US 6,354,962 · Granted 2002-03-12
The Titanium Face Patent That Revolutionized Modern Golf Club Design
This patent describes a golf club head made from titanium with a specially engineered striking face—the part that hits the ball. By varying the thickness of the face in concentric rings and keeping it super thin overall, the club rebounds the ball faster and farther while staying legal under official golf rules.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf club head constructed from titanium where the striking face has a thickness between 0.010 and 0.250 inches, arranged in concentric thickness zones with a thicker center region. What's protected here is the specific combination of face geometry, material composition, club head volume (175-400 cubic centimeters), weight (165-300 grams), and the coefficient of restitution (how fast the ball bounces off) that exceeds 0.8 under USGA test conditions. A competitor making a titanium club head with this exact face architecture and performance profile would infringe.
Why it matters
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, golf equipment engineering became a high-stakes game of optimizing the 'sweet spot' and ball velocity within the rules. Callaway Golf Company's patent on this titanium construction method with concentric face zones gave them a significant competitive edge in designing drivers and fairway woods that launched the ball faster and more forgivingly than rival designs. The patent protected a specific engineering solution that became central to the performance golf club market during an era when equipment innovation was driving the sport's commercial growth.
Real-world use
Every time a golfer grabs a high-end Callaway driver or fairway wood from the early 2000s, they're holding a club whose engineered titanium head geometry is locked down by this patent—the thin, strategically thickened striking face that gives that satisfying 'pop' when you connect with the ball.
Original USPTO abstract
A golf club having a club head with a striking plate having a thickness in the range of 0.010 to 0.250 inches is disclosed herein. The club head may be composed of three pieces, a face, a sole and a crown. Each of the pieces may be composed of a titanium material. The striking plate of the club head may have an aspect ratio less than 1.7. The striking plate may also have concentric regions of thickness with the thickness portion in the center. The club head may be composed of a titanium material, have a volume in the range of 175 cubic centimeters to 400 cubic centimeters, a weight in the range of 165 grams to 300 grams, and a string plate surface area in the range of 4.00 square inches to 7.50 square inches. The golf club head may also have a coefficient of restitution greater than 0.8 under test conditions such as the USGA test conditions specified pursuant to Rule 4-1e, Appendix II, of the Rules of Golf for 1998-1999.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,354,962
- Filing date
- 1999-11-01
- Grant date
- 2002-03-12
- Assignee
- Callaway Golf Company
- Inventor(s)
- GALLOWAY J. ANDREW, HELMSTETTER RICHARD C., HOCKNELL ALAN, BOYCE RONALD C., AGUINALDO HOMER E., WOOLLEY CURTIS S.
- CPC class
- C22F1/183
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