Golf club head with face insert
View Patent ↗A golf club head is provided having a club body and a contact plate secured to the club body. The contact plate defines at least a portion of a striking surface having a plurality of striking surface grooves. The contact plate is formed using an electroforming process.
1. A method of manufacturing a golf club head, comprising: providing a mandrel having a negative physical representation of a golf club striking plate; electroforming a striking plate using the mandrel by depositing an alloy of nickel-cobalt on the mandrel, wherein the striking plate consists essentially of a nickel-cobalt alloy having a nickel concentration of at least about 55% and a cobalt concentration of at least about 10%; and attaching the electroformed striking plate to a body of the golf club head.
2. The method of manufacturing a golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing a mandrel comprises:
providing a master of a golf club head striking plate;
manufacturing the mandrel from the master.
3. The method of manufacturing a golf club head of claim 2 , wherein the step of manufacturing the mandrel from the master comprises electroforming the mandrel.
4. The method of manufacturing a golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the step of electroforming a striking plate comprises:
placing the mandrel into an electrolytic bath;
electroforming a striking plate sheet using the mandrel, with the striking plate sheet comprising a plurality of striking plates;
removing the striking plate sheet and mandrel from the electrolytic bath; and
separating each of the plurality of striking plates from the striking plate sheet.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the cobalt concentration is less than about 45%.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the nickel concentration is less than about 90%.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the cobalt concentration is from about 20% to about 35%.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the nickel concentration is from about 65% to about 80%.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the cobalt concentration is from about 20% to about 35%.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the electroforming step includes forming the striking plate with a front surface having a plurality of scorelines with land areas therebetween and with a rear surface having a plurality of projections generally aligned with the scorelines on the front surface.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the projections are wider than the scorelines.