Abstract: The head of a golf club is improved by reducing the drag and wake turbulence produced in the air when the golf club is swung to strike a golf ball. The club head has a convex sole with an elongated depression defined therein. The inboard end of the depression is located proximate both the heel and the ball-impact face and extends outwardly at a diverging angle from the ball-impact face to an outboard extremity located inboard from the toe of the club head. This depression or channel is thereby closely aligned with the direction of travel of the club head during a normal downswing and follow through of a golf stroke. Also, the top of the club head is covered with a relatively rough coating, such as a textured paint with granules encapsulated therein. The roughness average of the top surface of the club head, as measured by a profilometer, is it least three times as great as that of the ball-impact face and at least three times as great as that of the sole of the club head.

Abstract: The aerodynamic performance of a golf club shaft is improved by texturing the outer surface of the hozzle end portion of the shaft shank to provide an arithmetic mean of profile roughness which is greater than about 0.50 microns. This profile roughness is significantly greater than the arithmetic mean of profile roughness of a conventional smooth surface of a golf club shaft, which is typically between about 0.47 microns and about 0.50 microns. A roughness average on the hozzle end portion of the shank of a golf club shaft of between about 4.3 microns and about 5.0 microns is preferable. The hozzle end portion having such an enhanced roughness average should extend at least about five centimeters and no greater than about fifty centimeters from the tip of the golf club shaft that is inserted into the club head hozzle. A golf club shaft having these features will create less wake turbulence and less wake vacuum in moving through the air during a golf swing than a conventional golf club shaft.