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Golf club and method of designRelated Patent Categories: Games Using Tangible Projectile, Golf, Club Or Club Support, Head And Shaft Connection, Particular Relationship Between Shaft Longitudinal Axis And Head OrientationGolf club and method of design description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060194642, Golf club and method of design. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to golf clubs and methods of golf club design and more particularly to adjusting a certain golf club design parameter to improve club performance and to better suit an individual golfer's style of play. [0002] As is commonly known in field of golf club design, there are three basic geometrical design parameters for golf clubs, namely, loft, length and lie. All conventional sets of golf clubs employ a range of each of these parameters in order to provide an assortment of clubs that can be used for various golf shots. The loft of the club is the angle of the club face relative to the sole of the club. The loft influences the angle of ascent of a struck golf ball and, accordingly, it is an important factor regarding the distance and trajectory of the shot. The loft of the club is also a factor in the backspin imparted on the struck golf ball. Higher lofted clubs are designed to produce more backspin than lower lofted clubs. The length of the club is normally measured from the end of the shaft to a plane defined by the sole of the club. The length influences the force with which the golf ball may be struck and thus has a significant effect on the distance of travel of the ball. And the lie of the club is the angle of the centerline of the shaft with the ground line tangent to the sole at the centerline of the face. The lie allows the length and the loft to be adjusted such that the golfer can swing the club and have the sole contact the ground on its center between heel and toe or as otherwise intended by the manufacturer of the club. [0003] The rules of golf limit a golfer to 14 clubs, a mixture of irons, woods, and a putter. In a typical set of "iron" clubs, 2-iron through sand wedge, the loft varies from about 20 to 56 degrees (and there is usually about a 4 degree difference per club), the length varies from about 40 to 35 inches, and the lie varies from about 58 to 64 degrees. A typical set of "wood" (including metal wood) clubs includes a driver and any one or more of a 2-wood through 11-wood. The loft of a fairly typical driver ranges from about 7 to 12 degrees. Other more exotic woods, such as a 7-wood, have lofts as high as 20 degrees while certain specialty wood clubs have even higher lofts. In the typical set of wood clubs and iron clubs, the lowest lofted club is the longest and, as the loft increases, the length of the club decreases. Similarly, the lie of the club typically increases with decreases in club length. [0004] Another parameter more recently introduced in field of golf club design is known as offset. The offset of a club is typically the measurement of the leading edge of the club relative to the hosel. By offsetting the shaft from the leading edge, almost always in the direction towards the target, the center of mass of the club head is placed behind the centerline of the shaft. It is generally thought that this design produces greater loft and face closure at impact. In addition, face closure at impact can cause more of a right-to-left trajectory (for right-handed golfers) thereby reducing the incidence of slicing the shot. [0005] Despite these and other existing design parameters, there is a need for adjustment of another parameter to allow tailoring of a club or set of clubs to one or more swing characteristics of a particular golfer. [0006] All golf club manufacturers produce golf clubs with a design loft. In principle, the design loft of the club is the angle at which the club face should strike the ball. Striking a ball with an "effective" loft that is different from the design loft occurs because not all golfers have the same swinging motion. Thus, although there are relatively standard design loft values for a given club (e.g., 28 degrees for a 5-iron), because every golfer has a different swing there is great variation from one golfer to another in the effective loft of the same club striking the golf ball. [0007] In other words, the design loft of the club is not necessarily the effective loft that the ball sees when struck by the club. This may result in the "standard" 5-iron having an effective loft of a 4-iron (or a 6-iron). When one considers that the difference in design loft between consecutively numbered clubs is only about 4 degrees, a very small swing variation will have a dramatic impact upon the effective loft and may result in an effective 4-iron (or 6-iron) loft or even a 3-iron (or 7-iron) loft when, in fact, the golfer is using a 5-iron. [0008] To take full advantage of the design features of the sole of the club, it is important that the golfer be in a position to choose (or choose not) to strike the ball at an effective loft that equals or at least approximates the design loft of the club. For example, the sole of a golf club is designed with a number of parameters in mind including width, curvature and bounce angle. If the club used by the golfer strikes the ball at an effective loft other than the design loft, the benefit of these design features may be inadvertently or intentionally diminished. [0009] Additionally, a difference between the design loft and the effective loft may cause some golfers to adjust their swing (consciously or unconsciously) or to use a club other than the one designed for the particular shot they are about to hit. For instance, if a golfer frequently imparts an effective loft of a 4-iron to a 5-iron, the golfer may attempt to compensate by swinging more slowly to diminish the distance achieved by the shot. Alternatively, the golfer may switch to a 6-iron which may produce the desired effective loft but typically has less length and requires a harder swing. Either way, the golfer is shortchanged because the design and effective lofts do not match. A golfer should be able to use any club and have an effective loft that matches or at least approximates the design loft, if he or she so desires. [0010] There are at least three swing characteristics that may cause effective and design lofts to deviate from each other. The first such swing characteristic is the actual location of the golfer's hands relative to the ball when the club head strikes the ball. If, for example, the golfer's hands tend to be ahead of the club head (and ahead of the ball when it is actually struck) the club face will tend to strike the ball with an effective loft that is lower than the design loft of the club. Similarly, if the golfer's hands tend to be behind the club head (and behind