Abstract:
A golf club head that includes a hosel and a metal blade. The metal blade includes a knife-like leading edge at the juncture of the sole and striking face, a sole with a rounded protrusion, and a rear face that extends from the sole&#39;s protrusion to the trailing edge of the striking face. The knife-like leading edge allows the club head to easily cut through high grass behind the golf ball, thus prohibiting the grass form turning or twisting the club head. The rounded protrusion of the sole prevents the head from cutting too deeply into the ground surface.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an improved golf club head for use in golf clubs, and more particularly for use in chippers and wedges.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Historically, golfers have found it difficult to accurately propel a ball onto the fairway or green from the rough, that grass typically located adjacent to the fairway or green and characterized by a longer length of grass. This difficulty occurs because of the tendency of the club head to turn or twist when it makes contact with the rough, whether it be high grass or shorter, wirery grass. Such twisting or turning of the club head prohibits the striking face of the club head from making solid contact with the golf ball, often leading to inconsistent and undesired results.  
           [0003]    Typically, the club heads used for advancing golf balls from the rough to the fairway or green, such as pitching wedges or chippers, have blunt, dull or rounded leading edges with relatively large sole-to-striking face angles. These designs often succumb to the problem of club head twisting or turning when contact is made with the rough. This problem can be alleviated by a design that allows the club head to cut through the grass behind the golf ball.  
           [0004]    While some club heads have been designed with sharp leading edges, the design of these club heads is impractical for cutting through high grass. For example, Clements (U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,768) shows a club head with a short lip at the leading edge. This club head, as revealed in the patent, was designed for the purpose of advancing a ball from sand or water. The purpose and design of the sharp edge in Clements is to assist in striking the ball by scooping an obstruction such a water or sand into a slot designed to funnel the obstruction through to the rear side of the club head. Clements does not reveal a true knife-like edge with a small sole-to-striking face angle to facilitate cutting through rough. In addition, the width of the sole resulting from the angle between the scooping face and the sole inhibits a grass cutting action.  
           [0005]    Likewise, British Patent No. 1,078,412 shows a cutting edge as part of the hosel of a golf club head. This edge does not form a part of the blade of the golf club head. The edge, therefore, does not foster a cutting action by the striking face as it proceeds through troublesome rough.  
           [0006]    The current designs for club heads used in advancing balls from the rough reveal the need for an improved club head that will provide controlled golf shots from the rough.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    As herein described, the present invention provides for a golf club head that includes a hosel and a metal blade. The metal blade includes a knife-like leading edge at the juncture of a sole and a striking face, a sole with a rounded protrusion, and a rear face that extends from the sole&#39;s protrusion to a trailing edge of the striking face. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a golf club head in accordance with the invention.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 2 is a cross section view of the golf club head of FIG. 1 taken along the section line  2 - 2  of FIG. 1.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 3 is a cross section view of one embodiment of the golf club head in accordance with the invention..  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 4 is a rear elevation view of one embodiment of the golf club head in accordance with the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0012]    Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a golf club head is designated generally at  10 , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The end of the club head where the hosel  14  is located is referred to as the heel end. The end of the club head opposite the heel end is referred to as the toe end. The leading end of the club head is generally the downward most portion of the club head. The trailing end of the club is generally the upward most portion of the club head.  
         [0013]    The golf club head includes a hosel  14  and a metal blade  16  and may be attached to a shaft  12  (shown broken to reduce the size of the figure). The shaft  12  may have a handle portion at one end (not shown) and be fitted to the hosel  14 . The hosel  14  connects the metal blade  16  to the shaft  12 .  
         [0014]    The metal blade  16  comprises a striking face  18 , a sole  20  and a rear face  22 . The striking face  18  meets the sole  20  at a knife-like leading edge  24 . The striking face  18  is planar and meets the rear face  22  at a trailing edge  26 . The rear face may extend in an arc  28  from the trailing edge  26  and then become planar and substantially parallel to the striking face  18 . The rear face  22  meets the sole  20  at a rounded protrusion  30  that runs substantially parallel to the knife-like leading edge  24  along the surface of the golf club head opposite the striking face  18 . Beginning at the leading end of the protrusion, the sole  20  is planar, ultimately meeting the striking face  18  at the knife-like leading edge  24 .  
         [0015]    The metal blade  16  is comprised of a durable metal that can maintain a hardened edge, for example a hardened steel. A durable metal will better allow the knife-like leading edge  24  to maintain its cutting edge through repeated uses.  
