Golf ball with single layer core having specific regions of varying hardness
View Patent ↗A golf ball comprising a single layer core being formed from a substantially homogenous formulation, the inner core region has a first hardness (IC 1h ), the outer core region has a second hardness (OC 2h ), the intermediate core region has third and fourth hardnesses (IMC 3h ) and (IMC 4h ), respectively, such that the third hardness is less than the first and second hardnesses, represented by the relationships (IMC 3h )<(IC 1h ) and (IMC 3h )<(OC 2h ), and the fourth hardness is greater than the first and second hardnesses, represented by the relationships (IMC 4h )>(IC 1h ) and (IMC 4h )>(OC 2h ), and hardness of the outer surface (OS h ) is greater than a hardness of the geometric center (GC h ), represented by the relationship (OS h )>(GC h ).
1. A golf ball comprising:
a single layer core and a cover layer disposed about the single layer core,
the single layer core being formed from a substantially homogenous formulation and comprising a geometric center and an outer surface;
the single layer core further comprising an inner core region disposed about the geometric center, an outer core region adjacent the outer surface, and an intermediate core region disposed between the inner and outer core regions and being at least about 2 mm radially from the geometric center and at least about 2 mm from the outer surface;
the inner core region comprising a first hardness (IC 1h ), the outer core region comprising a second hardness (OC 2h ) and the intermediate core region comprising a third hardness (IMC 3h ) and a fourth hardness (IMC 4h ) such that (IMC 3h )<(IC 1h ) and (IMC 3h )<(OC 2h ), and (IMC 4h )>(IC 1h ) by from about 10 Shore C to about 55 Shore C, and (IMC 4h )>(OC 2h ), and wherein the outer surface has a hardness (OS h ) and the geometric center has a hardness (GC h ) such that (OS h )>(GC h ).
2. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the single layer core is from about 30 mm to about 42 mm.
3. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the inner core region is from about 1 mm to about 10 mm and the thickness of the outer core region is from about 0.5 mm to about 5 mm.
4. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the third hardness is less than the fourth hardness by about 15 Shore C or less.
5. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the first hardness is from about 30 Shore C to about 75 Shore C, the second hardness is from about 40 Shore C to about 85 Shore C, the third hardness is from about 40 Shore C to about 80 Shore C, and the fourth hardness is from about 45 Shore C to about 85 Shore C.
6. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the first hardness is from about 40 Shore C to about 72 Shore C, the second hardness is from about 45 Shore C to about 83 Shore C, the third hardness is from about 45 Shore C to about 78 Shore C, and the fourth hardness is from about 50 Shore C to about 83 Shore C.
7. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the third hardness is less than the fourth hardness by about 10 Shore D or less.
8. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the first hardness is from about 20 Shore D to about 55 Shore D, the second hardness is from about 28 Shore D to about 65 Shore D, the third hardness is from about 25 Shore D to about 65 Shore D, and the fourth hardness is from about 30 Shore D to about 65 Shore D.
9. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the first hardness is from about 25 Shore D to about 51 Shore D, the second hardness is from about 32 Shore D to about 63 Shore D, the third hardness is from about 29 Shore D to about 62 Shore D, and the fourth hardness is from about 34 Shore D to about 61 Shore D.
10. A golf ball comprising:
a single layer core and a cover layer disposed about the single layer core,
the single layer core being formed from a substantially homogenous formulation and comprising a geometric center and an outer surface;
the single layer core further comprising an inner core region disposed about the geometric center, an outer core region adjacent the outer surface, and an intermediate core region disposed between the inner and outer core regions and being at least about 2 mm radially from the geometric center and at least about 2 mm from the outer surface;
the inner core region comprising a first hardness (IC 1h ), the outer core region comprising a second hardness (OC 2h ) and the intermediate core region comprising a third hardness (IMC 3h ) and a fourth hardness (IMC 4h ) such that (IMC 3h )<(IC 1h ) and (IMC 3h )<(OC 2h ), and (IMC 4h )>(IC 1h ) by from about 10 Shore D to about 45 Shore D, and (IMC 4h )>(OC 2h ), and wherein the outer surface has a hardness (OS h ) and the geometric center has a hardness (GC h ) such that (OS h )>(GC h ).