Golf club set with optimal center of mass

Abstract

A set of golf club irons which have three parallel slots disposed in the back side of each club head, where the top slot is shorter than the middle slot, which in turn is shorter than the bottom slot, and where the depth of the middle slot remains the same for all clubs, but the depth of the top slot decreases progressively and the depth of the bottom slot increases progressively from the lesser lofted iron to the higher lofted iron, such that the center of mass is progressively higher over the set from the lesser lofted iron to the higher lofted iron.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A set of correlated golf club irons, each of said irons having a different loft and a different center of mass, and each of said irons having three slots generally horizontal disposed on the back side thereof to define a top slot, a middle slot and a bottom slot; 
 wherein the depth of at least one of said slots in any one of said irons is different from the depth of the corresponding slot in each of the remaining said irons of said set;    wherein the particular combination of depths of said slots for each said iron produces a progressively higher center of gravity corresponding to progressively increasing loft.    
     
     
         2 . The set of irons of  claim 1 , wherein said top slot is shorter than said middle slot, and said middle slot is shorter than said bottom slot.  
     
     
         3 . The set of irons of  claim 1 , wherein the depth of said middle slot is the same in each of said irons.  
     
     
         4 . The set of irons of  claim 2 , wherein the depth of said middle slot is the same in each of said irons.  
     
     
         5 . The set of irons of  claim 1 , wherein the depth of said top slot for any one of said irons is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         6 . The set of irons of  claim 2 , wherein the depth of said top slot for any one of said irons is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         7 . The set of irons of  claim 3 , wherein the depth of said top slot for any one of said irons is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         8 . The set of irons of  claim 4 , wherein the depth of said top slot for any one of said irons is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         9 . The set of irons of  claim 1 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         10 . The set of irons of  claim 2 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         11 . The set of irons of  claim 3 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         12 . The set of irons of  claim 4 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         13 . The set of irons of  claim 5 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         14 . The set of irons of  claim 6 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         15 . The set of irons of  claim 7 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         16 . The set of irons of  claim 8 , wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said irons is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said irons having a greater loft.  
     
     
         17 . The set of irons of  claim 13 , wherein the depths of said top slots range from approximately 0.060 to 0.030 inches, and the depths of said bottom slots range from approximately 0.030 to 0.060 inches.  
     
     
         18 . The set of irons of  claim 17 , wherein the depth of said middle slot is approximately 0.040 inches.  
     
     
         19 . The set of irons of  claim 18 , wherein said top slot is approximately 1.5 inches in length, said middle slot is approximately 1.95 inches in length and said bottom slot is approximately 2.4 inches in length, and wherein said slots are approximately 0.25 inches in width and are separated from each other by approximately 0.06 inches.  
     
     
         20 . In a correlated set of golf club heads each with different lofts and forming a set of golf clubs, each such club head comprising a back side, a sole plate, a loft and a center of mass, the improvement comprising: 
 three generally parallel slots disposed on said back side of each of said golf club heads, said slots disposed generally parallel to said sole plate and consisting of a top slot, a middle slot and a bottom slot;    wherein said top slot is shorter than said middle slot, and said middle slot is shorter than said bottom slot;    wherein said middle slot has the same depth for each of said golf clubs over said set of golf club heads;    wherein said the depth of said top slot generally decreases over said set of golf club heads as said lofts increase;    wherein said depth of said bottom slot generally increases over said set of golf club heads as said lofts increase; and    wherein no two of said golf club heads of said set have the same depths for both said top slot and said bottom slot;    such that said center of mass of each of said golf club heads is progressively higher over said set of golf club heads as said lofts increase, and such that each of said golf club heads has a different center of mass.    
     
     
         21 . The set of irons of  claim 20 , wherein the depth of said top slot for any one of said golf club heads is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said golf club heads having a lesser loft and is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said top slot in any of said golf club heads having a greater loft, and wherein the depth of said bottom slot for any one of said golf club heads is deeper or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said golf club heads having a lesser loft and is shallower or equal relative to the depth of said bottom slot in any of said golf club heads having a greater loft.