value of the hitting position. This figure is a front view of the golf club head, but in order to facilitate understanding of the thick part shape, the thickness difference in the face part shape is shown as a solid line. The uneven thickness condition of the back surface shape of the face according to the hitting example is as follows. The thickness of the first central thick part 8 is 3.95 mm, the thickness of the second central thick part 9 is 3.60 mm, the thickness of the connecting part 17 is 3.25 mm, and the face edge 13 The wall thickness dimension was 2.05 mm. In addition, the durability test in this example was performed by repeated hitting with a head speed of 50 m / s, but no abnormality was observed in the face portion even when hitting 8000 shots.

  The position of the CT value measurement point is the intersection of the dividing lines displayed by the grid (10 mm intervals) of the 6-segment line (18) in the vertical direction and the 10-segment line (19) in the front-back direction with respect to the effective length of the face. It was. The number of measurement points was 15 shown in the figure. In the figure, the uneven shape is shown by wrapping with a solid line, and the measured value and its positional relationship are displayed together. The CT value at the measurement point is the same as the numerical value indicated by the tolerance point in FIG. 5, and the CT value is the average value of the numerical values hit. The CT values shown at 15 locations were all 257 or less. The CT value range was 220 to 242 μs, and the difference was 22.

  The golf club head of this example is manufactured with the following configuration. The face portion is formed by hot forging a round bar of αβ type titanium alloy. The crown portion and the sole portion are formed by pressing an αβ type titanium alloy or a plate material of β type titanium alloy. The hosel part is formed by hot forging a round bar made of pure titanium. Each of these members is welded and joined, and the golf club head is completed through polishing and painting processes. An annealing process is performed to remove the stress. The uneven thickness structure according to the present invention is formed by a pressing process of the face portion.

(Comparative example)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional example and a comparison with FIG. FIG. 6 shows the CT value of the hit point position under the same conditions as in FIG. The target face portion in this comparative example has a configuration in which the central thick portion 20 has only one central portion and has no ribs. From the central thick part 20 to the periphery of the face, the thickness is gradually reduced. The CT values shown in 15 locations are the same conditions as in FIG. 5, the CT value range is 208 to 251 μs, the difference is as large as 43, and the variation is large compared to the uneven thickness configuration of the present invention.

  In addition, in the case of the comparative example, in the impact test at a head speed of 50 m / s, the face portion cracked after 4000 shots. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, no cracks occurred in the face portion even with 8000 shots.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Golf club head 2 ... Face part 3 ... Crown part 4 ... Sole part 5 ... Toe part 6 ... Heel part 8 ... 1st center thick part 9 ... 2nd center thick part 10 ... 1st inclined surface 11 ... 1st 2 inclined surface 12 ... 3rd inclined surface 13 ... face part edge 14 ... 4th surface part 15 ... 1st rib 16 ... 2nd rib 17 ... connection part

Claims (4)

The crown part (3) constituting the upper part, the sole part (4) constituting the lower part, the toe part (5) constituting the tip part, the heel part (6) constituting the rear end part, and the crown part (3) A golf club head having a metal hollow structure, which is longer in the direction from the toe portion to the sole portion (5) than the toe portion (5) and in the heel portion (6) direction, and includes a face portion (2) for hitting a ball. And
It has a region where the wall thickness is uniform, is formed thicker than the other parts of the face part (2), and the center position is in front of and behind the toe part (5) side and the heel part (6) side. A first central thick portion (8) disposed on the face portion (2) that is substantially half the vertical length (c) of the face portion (2) and that coincides with a substantially horizontal direction to be connected ;
Thickness is spaced from the first central thick part (8) in the direction of the heel part (6) at a constant interval of about 1/4 to 1/3 of the effective length in the front-rear direction of the face part (2). Has a uniform region, is formed thicker than other portions of the face portion (2), and the center position is an approximate connection between the front and back of the toe portion (5) side and the heel portion (6) side. A second central thick portion (9) disposed in the face portion (2) that is aligned with the horizontal direction and is approximately ½ of the vertical length (c) of the face portion (2);
Continuously extending from the outer edge of the first central thick part (8) to the crown part (3) and the sole part (4), and gradually thicker than the first central thick part (8). A first inclined portion (10) in which
Continuously extending from the outer edge of the second central thick part (9) toward the crown part (3) and the sole part (4), and gradually thicker than the second central thick part (9). A second inclined part (11) in which
Continuously extending from the outer edges of the first inclined portion (10) and the second inclined portion (11) toward the crown portion (3) and the sole portion (4), the thickness gradually decreases. A third inclined portion (12);
Continuing from the first central thick part (8), the first inclined part (10) and the third inclined part (12) are formed thicker, the crown part (3) side, and the toe part (5) a ridge-shaped first rib portion (15) extending toward the side;
It is connected to the second central thick part (9), is formed thicker than the second inclined part (11) and the third inclined part (12), is on the crown part (3) side, and the heel part (6) It consists of a ridge-like second rib (16) extending to the side ,
Said first central thick portion (8) and said second central thick portion (9) the shape of ridges the first rib portion continuous from (15) and said second rib (16), the crown portion (3 The golf club head having an uneven face, characterized in that it is formed only on the side) and not on the sole (4) side. The golf club head having the uneven face according to claim 1,
The third inclined part (12) is continuous with the first inclined part (10) and the second inclined part (11), and is continuous with the first inclined part (10) and the second inclined part (11). A golf club head having an uneven face, characterized in that the inclined surface has a gentler inclination. In the golf club head having the uneven face according to claim 1 or 2,
A golf club head having an uneven face, wherein a face outer peripheral portion (13) having a constant thickness is disposed on the entire outer periphery of the third inclined portion (12). In the golf club head having the uneven face according to claim 1 or 2,
A part of the outer edge of the first inclined part (10) and a part of the outer edge of the second inclined part (11) are connected, and the first central thick part (8) and the second central thick part are connected. A golf club head having an uneven face, wherein the connecting portion (17) is thinner than the portion (9).

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