Putter face configuration with progressively increasing loft

Abstract

A putter type golf club formed of a club head body having a heel, toe, upper surface, bottom and frontal ball striking face. The striking face is characterized by a progressively increasing loft angle on the striking face toward the heel.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to putter type golf clubs and in particular to a golf putter having an improved ball striking face configuration with progressively increasing loft toward the heel of the putter.

Since essentially all golf putting greens are not level and present a variety of slopes, rolls and surface curvatures, various attempts have been made to improve the roll of a golf ball on a putting green by altering the face configuration of a putter. Loft angles of a putter vary from a negative loft to as many as six to eight degrees of loft on some conventional putters. In addition putters have ball striking faces that are rounded, grooved and curved and all these create a different roll characteristic of the golf ball.

Examples of golf putters having ball striking faces made with various angles to control the roll of the golf ball are shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,380 to Yim that discloses a putter with a flat and a curved face; U.S. Pat. No. 7,335,112 to Bitondo that shows a putter with an angled putter face; U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,446 to Collins that shows a dual angle putter face; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,316,622 to Lucas that discloses an adjustable putter face angle.

Golf professionals and amateurs alike historically have found that the most difficult putts are those with a left to right break, that is, where the ball will be approaching the hole with a right moving roll path generally away from the position of the golfer. Of course the converse is true for a left handed golfer where the ball will roll to the left away from the golfer. With these left to right breaking putts, the ball is usually below the level of the golfer's feet in a position generally referred to as a hanging lie. In this position, the ball tends to break more than perceived by the golfer usually because, even with a proper arc putting stroke, the putter face often contacts the ball low on the clubface creating a weak ball strike. Also the golfer often subconsciously aims the putter head more toward the hole during the execution of a left to right putting stroke thereby altering the path of the ball away from the ideal line that is required by the surface configuration of the green.

Typically a golfer will try to compensate for a hanging lie by closing the clubface but with conventional putter faces this puts negative loft on the entire putter face that drives the ball into the putting surface causing the ball to bounce and skid instead of rolling smoothly.

U.S. patent application 2011/0165962A1 to Upenieks filed Jul. 7, 2011 discloses a break compensation putter type golf club head with a substantially planar primary ball striking portion and a secondary portion at an angle to the primary portion located adjacent the heel of the club head. This arrangement of the striking face allows the golfer to strike the golf ball on the second angled portion of the face to compensate for right breaking putts. The application is silent as to the overall effect of the loft of the putter face and does not recognize that striking a golf ball on the heel portion of the putter head will tend to decrease the loft of the putter face causing the golf ball to be driven into the green surface causing bouncing and skidding that further effects the accuracy of the roll, even when the ball starts on the intended line to the hole.

The present invention is an improvement in the structure of the ball striking faces of putter type golf clubs that addresses the difficulties of left to right breaking putts.

The ball striking face of a putter in accordance with the present invention is characterized with a progressively increasing loft configuration formed on the club face toward the heel of the club head. In a preferred embodiment, the loft increases in the upright direction from approximately midway on the striking face toward the heel whereby the maximum amount of loft is located at the outer edge of the heel.

The advantages of the putter face of the present invention having increasing loft toward the heel end of the putter, enables the golfer to close the face of the putter at address thus counteracting the effects of a hanging lie that is most often encountered with left to right putts, while preserving a substantial portion of the clubface on which the ball may be struck without creating negative loft. A further advantage of the progressively increasing loft on the putter face is to provide a more consistent ball compression and subsequent better ball speed anticipation for a given application of force by the putter head. Heretofore conventional putters with a substantially uniform loft across the entire striking face could not be delofted in an attempt to control the roll of a golf ball on left to right breaking putts without the negative effect of driving the ball into the green surface. The present invention with increasing loft on the putter face creates a new result by presenting a lofted striking face to the golf ball even when the putter is adjusted to a closed position to accommodate a left to right breaking putt.

Among the objects of the invention is the provision of a putter type golf club that creates a more controlled roll of a golf ball on left to right breaking putts.

Another object is the provision of a putter type golf club having a variable loft on the striking face to accommodate a variety of different left to right breaking putts.

Other objects will be apparent with reference to the following drawings and specification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a golf putter head in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a toe end elevational of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of another embodiment of the golf putter head of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a toe end elevational view of FIG. 5

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with the present invention, a putter type golf club is formed with a frontal ball striking face characterized by a progressively increasing loft angle on the striking face toward the heel. Referring to the drawings, a putter type golf club head 10 includes a club head body 12, having a heel 14, toe 16, top surface, 18 bottom sole 20 and frontal ball striking face. 22. The face 22 has a conventional loft of approximately 4 degrees between the bottom sole 20 and the top surface 18 across a significant part of the striking face 22. In the present embodiment the striking face 22 is formed with slight curvature between the heel 14 and toe 16. Preferably this radius is 80 inches across the face 22. Although this embodiment is shown with a slight curvature, it will be appreciated the entire face may be generally flat or planar from the heel to the toe creating a flat face design.

