US 5,941,782 · Granted 1999-08-24
The Rib-Reinforced Golf Club Head That Changed Club Design
Imagine a golf club head as a hollow shell — strong enough to hit a ball hard, but light enough to swing fast. This patent adds internal ribs, like the skeleton inside a bird's wing, that brace the whole structure without adding weight. Those ribs are baked right into the metal casting, making the club both tougher and more forgiving.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a cast golf club head with a hollow interior cavity reinforced by internal ribs that are integrally formed as part of the same metal casting. What's protected here is the specific arrangement of ribs projecting between different walls of the club head — whether those ribs run side-to-side between the sidewalls, front-to-back between the face and rear wall, or in other configurations. The protection extends to the one-piece casting method that produces both the outer shell and the internal strengthening ribs in a single process, as well as to clubs where the ribs are completely enclosed within the cavity.
Why it matters
This patent reflects a key evolution in golf club engineering: making bigger, more forgiving club heads without making them too heavy. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, golf manufacturers competed fiercely to offer larger "sweet spots" that would help amateur golfers hit straighter, longer shots. Adding ribs to the interior allowed designers to increase cavity size and wall thickness for better performance while keeping overall weight in check. The cast construction method — baking the ribs into the metal rather than welding them on — meant the reinforcement was durable, cost-effective to manufacture, and seamless.
Real-world use
Every time a golfer with a modern oversized driver or fairway wood hits the ball off-center and still gets decent distance, that forgiveness likely comes from internal rib reinforcement patterns descended from designs like this one.
Original USPTO abstract
A golf club head includes a shell formed of a front striking face, sole, opposed sidewalls and a rearwall defining an interior cavity. At least one rib projects between at least two of the front striking face, the rearwall, the opposed sidewalls, and the sole. A plurality of ribs may be disposed within the interior cavity. The plurality of ribs may extend laterally between the opposed sidewalls or between the front striking face and the rearwall. The ribs may also be disposed within an interior cavity formed by a completely closed, one piece shell forming the golf club head. The ribs are integrally cast with the shell.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,941,782
- Filing date
- 1997-10-14
- Grant date
- 1999-08-24
- Assignee
- Cook; Donald R.
- Inventor(s)
- COOK; DONALD R.
- CPC class
- A63B53/04
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