Golf club head with inserts for impact face

Abstract

A striking face for golf clubs, such as a driver, iron or putter comprising a plurality of bars retained in the club head body and forming the striking surface. The bars which comprise the striking face according to the invention may be designed and arranged to provide enhanced performance of a golf club. The bars may also be machined economically before assembly of the golf club head to provide a precision grooved striking face at reduced cost.

1 . A golf club head, comprising: 
 a striking face having a recess;    a faceplate comprising a plurality of bars which have frontwalls forming a striking surface, each bar having a pair of sidewalls, at least one of the sidewalls being in contact with the sidewall of an adjacent bar.    
   
   
       2 . A golf club head according to  claim 1 , wherein a groove is formed on the striking surface at adjacent edges of said bars.  
   
   
       3 . A golf club head according to  claim 1 , wherein the bars include an interlocking surface at each end thereof, the interlocking surfaces engaging mating surfaces cast or machined into the club head body.  
   
   
       4 . A golf club head according to  claim 3 , further comprising a bottom retainer having an interlocking surface at opposed ends thereof, the bottom retainer being shaped to cover a portion of the recess not filled by the bars at a lower end of the club head, the interlocking surfaces of the bottom retainer engaging the mating surfaces of the club head body.  
   
   
       5 . A golf club head according to  claim 4 , wherein the recess extends across the entire striking face, the faceplate further comprising a top retainer having an interlocking surface at opposed ends thereof, the top retainer being shaped to cover a portion of the recess not filled by the bars at an upper end of the club head, the interlocking surfaces of the top retainer engaging the mating surfaces of the club head body.  
   
   
       6 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein the striking surface formed by said bars is of the same material.  
   
   
       7 . A golf club head according to  claim 1 , wherein the bars are rectilinear and arranged in the recess to extend in a horizontal direction, a vertical direction or combination thereof.  
   
   
       8 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein the bars are V-shaped, the bars being arranged in a chevron pattern in the recess.  
   
   
       9 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , further comprising a backing plate beneath the bars, the backing plate comprising a plurality of backing bars arranged in the recess with sidewalls of the backing bars in contact with each other.  
   
   
       10 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein the bars include beveled edges between the frontwalls and at least one of the sidewalls, the beveled edges forming a series of grooves in the striking surface.  
   
   
       11 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein the thickness of material comprising the bars is varied along the length of at least one of the bars.  
   
   
       12 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein a first group of the bars includes beveled edges extending end to end of the bars along the frontwalls and a second group of the bars includes beveled edges extending only along part of the frontwalls.  
   
   
       13 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the bars includes layers of at least two different materials.  
   
   
       14 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the bars have the same cross-sectional shape along the length thereof.  
   
   
       15 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the bars have the same cross-sectional shape along the width thereof.  
   
   
       16 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the bars have a non-uniform cross-sectional shape along the length thereof, the cross-sectional shape changing at one or more locations along the length of the bar.  
   
   
       17 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the bars have a non-uniform cross-sectional shape along the width thereof, the cross-sectional shape changing at one or more locations along the width of the bar.  
   
   
       18 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein the golf club head includes a cavity located inwardly of lateral edges of the recess.  
   
   
       19 . A golf club according to  claim 16 , wherein the cavity has a depth less than one-half the thickness of the faceplate.  
   
   
       20 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the bars includes a first rectilinear segment and a second rectilinear segment, the first segment forming an obtuse angle with the second segment.  
   
   
       21 . A golf club according to  claim 20 , wherein the first and second segments having unequal lengths.  
   
   
       22 . A golf club according to  claim 1 , wherein the bars are of the same material, the material being a nickel titanium base alloy.  
   
   
       23 . A method for the construction of a golf club head comprising the steps of: 
 forming a recess in a club head body; and    assembling a plurality of bars in the recess such that frontwalls of the bars form a striking face and sidewalls of adjacent bars are in contact with each other.    
   
   
       24 . A method for the construction of a golf club head according to  claim 23 , further comprising the step of machining the front edges of said bars before assembly such that a groove is formed at contiguous edges of the frontwalls of adjacent bars which are in contact with each other.  
   
   
       25 . A method for the construction of a golf club head according to  claim 23 , further comprising the step of machining interlocking surfaces at the ends of the bars, and wherein the bars are assembled within the recess with the interlocking surfaces engaging surfaces along the opposed sides of the recess.