Golf ball having a high moment of inertia and low driver spin rate

Abstract

A progressive performance golf ball is disclosed. The progressive performance golf ball includes a low spin, high moment of inertia core assembly, which may comprise a low specific gravity core and/or non-continuous high specific gravity intermediate layer. This sub-assembly is encased within a soft cover with Shore D hardness less than 65. The low specific gravity core is preferably made from a foamed polymer, and the non-continuous high specific gravity core is preferably a geodesic or polyhedron screen or a perforated shell. The ball may comprise a non-continuous intermediate layer and a second intermediate layer, wherein one or both of the intermediate layers comprise high specific gravity materials. The cover is preferably made from thermoset polyurethane. Advantageously, the non-continuous screen or shell have a spring-like property, which allows the ball to readily regain its spherical shape after impact with a golf club.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A golf ball comprises a core and a cover, wherein the cover has a Shore D hardness of less than about 65 and wherein the core has a specific gravity of less than about 1.1 and the outermost surface of the core is spaced no more than about 4.83 mm from the surface of the ball.  
     
     
         2 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the cover has a Shore D hardness between about 30 and about 60.  
     
     
         3 . The golf ball of  claim 2 , wherein the cover has a Shore D hardness between about 35 and about 50.  
     
     
         4 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the cover has a Shore D hardness between about 40 and about 45.  
     
     
         5 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the core has a specific gravity of less than about 1.0.  
     
     
         6 . The golf ball of  claim 5 , wherein the core has a specific gravity of less than about 0.9.  
     
     
         7 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the core comprises one or more layers and the inner core has a diameter of less than about 39 mm or less and a specific gravity of the inner core is less than 0.9.  
     
     
         8 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a polybutadiene inner core encased in one or more layers of polyurethane.  
     
     
         9 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a polybutadiene inner core encased in one or more layers of polybutadiene.  
     
     
         10 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a foamed material.  
     
     
         11 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the foamed material comprises a thermosetting syntactic foam with hollow spheres in a polymeric matrix.  
     
     
         12 . The golf ball of  claim 11 , wherein the polymeric matrix is selected from a group consisting of epoxy, urethane and polyester.  
     
     
         13 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the foamed material is selected from a group consisting of polyurethane foam, integrally skinned polyurethane foam, reaction injection molded polyurethane foam, and reaction injection molded polyurea foam.  
     
     
         14 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a density reducing filler.  
     
     
         15 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises a metallocene catalyzed polymer.  
     
     
         16 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises ionomer.  
     
     
         17 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises polyurethane.  
     
     
         18 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises polyurethane ionomer.  
     
     
         19 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises an interpenetrating polymer network.  
     
     
         20 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises polyester-ether elastomer.  
     
     
         21 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises polyamide-ester elastomer.  
     
     
         22 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the core comprises polybutadiene.  
     
     
         23 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the cover comprises a thermoset polymer.  
     
     
         24 . The golf ball of  claim 23 , wherein the thermoset polymer is selected from a group consisting of urethane, polyurethane, urethane ionomers and urethane epoxy.  
     
     
         25 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the cover comprises an ionomer.  
     
     
         26 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the cover comprises a thermoplastic polymer.  
     
     
         27 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the cover comprises an ionomer.  
     
     
         28 . A golf ball comprising a cover, a core and an intermediate layer, wherein the cover has a hardness of less than 65 Shore D and wherein the moment of inertia of the ball is greater than about 0.46 oz·in 2 , wherein the core comprises a foamed material and wherein the foamed material comprises a thermosetting syntactic foam with hollow spheres in a polymeric matrix.  
     
     
         29 . The golf ball of  claim 28 , wherein the polymeric matrix is selected from a group consisting of epoxy, urethane and polyester.  
     
     
         30 . A golf ball comprising a cover, a core and an intermediate layer, wherein the cover has a hardness of less than 65 Shore D and wherein the moment of inertia of the ball is greater than about 0.46 oz·in 2 , wherein the core comprises a foamed material and wherein the foamed material is selected from a group consisting of polyurethane foam, integrally skinned polyurethane foam, reaction injection molded polyurethane foam, and reaction injection molded polyurea foam.  
     
     
         31 . A golf ball comprising a cover, a core and an intermediate layer, wherein the cover has a hardness of less than 65 Shore D and wherein the moment of inertia of the ball is greater than about 0.46 oz·in 2  and wherein the core comprises a density reducing filler.  
     
     
         32 . A golf ball comprising a cover, a core and an intermediate layer, wherein the cover has a hardness of less than 65 Shore D and wherein the moment of inertia of the ball is greater than about 0.46 oz·in 2 , wherein the core comprises a material having a specific gravity of less than 1.1 and said material is selected from a group consisting of metallocene catalyzed polymer, ionomer, polyurethane, polyurethane ionomer, interpenetrating polymer network, polyester-ether elastomer, polyamide-ester elastomer, and polybutadiene.  
     
     
         33 . A golf ball comprising a cover, a core and an intermediate layer, wherein the cover has a hardness of less than 65 Shore D and wherein the moment of inertia of the ball is greater than about 0.46 oz·in 2  and wherein the core comprises a foamed material and wherein the cover comprises a material selected from a group consisting of thermoset polymer, ionomer, thermoplastic polymer and metallocene catalyzed polymer.