Golf club and method of design

Abstract

Disclosed is a golf club design and method of designing a golf club or a plurality of golf clubs encompassing irons, woods and putters for a golfer. The golf club includes a shaft joined to a club head with a hosel. The club head has a sole and a club face adapted to strike a golf ball. A lie, a design loft, a length and an offset for the club are typical design parameters of the club. When the club is oriented at its design loft, a lean angle, defined as the angle between (i) a projection of the centerline of the shaft onto a vertical plane, the plane being along an intended line of play and (ii) a vertical line in such vertical plane, is tailored based upon the design loft, at least one of the lie, length and offset of the club and at least one swing characteristic of the golfer. Such swing characteristics may include a location of the hands of the golfer upon impact of the club with a golf ball, an effective loft of the club, a location of the golf ball in the stance of the golfer when the golfer addresses a golf ball, a location of the hands of the golfer when the golfer addresses a golf ball, and a location of the hands of the golfer with respect to a location of a golf ball in the stance of the golfer when the golfer addresses a golf ball. The method of the invention disclosed herein may further include determining such swing characteristic of the golfer by using a trained observer and an automated observing system.

1 - 20 . (canceled)  
   
   
       21 . An iron-type golf club comprising: 
 a head having a face with a single design loft and a sole with a non-zero bounce angle, wherein design loft and bounce are related to one another in that, when the head is positioned at its design loft with respect to a vertical plane, the sole achieves its bounce angle with respect to a horizontal plane;    a single straight hosel; and    a single straight shaft connected to the head via the hosel, the connection arranged so that the shaft forms a non-zero lean angle, which non-zero lean angle is greater than 3 and less than 10 degrees, with vertical when the head is positioned at its design loft and bounce angle.