US 6,390,933 · Granted 2002-05-21
The Titanium Golf Club That Bounces Harder Than the Rules Allow
Callaway Golf figured out how to make a driver that bounces the golf ball off the clubface harder and faster than competitors' clubs. They used titanium and special engineering to create a head that stays springy after thousands of hits, giving golfers an edge in distance.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf club head made from titanium with a coefficient of restitution (bounciness rating) higher than 0.845, meaning it returns more energy to the ball than standard clubs. What's protected here is the specific combination of materials, dimensions (175-400 cubic centimeters volume, 4.00-7.50 square inches face area), weight range (165-300 grams), and the durability to survive at least 2000 high-speed impacts without losing that springy performance.
Why it matters
Golf equipment has always been a battleground for incremental performance gains, and this patent gave Callaway a locked-in advantage in club head technology during the early 2000s. The high coefficient of restitution directly translates to longer drives for golfers, which is the primary performance metric golfers care about. By patenting the exact material composition and geometry that achieved this bounciness, Callaway could prevent competitors from reverse-engineering or copying their designs for years.
Real-world use
Every time a golfer hits a drive with a modern Callaway driver, they're benefiting from engineering locked down by patents like this one, where the club head's ability to impart maximum energy to the ball comes from the titanium construction and precise shape.
Original USPTO abstract
A golf club having a club head having with a coefficient of restitution greater than 0.845 and a durability to withstand 2000 impacts with a golf ball at 110 mile per hour 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 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 striking plate surface area in the range of 4.00 square inches to 7.50 square inches.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,390,933
- Filing date
- 2000-11-02
- Grant date
- 2002-05-21
- Assignee
- Callaway Golf Company
- Inventor(s)
- GALLOWAY J. ANDREW, HELMSTETTER RICHARD C., HOCKNELL ALAN, BOYCE RONALD C., AGUINALDO HOMER E.
- CPC class
- A63B53/02
Want to file your own patent?
Curious about the physics behind sports equipment design? Use our free patent scanner to explore what makes athletic gear proprietary before you try inventing the next golf innovation.
Free patentability scan