US 6,773,360 · Granted 2004-08-10
The Removable Weight System That Let Golfers Tune Their Swing
TaylorMade figured out how to make golf clubs customizable by adding weights you can screw in and out of different spots on the club head. By moving the weight around, golfers can change how the club feels and performs to match their own swing style.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf club head with a specially designed recess on its body that holds a removable weight assembly. What's protected here is the specific mechanism: a threaded opening in the recess, a tapered mass element that press-fits into place, and a fastener that threads through the mass to lock it all together. Anyone making a club head with this exact removable-weight design — with the weight seated in a tapered recess and secured by a fastener — would be infringing on this patent.
Why it matters
This patent represents a shift in how premium golf clubs are engineered. Instead of manufacturing a club with fixed weight distribution, golfers can now adjust where weight sits on the club head to fine-tune performance for their individual swing. This customization feature became a competitive advantage in the golf equipment market, allowing manufacturers to sell clubs that players could adapt over time rather than replace entirely.
Real-world use
When you pick up a modern TaylorMade driver and notice small screw-in weights on the sole or heel, you're holding the exact technology this patent protects.
Original USPTO abstract
The invention provides a golf club head having adjustable weight, allowing the golfer to fine tune the club for his or her swing. The club head includes a body having a ball-striking face, a sole, a crown, and a side extending rearwardly from the face. The body defines an interior cavity and a recess on a selected wall of the body spaced apart from the striking face. A threaded opening is disposed in the recess. The club head further includes a weight assembly having fastener and a mass element configured to be press-fit into the recess the such that a first end is adjacent the bottom of the recess. The mass element also has an aperture configured to receive the fastener flush. The fastener removably attaches the weighting assembly to the selected wall of the club head. Pressure from the fastener attachment provides a press-fit of the mass element in the tapered recess of the selected wall.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,773,360
- Filing date
- 2002-11-08
- Grant date
- 2004-08-10
- Assignee
- Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- WILLETT KRAIG A., HOFFMAN JOSEPH H.
- CPC class
- A63B53/0466
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