HEAD PROFILE FOR A GOLF IRON
The head of a golf iron having an improved profile that enables a golfer to accurately align the club head with a golf ball so that the club head will strike the ball at the sweet spot located on the club face. The club head has a top edge which runs above the club face and includes first and second portions that extend in first and second directions. The boundary line between the first and second portions at the top edge of the club head lies in a vertical sweet spot reference plane with the center of the sweet spot. The boundary line at the top edge of the club head is visible to the golfer looking down at his club head so as to provide the golfer with an indication of the location of the sweet spot on the club face at which to strike the golf ball during his swing.
This invention relates to the head of a golf club, particularly a golf club iron, having a unique head profile that enables a golfer to better align his club head with his golf ball to be able to strike the ball at the center of the characteristic sweet spot on the club head to achieve the best shot. The top edge of the club head has first and second portions which extend in different directions, such that the boundary line between the first and second portions provides a visual indication to the golfer of the location of the sweet spot of the club head.
2. Background ArtOne example of a metal club head for a typical golf club iron is shown in
Ideally, the golfer tries to swing his club such that the golf ball will be impacted by the sweet spot 12 of the club head to achieve the best shot. The sweet spot, which is a characteristic of most irons, is the location on the impact area of the club face where impact with a golf ball will not cause the club head to rotate in the golfer's hand and thereby negatively affect the accuracy of the golfer's shot. Traditionally, a golfer tries to use the spin control grooves 5 at the impact area 9 to visually identify the sweet spot 12 where his club head will strike the golf ball. However, as a consequence of the club face 7 being angled, the golfer often experiences an optical illusion when standing over the golf ball and looking down at his club head. That is, golfers, and particularly beginners, tend to focus their eyes on the top edge of the club head will sometimes lose sight of all of the grooves 5 such that it becomes difficult to use the grooves as a precise visual aid to increase the likelihood that the golf ball will be struck by the sweet spot of the club head.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a golf club, namely an iron, with an improved head profile to provide the golfer with an easy to see visual indication by which to accurately align his club head with the golf ball so the club head will strike the ball at the sweet spot on the club face without the golfer having to rely entirely on the spin control grooves.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn general terms, the head of a golf club (e.g., an iron) is disclosed having an improved profile that enables a golfer to more easily and accurately align the club head with a golf ball while the golfer addresses the ball to better his chance that the ball will be struck by the sweet spot on the face of the club head during the golfer's swing. Rather than a continuously upsloping top edge common to the club head of a conventional iron, the club head described herein has a top edge with first and second portions thereof that lie above the face and run in different directions. In a preferred embodiment, the first and second portions of the top edge run in straight lines. The boundary line located between the first and second portions at the top edge of the club head lies in a vertical sweet spot reference plane with the center of the club head sweet spot. The boundary line is visible to the golfer looking down at his club head while he addresses his golf ball.
By virtue of the foregoing, the boundary line provides the golfer with a visual indication which identifies the location of the center of the sweet spot on the face of the club head. In particular, the center of the sweet spot lies at or near the intersection of the vertical sweet spot reference plane and a pre-determined one of the plurality of spin control grooves that are typically formed in and extend horizontally across the face of the club head. By using the visible boundary line which runs across the top edge of the club head and lies in the vertical sweet spot reference plane, the golfer is advantageously provided with an easy to see indicator where the golf ball should be struck during his stroke to enable the ball to be impacted by the sweet spot on the face of the club head and thereby improve the accuracy of his shot.
In a first preferred embodiment, the first portion of the top edge lying above the face of the club head inclines continuously between the hosel and the vertical sweet spot reference plane. The second portion of the top edge is flat and extends horizontally between the sweet spot reference plane and the outside end of the club head. In a second preferred embodiment, the first portion of the top edge of the club head inclines continuously between the hosel and the vertical sweet spot reference plane, and the second portion of the top edge is flat and slopes downwardly from the sweet spot reference plane to the outside end of the club head. In another preferred embodiment, the first portion of the top edge of the club head inclines continuously between the hosel and the vertical sweet spot reference plane, and the second portion of the top edge curves downwardly from the sweet spot reference plane to the outside of the club head.
Turning initially to
The improvements to the profile of a golf club head described below are limited to irons. In particular, the profiles of the club heads to be disclosed hereinafter are applicable to driving and long irons, namely, 1-3 irons, middle irons, namely 4-6 irons, short irons, namely, 7-9 irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge and a lob wedge.
