Golf club head having crown projections

Abstract

A golf club incorporating a plurality of projections extending from the crown section.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A golf club head comprising:
 a) a body having a club head volume of at least 400 cc, a face, a sole section, a crown section, a front, a back, a heel, a toe, and a front-to-back dimension of at least 4.4 inches;   b) the face having a top edge and a lower edge, wherein a top edge height is the elevation of the top edge above a ground plane, and a lower edge height is the elevation of the lower edge above the ground plane, wherein a maximum top edge height is at least 2 inches;   c) the crown section having a crown apex located an apex height above the ground plane, wherein a portion of the crown section between the crown apex and the face ( 200 ) has an apex-to-front radius of curvature, and wherein the crown section has at least three individual spaced apart projections including a toeward projection located between the toe and an imaginary vertical plane passing through the crown apex and parallel to the front-to-back dimension, a heelward projection located between the heel and the imaginary vertical plane, and an intermediary projection located between the toeward projection and the heelward projection, with the toeward projection extending upward from the crown section and rearward before transitioning down to the crown section thereby defining a varying toeward projection thickness measured vertically from the crown section to a top surface of the toeward projection, the heelward projection extending upward from the crown section and rearward before transitioning down to the crown section thereby defining a varying heelward projection thickness measured vertically from the crown section to a top surface of the heelward projection, and the intermediary projection extending upward from the crown section and rearward before transitioning down to the crown section thereby defining a varying intermediary projection thickness measured vertically from the crown section to a top surface of the intermediary projection wherein:
 i) the toeward projection has a toward projection leading edge located a toeward projection offset behind the face top edge and a portion of the toeward projection leading edge is at an elevation above the ground plane that is greater than a maximum top edge height, the heelward projection has a heelward projection leading edge located a heelward projection offset behind the face top edge and a portion of the heelward projection leading edge is at an elevation above the ground plane that is greater than a maximum top edge height, and the intermediary projection has an intermediary projection leading edge located an intermediary projection offset behind the face top edge and a portion of the intermediary projection leading edge is at an elevation above the ground plane that is greater than a maximum top edge height; 
 ii) the toeward projection has a toeward projection trailing edge located nearest the back and defining a toeward projection width measured in a front-to-back direction from the toeward projection leading edge to the toeward projection trailing edge, the heelward projection has a heelward projection trailing edge located nearest the back and defining a heelward projection width measured in a front-to-back direction from the heelward projection leading edge to the heelward projection trailing edge, and the intermediary projection has an intermediary projection trailing edge located nearest the back and defining an intermediary projection width measured in a front-to-back direction from the intermediary projection leading edge to the intermediary projection trailing edge; 
 iii) a portion of at least two of the toeward projection, the heelward projection, and the intermediary projection is located between the crown apex and the back; 
 iv) at least two of the toeward projection width, the heelward projection width, and the intermediary projection width are not equal; 
   d) the golf club head ( 100 ) has:
 i) a first moment of inertia about a vertical axis through a center of gravity of the golf club head ( 100 ) that is at least 4000 g*cm 2 ; and 
 ii) a second moment of inertia about a horizontal axis through the center of gravity that is at least 2000 g*cm 2 .