         [0016]    In a preferred embodiment, the metal blade  16  has disposed within it at least one metal dowel  32  that is located substantially forward of and substantially parallel to the rounded protrusion  30  of the sole  20 . Alternatively, the metal blade  18  may include two metal dowels  32  disposed in the metal blade  18  and located substantially on each side of the apex of rounded protrusion  30  of the sole  20  and substantially parallel to such protrusion  30 , with the leading dowel  32 B disposed toward the knife-like leading edge  24  and the trailing dowel  32 C disposed toward the trailing edge  26 . In addition, it is preferred that the metal dowels  32  are cylindrical, with the leading dowel  32 B being smaller in diameter than the trailing dowel  32 C. The preferred diameter of the leading dowel  32 B is 0.25 inch or less and the preferred diameter of the trailing dowel  32 C is between 0.375 inch and 0.4375 inch. Additionally, each metal dowel  32  is embedded approximately 0.25 inch from the center of the edge of the toe end of the club head  10  and 0.25 inch from edge of the metal blade  16  that is attached to the hosel  14  of the golf club head  10 . The metal dowels  32  may be made from a metal having a density greater than that of the metal from which the rest of the club head is formed. For example, the metal dowels  32  could be made from lead, tungsten or steel. The inclusion, location and density of these metal dowels  32  promote a desired swing pendulum action.  
         [0017]    In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the angle a between the striking face  18  and the sole  20  is between 20° and 30°. This narrow angle a, in combination with the knife-like leading edge  24 , permits the club head  10  to cut through the rough, thereby allowing the striking face  18  to make more solid and accurate contact with the golf ball.  
         [0018]    The knife-like leading edge  24  may resemble various knife shapes, such as a straight edge or a serrated edge. An example of a serrated embodiment is depicted in FIG. 4. In such a serrated embodiment, a distance between the troughs  34  of the serration is between approximately 0.1875 inch and 0.250 inch. This serration can help improve the effectiveness of the knife-like leading edge  24  as it cuts through the rough.  
         [0019]    In a preferred embodiment, the striking angle b between the striking face  18  and a vertical plane  100  in which the shaft  12  and hosel  14  of the golf club are positioned when they are in a substantially upright address position is between 45° and 60°, where the vertical plane  100  is perpendicular to the ground level horizontal plane  110  and parallel to the leading edge  24  of the club head  10 . A higher angle b promotes a higher but shorter shot. A smaller angle b allows for a longer shot but provides for a lower ball flight trajectory as is well known in the golf industry.  
         [0020]    In one preferred embodiment, the thickness of the metal blade  16  between the striking face  18  and the planar portion of the rear face  22  is between 0.8125 inch and 0.875 inch. In addition, the length of the club head  10  from the knife-like leading edge  24  to the trailing edge  26  at the line  38  where grooves on the striking face terminate on the toe end of the club is between 2.375 and 2.5 inches. Also, the distance from the intersection of the hosel  14  meets the metal blade  16  to the toe end is between 4.00 inches to 4.75 inches.  
         [0021]    The angle c between the ground level  110  and the apex or downward most point of the rounded protrusion  30  of the sole  20  is approximately 10° when the shaft  12  and hosel  14  of the golf club are in a substantially upward address position in the vertical plane  100  perpendicular to the ground level horizontal plane  110  and parallel to the leading edge  24  of the club head. This protrusion  30  helps prohibit the knife-like leading edge  24  from cutting too deeply into the ground by providing a bounce mechanism as the club head  10  proceeds downward. As the angle b between the striking face  18  and the above described vertical plane decreases and the striking face  18  becomes more upright, the distance between the apex of the rounded protrusion  30  of the sole  20  and the striking face  18  will necessarily increase to maintain the angle c.  
         [0022]    Another embodiment of the golf club head is illustrated in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the rear face  22 A gradually curves after the arc  28 A to meet the protrusion  30 A of the sole  20 A. Further, in this embodiment, the protrusion  30 A also gradually curves to form into the planar region of sole  20 A. Like other embodiments, angles a, b, and c are maintained as described above to insure the leading edge&#39;s  24  effectiveness and help prevent the leading edge  24  from digging too far into the ground during its downward progression.  
         [0023]    An abrasive coating can also serve as the striking face  18  in one embodiment of the invention. Such a coating may improve spin on a golf ball struck by the club head  10  by facilitating better contact between the club head  10  and the golf ball. Spin is a very desirable result for most wedge shots. Thus, a golfer may enjoy the added benefit of increased spin along with the advantages of the invention already described. This abrasive coating may be formed, for example, by embedding particles of a material such as diamond into the striking face of the club head.  
         [0024]    Although the invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is not limited thereto. Rather, the appended claims should be construed broadly to include other variants and embodiments of the invention that may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and range of equivalents of the invention.