the ball when it is actually struck), the effective loft will tend to be higher than the design loft. Although other swing characteristics have an influence on effective loft, it is this characteristic, location of the golfer's hands relative to the ball at impact, that primarily controls the effective loft of the club. [0011] The second swing characteristic that influences the effective loft is the location of the ball in the golfer's stance. A right-handed golfer who tends to play the ball forward (back) in his or her stance (i.e., towards (away from) the left armpit) will tend to-have an effective loft that is higher (lower) than the design loft. For example, when using a 5-iron, a golfer who plays the ball in the middle of his or her stance may strike the ball earlier in his or her swing and have a lower effective loft than another golfer, using the same 5-iron, who plays the ball in the very front of his or her stance. [0012] The third swing characteristic that influences effective loft is the location of the golfer's hands when addressing the ball just before the swing begins. A golfer, by putting his or her hands forward (back) in his or her stance (again, for right-handed golfers, this means towards (away from) the left armpit), may cause the effective loft of the club to be higher (lower) than the design loft. [0013] Additionally, most golfers have different swings for each club in their bag. These swing deviations are influenced by variation in length and lie between clubs. Therefore, the difference between effective loft and design loft for each club within a set (for the particular golfer) may vary. For many golfers, it may be beneficial to adjust the difference in effective loft relative to design loft for one or more clubs in his or her bag. [0014] There appears to be little discussion of effective loft in the field of golf club design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,702 to Turner is directed to an offset hosel design for a golf club. The disclosure in Turner addresses wood clubs and includes a hosel located at the back of the club head away from the face and angled toward the face of the club head at a predetermined angle which allegedly aids in preventing slicing or hooking a golf ball. The base of the hosel is located at least 1.25 inches from the leading edge of the club. The hosel and the shaft are angled toward the face of the club up to 15 degrees from vertical. Modifying this angle might adjust the effective loft, but there is little or no discussion about such a feature or any benefit therefrom. [0015] U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,148 to Maltby discusses removing material from a runner on the sole of a wood-type metal club head to adjust the face angle, lie and/or loft of the head. Maltby makes no mention of modifying any other portion of the club or club head and actually states that modification of the sole is sufficient to make the desired adjustments. Maltby makes no adjustment for effective loft. [0016] Golf is a very difficult game. It can be made less difficult by tailoring individual golf clubs and sets of golf clubs to the particularities of an individual golfer. The standard club designs and design methods, however, make no account for the effective loft of a club for the individual golfer. Accordingly, there is a need for a golf club or a set of golf clubs designed with effective loft in mind. It is also clear that there is a need for designing a golf club or set of golf clubs with effective loft in mind for the individual golfer who will use the club or set of clubs. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0017] The present invention utilizes a lean angle in the design of a golf club to allow a golfer to customize the relationship between design and effective loft for one or more clubs in his or her bag. [0018] The design loft of a club is often specified by the manufacturer. Using the design loft (or the angle defined by the design loft) it is possible to orient the sole of the club on the playing surface in the manner intended by the manufacturer. If the design loft is not specified, but the characteristics of the sole are specified (and hence the designer's intended orientation of sole to playing surface), the club can be grounded as intended and the design loft determined by measurement. If neither the design loft nor the appropriate sole characteristics are specified by the club manufacturer, the design loft of the club is the angle of the club face when the club is grounded and the shaft is in a vertical plane. [0019] When the club is oriented at its design loft, the lean angle of the club is the angle between (i) a projection of the centerline of the shaft onto a vertical plane, the plane being along an intended line of play and (ii) a vertical line in such vertical plane. The lean angle of a typical golf club usually is not specified by the manufacturer but in most cases a lean angle of 0 degrees can be inferred. According to the present invention, the lean angle may be adjusted in a positive or negative direction based upon one or more of a number of different swing characteristics. The method of the present invention comprises determining the design loft and tailoring the lean angle of the club based upon such selections and a swing characteristic of the golfer. Tailoring the lean angle may be further based upon at least one of a lie, a length and an offset for the club. Such swing characteristics may include each of a location of the hands of the golfer upon impact of the club with a golf ball, an effective loft of the golf club, a relative difference between the design loft and an effective loft of the club, a location of the hands of the golfer when the golfer addresses a golf ball, a location of the golf ball in the stance of a golfer, and a location of the hands of the golfer with respect to a location of a golf ball. [0020] The method of the present invention may further include repeating the selecting step and the tailoring step for a plurality of golf clubs, and substantially matching the particular swing characteristic across the plurality of golf clubs. The method of the invention disclosed herein may also include determining such swing characteristic of the golfer by using a trained observer or an automated observing system. [0021] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of golf club design. [0022] It is another object of the present invention to provide a golf club having a lean angle tailored to a particular swing characteristic of the golfer using the club. Continue reading about Golf club and method of design... Full patent description for Golf club and method of design Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Golf club and method of design patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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