In the preferred embodiment shown, the striking face 22 has an area 24 of increased loft from approximately midway on the face 22 to the heel 14. The loft area 24 is further defined as a parabolic curve with a decreasing radius as it approaches the top surface 18 of the putter face 22 whereby the loft angle is greater adjacent the top surface 18 of the putter head 10. Thus the way the face 22 is milled, the loft on the face increases in two directions; that is in a first direction toward the heel 14 and a second direction toward the upper surface 18 of the putter head 10. The area of the loft portion 24 with the greatest loft is located at the junction of the heel 14 and the upper surface 18 of the putter head 10.

When a golf ball is struck away from the center of the face 22 toward the heel 14, it will rebound in an angular direction defined by the particular loft configuration on the putter face 22. Since the loft increases away from the center of the face 22, toward the heel 14 and upper surface 18 the angle of rebound of the golf ball when it is struck can be adjusted by moving the ball toward or away from the heel 14 while delofting the club face 22 to compensate for the effects of a left to right breaking putt. The increased loft portion 24 of the putter head 10 compensates for the delofting adjustment to maintain sufficient loft that allows the golf ball to begin rolling without bouncing and skidding. The further toward the heel 14 that the ball is struck, the greater the loft angle that is presented to the ball. This enables a golfer to adjust the putter head 10 in accordance with the severity of the break on the green surface, while maintaining sufficient lift as a result of the increased loft of the loft portion 24 of the putter head 10.

The design of the putter face 22 only increases loft between the midpoint of the face 22 and the heel 14 and upper surface 18. Therefore, putts with little or no break or even a right to left break are able to be struck at the center of the club face 22 where there is substantially uniform loft. When a left to right breaking putt is encountered, the position of the golf ball is slightly adjusted toward the heel of the putter face 22 allowing the putter to be delofted for more control of the roll of the golf ball. The more severe the break, the more the ball is moved toward the heel 14 allowing for a greater delofting of the putter head 10. With practice a golfer will be able to determine the exact location that the ball should be aligned with the putter face 22 to achieve maximum benefit of the progressively increasing loft angle on the putter face 22 for a given amount of left to right break.

In keeping within the scope of the present invention the increased loft area of a striking face of a putter head may begin. anywhere between the toe and heel of the putter head. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a putter head 100 with a heel 102, toe 104, top surface 106, and bottom sole 108. The putter head 100 includes a flat ball striking face 110 with an increased loft area 112 that starts further toward the toe 104 and progressively increases toward the heel 102 of the putter head 100. The increased loft area 112 is flat and disposed at an angle between the bottom sole 108 and the top surface 106 will be appreciated that the loft angle or the radius of curvature of the increased loft area may be altered to exert more or less influence of the golf ball depending upon the characteristics of the grasses on the greens where the putter will be used.

These and other modifications and changes may be made to the striking face of a putter type golf club head in keeping with the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A putter type golf club head having a heel, toe, upper surface, bottom and frontal ball striking face; said striking face characterized by a progressively increasing loft angle toward said heel.

2. The putter type golf club head of claim 1 wherein said progressively increasing loft angle starts proximate a midpoint on said face between said toe and said heel.

3. The putter type golf club head of claim 1 wherein said increasing loft is further defined as being formed by a progressively decreasing radius of the club face in a lateral direction toward said heel.

4. The putter type golf club head of claim 3 wherein said radius is defined as a parabolic curve.

5. The putter type golf club head of claim 1 wherein said increasing loft angle is greater adjacent said upper surface.

6. The putter type golf club head of claim 1 wherein the increasing loft angle begins from proximate a midpoint on said striking face toward said heel.

7. A putter type golf club formed of a club head body having a heel, toe, upper surface, bottom and frontal ball striking face having a dual radius configuration including a first curvature in a heel to toe direction; and a second radius between said bottom and said upper surface said frontal ball striking face characterized by a portion of said striking face including a progressively increasing loft angle from proximate a midpoint on said striking face toward said heel and an increasing loft angle from said bottom toward said upper surface.

8. A putter type golf club head characterized by a frontal ball striking face with a progressively increasing loft angle between a first point on said face to a second point on said face displaced from said first point.

9. The putter type golf club head of claim 8 further defined as having a heel and a toe; said loft angle increasing toward said heel.

10. The putter type golf club head of claim 8 wherein said frontal ball striking face is flat.

11. The putter type golf club head of claim 8 wherein the loft angle increase is defined by a parabolic curve.