Polyhedra golf ball with lower drag coefficient

Abstract

A golf ball having an outer surface with a pattern forming a polyhedron. The pattern can be flat faces forming sharp edges and sharp points therebetween. In one embodiment, the polyhedron is a Goldberg polyhedron.

1 . A golf ball comprising:
 a body having an outer shell with an outersurface; and   a pattern formed in the outer surface of said body, the pattern comprising a polyhedron having a plurality of flat faces, each of said plurality of flat faces having one or more sharp edges.   
     
     
         2 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of faces are circumscribed in a sphere, wherein only the sharp corners forming vertices of the polyhedron lie on the sphere. 
     
     
         3 . The golf ball of  claim 2 , said sphere having a diameter of at least 1·68 in. 
     
     
         4 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of faces of the polyhedron contains one or more dimples. 
     
     
         5 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of faces are each in a plane. 
     
     
         6 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of faces are contiguous to touch one another and form a single continuous outer surface of said body. 
     
     
         7 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of faces are at an angle with respect to one another to define said one or more sharp edges and said one or more sharp corners. 
     
     
         8 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said pattern comprises a Goldberg polyhedron. 
     
     
         9 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of faces comprise a plurality of first faces having a first shape and a plurality of second faces having a second shape. 
     
     
         10 . The golf ball of  claim 9 , wherein said first shape comprises a pentagon and said second shape comprises a hexagon. 
     
     
         11 . The golf ball of  claim 9 , wherein said plurality of first faces comprise twelve and said plurality of second faces comprise 150. 
     
     
         12 . The golf ball of  claim 9 , wherein a ration of said plurality of first faces to said plurality of second faces comprises 12.5:1. 
     
     
         13 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of flat faces having one or more sharp corners. 
     
     
         14 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said edges are linear. 
     
     
         15 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein two neighboring flat faces form an angle substantially less than 180 degrees. 
     
     
         16 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein said sharp edges have a radius of curvature that is less than 0.001 D, where D is the diameter of a circumscribed sphere of said golf ball. 
     
     
         17 . A method of forming a golf ball, comprising:
 forming an outer surface; and,   forming a pattern in the outer surface, the pattern having a plurality of flat surfaces defining sharp edges and points therebetween.