US20070037635A1

US20070037635A1 - Iron golf club head

Info

Publication number: US20070037635A1
Application number: US11/498,644
Authority: US
Inventors: Takeshi Kitano; Takayuki Haga
Original assignee: TV Club Co Ltd; Office Kitano Inc
Current assignee: TV Club Co Ltd; Office Kitano Inc
Priority date: 2005-08-12
Filing date: 2006-08-03
Publication date: 2007-02-15
Also published as: JP2007044440A

Abstract

Disclosed is an iron golf club head 1 comprising: a face plate 2 having a joint 22 formed on its rear surface; and an L-shaped bar whose lateral and longitudinal sections are used as a lateral neck elongation 3 and a hosel 4 of a longitudinal stick or shaft 5 respectively. The neck elongation 3 is integrally connected to the joint 22, and the shaft 5 is inserted into the hosel 4, allowing the face plate 2 to lie on the front side of the shaft 5. The iron golf head is good in directivity, and is almost free of shank, sclaff or any other mishit.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an improvement in or relating to an iron golf club head, particularly to an iron golf club head whose shaft and face plate are unique in their improved relative position.

PRIOR ART

Golfers have a common desire of realizing a straight flight of the ball with well- controlled directivity Beginners, however, are likely to allow the head face of the golf club to tilt backward with respect to the normal line perpendicular to the direction toward a target object just before hitting the ball, so that the head face somewhat delays at the time of hitting the ball, thus causing a slice as a result of the swing.
In the hope of improving such a swing a goose-necked golf club whose face is withdrawn behind the shaft is used. The goose-necked golf club, in fact, effectively helps a beginner hit the ball rightly even if the head face does not reach the position where the head face would be at the time of hitting the ball. Thus, the beginner can handle the golf club with good directivity.
The withdrawn face of the goose-necked golf club, however, makes golfers liable to imagine the dragging of the club head on the ground, and hence they are likely to be too much conscious about the possible delay of the head face, finally leading to the mishit or shank.
As for a straight-necked golf club whose head face is longitudinally aligned with the shaft, golfers can always feel the club head move in unison with the shaft in a swing. Also advantageously, the alignment of the head face with the shaft facilitates the controlling of directivity, and helps the head face rightly meet and hold the ball in a swing. For these reasons advanced golfers prefer the straight-necked golf club.
When a golfer adopts the position of address, he or she will put the head face of his or her golf club perpendicular to the direction toward the target object, no matter which golf club may be selected and used among the putter, driver and other clubs.
Assuming that a straight-necked golf club is selected and used, and that the golfer holds his or her golf club with the leading edge of the club head directed at the target object, then it is likely that just before hitting the ball the head face would somewhat tilt backward with respect to the normal line perpendicular to the direction toward the target object. Conversely, if the golfer holds his or her golf club with the top blade of the club head directed at the target object, he or she is apt to be anxious about the swing ending with a hook because of the menacing effect caused by the loft appearing large as viewed from the side of the grip. This unfavorable inclination will be increasingly conspicuous as the address shifts increasingly leftward apart from the neutral stance.
As a consequence, the driver is liable to use mainly his or her right shoulder, arm and hand in a swing, thus making the right shoulder project forward, which is the cause for duffing or sclaff.
In view of the defects as described above one object of the present invention is to provide an iron golf club head which is easy to control the directivity, substantially reducing the possibility of mishit, shank and sclaff.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An iron golf club head according to the present invention comprises: a face plate having a joint formed on its rear surface; and a lateral neck elongation whose front and rear ends are integrally connected to the joint and to the hosel of a longitudinal stick or shaft respectively, allowing the face plate to lie on the front side of the shaft, which is the central feature of the present invention.
Thanks to the fact that the face plate lies on the front side of the shaft, golfers can hit the ball, behaving like hitting a nail with a hammer. As a result golfers free themselves from swaying around the waist in hitting the ball, effectively reducing the mishit, shank or sclaff. Also, the golfer would not swing with his or her right shoulder sunk, and accordingly few or no sclaff is caused