Like the conventional club head 1 shown in
More particularly, a first portion 32 of the top edge 30 of the club head 20 extends continuously in an upsloping (i.e., inclined) direction between the hosel 22 and a vertical sweet spot reference plane 34. The first portion of the top edge 30 preferably extends in a flat straight line path. The sweet spot reference plane 34 lies in perpendicular alignment with the parallel aligned spin control grooves 24, such that the center of the pre-determined sweet spot 38 on the face 26 of the club head 20 is located at the intersection of the vertical sweet spot reference plane 34 and one of the parallel aligned grooves 24 which run horizontally across the impact area 28 at the face 26 of club head 20. Because the location of the sweet spot may change from club-to-club and manufacturer-to-manufacturer, the precise location of the sweet spot reference plane 34 is not limited exactly to that shown in
A second portion 36 of the top edge 30 of the club head 20 extends continuously in a horizontal direction between the vertical sweet spot reference plane 34 and the outside edge of the club face 26. The second portion 36 of the top edge 30 also preferably extends in a flat straight line path, such that the flat straight line paths of the first and second portions 32 and 36 form adjacent sides of an angle. Moreover, the horizontally extending second portion 36 lies in parallel alignment with the horizontally extending spin control grooves 24.
It may be appreciated that the inclined first portion 32 of the top edge 30 of the club head 20 intersects the horizontal second portion 36 at a boundary line 40 which will be visible to the golfer when he addresses his golf ball and looks down at the club head. The visible boundary line 40 that extends across the top edge 30 of the club head 20 and the center of the sweet spot 38 lie in the vertical sweet spot reference plane 34. Accordingly, the golfer is advantageously provided with an easy to see visual indicator that identifies the ideal location on his club head where his golf ball should be struck so that the ball can be impacted by the sweet spot at the face of the club head to enable the golfer to achieve the best result during his golf stroke. To this end, the boundary line 40 can be darkened or marked with a distinctive color to enhance the ability of the golfer to locate and use the boundary line as a visual indicator.
What is even more, because the second portion 36 of the top edge 30 of club head 20 is flat and extends in a horizontal direction, the golfer is provided with an easy to recognize visual axis (designated 42 in
More particularly, a first portion 62 of the top edge 60 of the club head 50 extends continuously in a first upsloping (i.e., inclined) direction between the hosel 52 and a vertical sweet spot reference plane 64. As was previously explained, the sweet spot reference plane 64 lies in perpendicular alignment with the parallel aligned spin control grooves 54, such that the center of the pre-determined sweet spot 68 on the face 58 of club head 50 is located at the intersection of the vertical sweet spot reference plane 64 and one of the parallel aligned grooves 54 which run horizontally across the impact area 58 at the face 56 of club head 50.
A second portion 66 of the top edge 60 of the club head 50 extends continuously in a downwardly sloping (i.e., declined) direction between the sweet spot reference plane 64 and the outside edge of the club face 56. Each of the first and second portions 62 and 66 of the top edge 60 preferably extends in a flat straight line path. The flat downwardly sloping second portion 66 creates an angle 70 with a horizontal reference line (designated 72 in
It may be once again appreciated that the inclined first portion 62 of the top edge 60 of the club head 50 intersects the downwardly sloping second portion 66 at a boundary line 74 which will be visible to the golfer when he addresses his golf ball and looks down at the club head. The visible boundary line 74 that extends across the top edge 60 of the club head 50 and the center of the sweet spot 68 lie in the vertical sweet spot reference plane 64. Accordingly, the golfer is advantageously provided with an easy to see visual indicator that identifies the ideal location on his club head where his golf ball should be struck so that the ball can be impacted by the sweet spot at the face of the club head to enable the golfer to achieve the best result during his golf stroke.
More particularly, a first portion 92 of the top edge 90 of the club head 80 extends continuously in a first upsloping (i.e., inclined) direction between the hosel 82 and a vertical sweet spot reference plane 94. The vertical sweet spot reference plane 94 lies in perpendicular alignment with the horizontally extending spin control grooves 84 such that the center of the sweet spot 98 on the face 86 of club head 80 is located at the intersection of the vertical sweet spot reference plane 94 and one of the parallel aligned grooves 84 which run horizontally across the face 86 of club head 80.
