Supported iron

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a set of golf clubs comprising long irons, mid irons and short irons. Preferably, at least the long and mid irons have a face stabilizing bar and back panel and the face stabilizing bar includes a retainer clip and elastomeric material.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A golf club comprising:
 a body with a face, a topline, sole portion, toe portion, heel portion, and a face stabilizing bar having a face stabilizing bar length between the heel portion and the toe portion, a face stabilizing bar top surface facing the topline and a face stabilizing bar bottom surface facing the sole portion and a back surface coupled to the face stabilizing bar and the sole portion;   an aperture in the face stabilizing bar extending from the face stabilizing bar top surface to the face stabilizing bar bottom surface,   a face side ledge and a back side ledge formed in the face stabilizing bar between the face stabilizing bar top surface and the face stabilizing bar bottom surface;   a retention clip located in the aperture and abutting the face side ledge and the back side ledge such that it creates a filler volume between the retention clip and the face stabilizing bar top surface; and   an elastomeric material located in the filler volume.   
     
     
         2 . The golf club of  claim 1 , wherein the aperture has an aperture width from front to back and an aperture length from the heel portion to the toe portion and the aperture length is greater than about 50% of the face stabilizing bar length and less than about 95% of the face stabilizing bar length. 
     
     
         3 . The golf club of  claim 2 , wherein the face side ledge has a first ledge width and the back side ledge has a second ledge width and the retention clip has a channel having a channel width less than the aperture width and extensions forming an overall retention clip width of greater than the aperture width and less than the aperture width plus the first ledge width and the second ledge width. 
     
     
         4 . The golf club of  claim 1 , wherein the retention clip is formed from a non-metal material. 
     
     
         5 . The golf club of  claim 1 , wherein the retention clip is formed from a metal material. 
     
     
         6 . The golf club of  claim 1 , wherein the elastomeric material is comprised of urethane. 
     
     
         7 . The golf club of  claim 1 , wherein the elastomeric material is comprised of silicone. 
     
     
         8 . The golf club of  claim 3 , wherein the channel has a channel depth and the channel depth is greater than the aperture width. 
     
     
         9 . The golf club of  claim 8 , wherein the face stabilizing bar has a bar depth and the channel depth is greater than the bar depth. 
     
     
         10 . The golf club of  claim 9 , wherein the channel depth is at least 20% greater than the bar depth. 
     
     
         11 . The golf club of  claim 4 , wherein the retention clip has a first hardness and the elastomeric material has a second hardness less than the first hardness. 
     
     
         12 . The golf club of  claim 2 , wherein the retention clip has a retention clip length that is at least 10% greater than the aperture length.