Golf equipment formed from castable formulation with unconventionally low hardness and increased shear resistance
View Patent ↗Golf equipment including compositions including castable formulations that have low material hardness and increased shear resistance. The compositions may be used in any layer of a golf ball including cores, intermediate layers, and covers and result in high spin rates.
1. A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the cover is formed from a composition having a material hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 14 Shore D comprising:
a prepolymer having about 5 to about 7 percent NCO groups, wherein the prepolymer is formed from the reaction product of an isocyanate-containing component and an isocyanate-reactive component; and
a curing agent comprising polyether diol,
wherein the cover has a hardness of about 30 Shore D to about 60 Shore D, and wherein the golf ball has a coefficient of restitution of about 0.800 or greater.
2. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the polyether diol has a molecular weight of about 400 to about 2500.
3. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the polyether diol has the structure:
wherein n is the chain length from 2 to 30.
4. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the golf ball has at least one of a driver spin rate of about 4000 rpm or greater, an 8-iron spin rate of about 10,000 rpm or greater, or a half-wedge spin rate of about 7,000 or greater.
5. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the driver spin rate is about 5000 rpm or greater; in another embodiment, the driver spin rate is about 5200 rpm or greater.
6. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the material hardness is about 8 Shore D to about 12 Shore D.
7. A golf ball comprising:
a core;
a layer disposed about the core to create an inner ball; and
a cover having a hardness of about 40 Shore D to about 55 Shore D cast onto the inner ball, wherein the cover is formed from a composition having a material hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 12 Shore D comprising:
a prepolymer formed from the reaction product of at least one isocyanate-containing component and at least one hydroxy-terminated isocyanate-reactive component, wherein the prepolymer has NCO content of about 5 percent to about 7 percent; and
at least one curing agent.
8. The golf ball of claim 7 , wherein the curing agent comprises a polyether diol having a molecular weight of about 400 to about 2500.
9. The golf ball of claim 7 , wherein the composition comprises a ratio of prepolymer to curing agent of about 1:0.95.
10. The golf ball of claim 7 , wherein the golf bal has a spin rate of about 5,000 rpm or greater when struck with a driver.
11. The golf ball of claim 7 , wherein the material hardness is about 10 Shore D to about 12 Shore D.
12. The golf ball of claim 7 , wherein the prepolymer has an NCO content of about 6 percent to about 6.5 percent.
13. The golf ball of claim 7 , wherein the hydroxy-terminated isocyanate-reactive component comprises polytetramethylene ether glycol.
14. A golf ball comprising:
a core; and
a cover having a hardness of about 40 Shore D to about 55 Shore D, wherein the cover is formed of a castable material comprising:
a prepolymer formed from at least one isocyanate and at least one polyol, wherein the NCO content is about 5 percent to about 7 percent; and
a polyether diol having a molecular weight of about 400 to about 800,
wherein the castable material has a hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 16 Shore D, and
wherein the golf ball has a spin rate of about 4,000 rpm or greater when struck with a driver and a COR of about 0.800 or greater at 125 ft/s.
15. The golf ball of claim 14 , wherein the COR of the golf ball is about 0.810 or greater.
16. The golf ball of claim 14 , wherein the golf ball has a spin rate of 5,000 rpm or greater when struck with a driver.
17. The golf ball of claim 14 , wherein the prepolymer comprises a reaction product of diphenylmethane diisocyanate and polytetramethylene ether glycol.
18. The golf ball of claim 14 , wherein the polyether diol has the following structure:
wherein n is the chain length from 2 to 30.
19. The golf ball of claim 14 , wherein the castable material has a hardness of about 10 Shore D to about 12 Shore D.
20. The golf ball of claim 19 , wherein the cover has a hardness of less than about 50 Shore D.