US 5,788,584 · Granted 1998-08-04
The Aluminum Golf Head That Changed How Clubs Are Built
Imagine a golf club head where the front face is intentionally thicker and heavier than the rest, so the weight spreads around the edges instead of clustering in the center. This patent describes exactly how to hollow out and reshape a metal club head to make it more forgiving and easier to hit straight, even on off-center swings.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf club metal wood head made from lightweight aluminum alloy with a hollow internal cavity, where the front striking face is significantly thicker than conventional designs and the remaining walls vary in thickness to distribute weight strategically around the perimeter. What's protected here is the specific engineering approach: milling out the interior to precise dimensions while keeping the front face thick, creating this perimeter-weighted geometry that improves performance.
Why it matters
Perimeter weighting became a game-changer in golf club design because it increases the club's 'sweet spot' — the area where you can mis-hit and still get decent results. By concentrating mass around the edges rather than the center, manufacturers could make clubs far more forgiving for amateur golfers. This patent, filed in 1994, protected a crucial manufacturing method that gave assignee Goldwin Golf a competitive advantage in an industry where performance innovation directly drives sales.
Real-world use
Every modern fairway wood or hybrid club with thick edges and a hollowed-out center reflects this perimeter-weighting principle — you're holding the geometric payoff every time you grab a club at a golf course or driving range.
Original USPTO abstract
A golf club metal wood head made of lighter weight material than stainless steel, such as aluminum alloy, has a front wall with an outer striking face, an upper wall, a lower wall, a rear wall, a heel and a toe, and an internal cavity milled out through a wall of the head to selected dimensions to provide a selected front wall thickness, and a varying wall thickness around the remainder of the head to provide a selected perimeter weighting to the head. The front wall is made significantly thicker than in conventional heads.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,788,584
- Filing date
- 1994-07-05
- Grant date
- 1998-08-04
- Assignee
- Goldwin Golf U.S.A., Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- PARENTE; RICHARD E., ASHCRAFT; DANNY C., DE LA CRUZ; RICHARD
- CPC class
- A63B53/04
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