Impact point development for golf clubs

Abstract

A golf club with a gripping section at one end and a club head having a heel portion and a toe portion, attached to the shaft at the other end wherein said shaft centerline and a plane parallel to the ground and tangent to said heel form a lie angle when said club head is at rest and positioned to strike said golf ball; a club head whose mass distribution is concentrated at said toe and heel; a club face on said club head operable for striking a golf ball and spanning the area between said heel and said toe of said club head and having a heel to toe and sole to the top of club head bulge defined by a radius whose center is offset toward said heel and whose arc is swept from heel to toe of said club face; a lie angle configured to maintain the impact point of said golf ball on said club face when said impact point is off the center of mass.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A golf club with a gripping section at one end and a club head having a heel portion and a toe portion, attached to the shaft at the other end wherein said shaft centerline and a plane parallel to the ground and tangent to said heel form a lie angle when said club head is at rest and positioned to strike said golf ball; 
 a club head whose mass distribution is concentrated at said toe and heel;    a club face on said club head operable for striking a golf ball and spanning the area between said heel and said toe of said club head and having a heel to toe and sole to the top of club head bulge defined by a radius whose center is offset toward said heel and whose arc is swept from heel to toe of said club face;    a lie angle configured to maintain the impact point of said golf ball on said club face when said impact point is off the center of mass.    
     
     
         2 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the lie angle which is the angle between the centerline of the shaft and a horizontal plane tangent to the sole of the club is greater than about 60°.  
     
     
         3 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 2  wherein the length of the shaft measured from the connecting point to the head and the butt end is between about  39 ′ and 48′.  
     
     
         4 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 2  wherein height of the face of the club measured from the tope edge to the sole edge at its greatest point is about 1.732 inches.  
     
     
         5 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the distance from the center of the face to the top edge is a about 0.984 inches for titanium.  
     
     
         6 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the face is tilted upwardly at an angle of about 5°.  
     
     
         7 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 1  wherein an angle made by club face to the horizontal plane tangent to the sole of the head is about 5°.  
     
     
         8 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mass of the club head is concentrated in predetermined area and combined with said preferred lie angle provides an elliptical zone on the face of the club whose major axis is generally perpendicular to the shaft and wherein hits in the zone produce generally the same distance as hits at the center of impact.  
     
     
         9 . A golf club as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the mass concentration is higher in the toe and lower in the heel to maximize the moment of inertia about the axis extending perpendicular to the diagonal passing through the center of the face.