US 5,997,415 · Granted 1999-12-07
The Lattice Golf Club Head That Engineered the Perfect Sweet Spot
Imagine a golf club head built like a skeleton of curved metal struts holding up a thin shell—that's what this patent describes. Inside that frame is a lattice structure that absorbs impact energy, while the face of the club is shaped to give you a bigger, better "sweet spot" where you want to hit the ball.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf club head with a specific internal lattice architecture—made from an outer ring plus curved longitudinal and latitudinal frame elements—all enclosed in a thin-walled body. What's protected here is the combination of that internal skeletal structure, the parallelogram-shaped ball-striking face positioned at an angle to the vertical, and the cavity design that works together to enlarge and optimize the sweet spot. Anyone making a club head with this exact arrangement of internal bracing and face geometry would be infringing.
Why it matters
In the late 1990s, golf equipment manufacturers were racing to engineer larger sweet spots and more forgiving club heads—a feature that matters enormously to amateur golfers because it reduces the penalty for off-center hits. This patent's lattice approach offered a way to distribute energy and vibration through the club head structure itself rather than relying purely on material thickness, potentially allowing lighter, more aerodynamic designs without sacrificing performance or durability.
Real-world use
When you swing a driver or iron and accidentally catch the ball off the heel or toe but still get decent distance, you're benefiting from the kind of sweet-spot engineering this patent locked down—the internal lattice absorbs and redirects that misdirected impact energy.
Original USPTO abstract
An improved golf club head incorporating a lattice structure covered by a thin-walled body. The aerodynamically shaped golf club head has a lattice structure formed by an outer ring, curved longitudinal frame elements, and curved latitudinal frame elements. A generally flat shaped ball striking face is formed at one end of the lattice structure. The ball striking face is generally parallelogram shaped and results in a larger and more desirably oriented "sweet spot." The thin-walled body covering the lattice structure defines a cavity, and has a top, a bottom, a toe end, a heel end, and a tail end. The ball striking face extends between the top and the bottom of the thin-walled body at an angle with respect to the vertical. A hosel extends generally upwardly from the heel end of the thin-walled body. Alternative internal energy absorbing and distributing structures, in addition to the lattice structure, are also part of the invention.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,997,415
- Filing date
- 1997-02-11
- Grant date
- 1999-12-07
- Assignee
- Zevo Golf Co., Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- WOOD; DONALD C.
- CPC class
- A63B53/04
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