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an iron club head according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the iron club head as viewed from the rear side;
FIG. 3 illustrates a modification of the iron club head; and
FIG. 4 illustrates how the iron club head looks when it is put on the ground, as viewed from the top.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Now, the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an iron club head according to the present invention whereas FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the iron club head as viewed from the rear side.
As shown in these drawings, the iron club head 1 comprises: a face plate 2 having a joint 22 formed on its rear surface 21; and a lateral neck elongation 3 whose front and rear ends are integrally connected to the joint 22 and to the hosel 4 of a longitudinal stick or shaft 5 respectively, thus allowing the face plate 2 to lie on the front side of the shaft 5. Specifically, the neck elongation 3 is the lateral section of an L-shaped rod, and is welded to the joint 22 on the rear side of the face plate 2. The shaft 5 is inserted into the hosel 4, which is the longitudinal section of the L-shaped rod. Thus, the face plate 2 lies on the front side of the shaft 5.
Referring to FIG. 3, assuming that the neck 3 is relatively short, and that the face plate 2 is tilted at an increased loft angle, it is necessary that one of the upper rounded corners on the top blade “b”, on the side of the heel be chamfered as indicated at “d”, thereby preventing the interference of the shaft 5 with the face plate 2.
The face plate is rectangular with the bottom side or leading edge “a” parallel with the top side or top blade “b”. Thanks to the parallelism golfers can easily aim at a target object by putting the opposite parallel sides perpendicular to the direction toward the target object.
The rectangle of the face plate 2 has four rounded corners with the curvature of the lower rounded comers larger than that of the upper rounded corners. Thus, the sole area is substantially reduced. Accordingly the resistance to which the sole is subjected while running on the ground is reduced, and hence golfers free themselves from the sclaff which otherwise would result.
Also, the thickness of the face plate 2 gradually increases downward longitudinally from the top blade “b” to the leading edge “a” of the face plate 2, so that the center of gravity remains downward. The top blade “b” is made relatively thin and sharp. Indeed, the inertia moment appearing in the direction in which the club head runs increases to provide the benefit of hitting and raising the ball high.
The face plate 2 has lateral grooves 23 of same length made in its face. The lateral grooves 23 are parallel-arranged, extending all the way from the heel to the toe of the face plate. Thus, the ball will equally spin when being hit on either side of toe or heel.
The face plate has bounce 24 formed on its sole, thereby improving the bounce of the sole.
The face plate 2 has a cavity 25 made on its rear side, thereby distributing the weight of the head in its circumference, and accordingly enlarging the sweet area. This causes the advantageous effect of stabilizing the directivity against the off-center impact.
The joint 22 is formed so close to the heel of the face plate 2 in the lower edge section that the sole is formed by the laterally extensive bottom of the face plate 2 and the longitudinal neck extension 3. Thus, the longitudinal part of the sole extends straight rearward along the neck extension 3 from the lateral part of the sole of the face plate 2, thus helping the club head 1 run straight forward in a swing.
When the club head 1 is put by the sole on the ground with the shaft 5 oblique at the slant angle unique to the golf club, both of the leading edge “a” and top blade “b” can be directed to the target object “A”, which facilitates the address and aim at the target object.
The face plate 2 is positioned so apart from the shaft 5 that the golfer cannot use the axis of the shaft 5 along with the face plate 2 in aiming at the target object, thus making the golfer free himself or herself from the anxious about the possibility of slice, hook or square as a result of the tilt of the face plate at the impact. Thus, the golfer can swing without being occupied with any fear of mishit.
Thanks to the face plate lying on the front side of the shaft the golfer can hit the ball like hammering the nail into the wood, which permits the correct orientation of the face plate at the time of hitting the ball as is the case with use of a putter. The golfer can hit the ball with his or her wrists turned well, and then the ball follows the straight course.
At the same time, the hammering impact causes concentration of the kinetic energy to the center of the ball, and accordingly the flight distance is extended.
The face plate 2 placed in front of the neck 3 effectively prevents the ball from hitting the neck 3 or the shank.
The shaft 5 has nothing on its rear side, which makes the golfer free himself or herself from the anxiety about the possibility of the face plate delaying in a swing. This effectively removes the burden of fearing the undesirable tilt of the face plate at the time of hitting the ball as is the case with the goose-necked golf club.
The face plate 2 lying on the front side of the shaft 5 gives the golfer the impression of hitting the ball straight forward rather than hitting and raising the ball high in the air. As a result the golfer can swing without lowering his or her right shoulder, and such posture on the swing effectively reduces the possibility of sclaff.
The golf head described above is the one designed for right-handed persons, which can be redesigned for left-handed persons simply by shifting the face plate to the opposite side.

Claims

1. An iron golf club head comprising: a face plate having a joint formed on its rear surface; and a lateral neck elongation whose front and rear ends are integrally connected to the joint and to the hosel of a longitudinal stick or shaft respectively, allowing the face plate to lie on the front side of the shaft.

2. An iron golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the joint is formed so close to the heel of the face plate in the lower edge section that the sole is formed by the bottom of the face plate and the neck extension.

3. An iron golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the face plate is rectangular.

4. An iron golf club head according to claim 3 wherein the rectangle of the face plate has four rounded comers with the curvature of the lower rounded comers larger than that of the upper rounded comers.

5. An iron golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the face plate has lateral grooves of same length made in its face, the lateral grooves being parallel-arranged and extending all the way from the heel to the toe of the face plate.

6. An iron golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the thickness of the face plate gradually increases downward longitudinally from the top to bottom of the face plate.

7. An iron golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the face plate has bounce formed on its sole.

8. An iron golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the face plate has a recess formed on its rear side.