US 7,582,024 · Granted 2009-09-01
The Slot That Made Golf Balls Fly Farther
Golf club makers figured out that cutting a thin slot near the face of a metal wood club lets the hitting surface flex more when it smacks the ball, which makes the ball bounce off faster and travel farther down the fairway. The slot can be filled with rubber to fine-tune how much flex happens.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf club head design where a slot (groove) runs along the edge of the body, right next to the metal face that hits the ball. That slot is what allows the face to bend slightly on impact, and the patent specifically protects the idea of positioning that slot so it shifts where the sweetest spot on the club face ends up. Whether the slot stays empty or gets filled with an elastomeric (rubber-like) material, the core geometry is protected.
Why it matters
In competitive golf equipment, even tiny gains in ball speed and distance add up to tournament wins and recreational satisfaction. This innovation locks down a key design strategy used by major club makers to improve performance without completely redesigning the club from scratch. By patenting the relationship between slot placement and sweet-spot shift, the assignee gained a 4-year window of exclusive design freedom before competitors could freely copy the approach.
Real-world use
Every golfer who buys a modern metal wood driver or fairway wood may be using a club whose face flex has been tuned using a design descended from this slot concept.
Original USPTO abstract
A golf club head is provided having a body and a face insert, with a slot in a perimeter region of the body of the club head adjacent the face insert. The slot increases the flex of the hitting surface on impact with a golf ball, thereby increasing the speed with which the ball rebounds off the hitting face and increases the overall distance the ball is hit. The slot preferably moves the sweet spot of the hitting face a distance X from the face center of the hitting face. The slot may be filled with an elastomeric material.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 7,582,024
- Filing date
- 2005-08-31
- Grant date
- 2009-09-01
- Assignee
- Acushnet Company
- Inventor(s)
- SHEAR DAVID A.
- CPC class
- A63B60/00
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