A second portion 96 of the top edge 90 of the club head 80 is rounded and curves downwardly from the sweet spot reference plane 94 to the outside edge of the club face 86. The inclined first portion 92 of the top edge 90 of the club head 80 intersects the downwardly curved second portion 96 at a boundary line 100 that will be visible to the golfer when he addresses his golf ball and looks down at the golf club head. The visible boundary line 100 that extends across the top edge 90 of the club head 80 and the center of the sweet spot 98 lie in the vertical sweet spot reference plane 94. Accordingly, the golfer is advantageously provided with another easy to see visual indicator that identifies the ideal location on his club head where his golf ball should be struck so that the ball can be impacted by the sweet spot at the face of the club head to enable the golfer to achieve the best result during his golf stroke.
Claims
1. A golf club head attached to a hosel and comprising a face at which a golf ball is to be struck, a sweet spot located on the face at which to apply an impact force to the golf ball when the golf club head is swung towards the golf ball, an inside end at which the hosel is attached, an outside end located opposite the inside end, and a top edge which runs above the face of the club head between the inside and outside ends thereof, said top edge having a first portion which runs in a first direction and a second portion which runs in a second direction.
2. The golf club head recited in claim 1, wherein there is a perceptively visible boundary line lying between the first and second portions of said top edge which run in said first and second directions, said visible boundary line being aligned with the center of the sweet spot located on the face of said club head.
3. The golf club head recited in claim 2, wherein said visible boundary line is located in a vertical sweet spot reference plane with the center of the sweet spot that is located on the face of said club head.
4. The golf club head recited in claim 3, further comprising a plurality of parallel spin control grooves formed in and extending horizontally across the face of said club head, said vertical sweet spot reference plane in which said visible boundary line and the center of the sweet spot are located lying in perpendicular alignment with the horizontally extending spin control grooves.
5. The golf club head recited in claim 4, wherein the first portion of said top edge inclines upwardly in said first direction between the hosel at the inside end of said club head and the vertical sweet spot reference plane in which said visible boundary line is located, and the second portion of said top edge extends horizontally in said second direction between said sweet spot reference plane and the outside end of said club head.
6. The golf club head recited in claim 5, wherein the second portion of said top edge which extends horizontally in said second direction lies in parallel alignment with the plurality of horizontally extending spin control grooves formed in and extending across the face of the club head.
7. The golf club head recited in claim 5, wherein each of the upwardly inclined first portion and the horizontally extending second portion of said top edge runs continuously in a straight line path.
8. A golf club head attached to a hosel and comprising a face at which a golf ball is to be struck, a sweet spot located on the face at which to apply an impact force to the golf ball when the golf club head is swung towards the golf ball, an inside end at which the hosel is attached, an outside end located opposite the inside end, and a top edge which runs above the face of the club head between the inside and outside ends thereof, said top edge having a first portion that extends in a straight line in a first direction and a second portion that extends in a straight line in a second direction and lies adjacent said first portion, such that the first and second straight line portions of said top edge are aligned with one another to form an angle, and wherein a perceptively visible boundary line is located at the intersection of said first and second straight line portions.
9. The golf club head recited in claim 8, wherein the visible boundary line located at the intersection of the first and second straight line portions of said top edge is aligned with the center of the sweet spot located on the face of said club head.
10. The golf club head recited in claim 9, wherein said visible boundary line is located in a vertical sweet spot reference plane with the center of the sweet spot that is located on the face of said club head.
11. The golf club head recited in claim 10, further comprising a plurality of parallel spin control grooves formed in and extending horizontally across the face of said club head, said vertical sweet spot reference plane in which said visible boundary line and the center of the sweet spot are located lying in perpendicular alignment with the horizontally extending spin control grooves.
12. The golf club head recited in claim 11, wherein the first portion of said top edge is inclined upwardly in said first direction and the second portion of said top edge extends horizontally in said second direction so as to lie in parallel alignment with the horizontally extending spin control grooves.
13. The golf club head recited in claim 11, wherein the first portion of said top edge inclines upwardly in said first direction and the second portion of said top edge declines downwardly in said second direction.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 26, 2018
Publication Date: Mar 14, 2019
Inventor: Ben L DeJesus (Carson, CA)
Application Number: 16/171,964