Iron-type golf clubs
An iron-type golf club includes a conventional-weight section, a lightweight section and a heavyweight section. The conventional-weight section includes the hitting face and at least a portion of the hosel. The heavyweight section, made of a denser material than the conventional-weight section, includes the sole and an optional back flange. The lightweight section, made of a material less dense than either of the other sections, includes a core to which the other two sections are secured, such as by co-molding the core to the other two sections. In the co-molding context, the components need not be constrained by their respective weight and density, but could be classified more generically as having a pre-formed component and a molding component irrespective of the densities of the components.
1. A golf club head comprising:
a pre-formed portion comprising,
a striking face portion at the front of said golf club head for impacting a golf ball; and
a body portion at the back of said golf club head for providing support to said striking face portion,
wherein a gap is left between said striking face portion and said body portion;
a molding portion provided in said gap between said striking face portion and said body portion;
wherein said molding portion completely insulates said striking face portion from said body portion;
wherein said molding portion does not contain any intermediary layers; and
wherein said molding portion has a variable thickness at a location that coincides with a rear of an impact location on said striking face portion.
2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein said body portion further comprises;
a crown portion located near the top of said golf club head; and
a sole portion located near the bottom of said golf club head,
wherein said striking face portion has a first density,
wherein said molding portion has a second density,
wherein said crown portion has a third density, and
wherein said sole portion has a fourth density.
3. The golf club head of claim 2 , wherein said first density, said third density, and said fourth density are all greater than said second density.
4. The golf club head of claim 3 , wherein at least a portion of a perimeter of said striking face portion comprises a face locking step.
5. The golf club head of claim 4 , wherein said first density is between about 6 grams/cm 3 and about 10 grams/cm 3 .
6. The golf club head of claim 5 , wherein said first density is about 8 grams/cm 3 .
7. The golf club head of claim 5 , wherein said striking face portion comprises titanium.
8. The golf club head of claim 4 , wherein said second density is less than about 3 grams/cm 3 .
9. The golf club head of claim 8 , wherein said second density is about 1.8 grams/cm 3 .
10. The golf club head of claim 4 , wherein said molding portion comprises bulk molding compound, plastic, urethane, aluminum silica, magnesium, rubber, nylon, or aluminum.
11. The golf club head of claim 4 , wherein at least a portion of said molding portion engages said face locking step to secure said striking face portion to said golf club head.
12. A golf club head comprising:
a striking face portion located near the front of said golf club head for impacting a golf ball,
a molding portion completely surrounding a perimeter of said striking face portion, and
a body portion at least partially surrounding said molding portion;
wherein said molding portion has a density that is lighter than a density of said striking face portion and said body portion;
wherein said molding portion does not contain any intermediary layers; and
wherein said molding portion has a variable thickness at a location that coincides with a rear of an impact location on said striking face portion.
13. The golf club head of claim 12 , wherein said molding portion surrounds a top surface, a bottom surface, and a back surface of said striking face portion.
14. The golf club head of claim 12 , wherein at least a portion of said perimeter of said striking face portion comprises a face locking step.
15. The golf club head of claim 14 , wherein at least a portion of said molding portion engages said face locking step to secure said striking face portion to said golf club head.
16. The golf club head of claim 15 , wherein said striking face portion comprises titanium.