In one aspect, a correlated set of individually numbered golf club iron heads progresses from a high numbered head to a low numbered head. Individual heads have a front striking face, a rear face, a sole, a toe, a heel and a hosel. The front striking faces of heads within the set individually have a total planar area defining a progressively decreasing loft angle in going from the high numbered head to the low numbered head. For at least two chosen pairs of heads within the set, the striking face total planar area of individual heads within each chosen pair increases in size in going from the higher numbered head to the lower numbered head in the pair. In another aspect, a correlated set of individually numbered golf club iron heads comprises at least a 3-iron head, a 4-iron head and a 5-iron head. The hosel is provided relative to the sole to provide a different and increasing lie angle in sequentially progressing from the 3-iron head to the 5-iron head. The heads within the set define a 3-iron and 4-iron pair of heads and a 4-iron and 5-iron pair of heads. The sum of the differences between the lie angles in the 3-iron/4-iron pair and between the lie angles in the 4-iron/5-iron pair are less than or equal to about 1.0.degree..
RELATED PATENT DATA
This patent resulted from a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/307,238, filed Feb. 10, 1999, entitled "Correlated Set of Golf Club Irons", naming Brad L. Sherwood as inventor, and which is now U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,029. That application was filed as a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/925,012, filed Sep. 8, 1997, entitled "Correlated Set of Golf Club Irons", naming Brad L. Sherwood as inventor, which was abandoned. That application was filed as a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/695,001, filed Aug. 8, 1996, entitled "Correlated Set of Golf Club Irons", listing Brad L. Sherwood as inventor, and which is now U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,009. That patent resulted from a continuation application under 37 CFR .sctn.1.62 of prior International Application No. PCT/US95/01864, filed on Feb. 13, 1995, entitled "Correlated Set Of Golf Club Irons" listing the inventor as Brad L. Sherwood, and was a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/196,387, filed Feb. 14, 1994 which is now U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,826.
A set of iron-type golf clubs includes long irons with channel back configurations and short irons with cavity back configurations. The rear face configurations transition from channel backs through to pure cavity backs for increased performance continuum for the set. Additional design parameters for the set may also be systematically varied through the set, such as groove type and depth, loft angle, cavity volume, hitting face roughness, and sole width. At least one of the clubs of the set includes a sandwich-type construction for the hitting face having a dampening element disposed between a hitting face insert and a lightweight reinforcing core. In one embodiment, at least one club head is oversized.
An iron type golf club head comprising: a face plate provided with face grooves; and a head main body arranging the face plate on a front surface thereof, wherein the face plate comprises a peripheral edge part firmly fixed to the head main body, and a non-supported part forming an area surrounded by the peripheral edge part and having a back surface apart from the head main body, and the non-supported part satisfies the following equations (1), (2) and (3): 1.1.ltoreq.ha/hb.ltoreq.1.6; (1) 1.1.times.(ha+hb)/2.ltoreq.hc.ltoreq.1.5.times.(ha+hb)/2; (2) 18 (mm).ltoreq.hb.ltoreq.38 (mm) (3) (in which ha is a toe side height (mm) of the face groove in an end portion closest to the toe side, hb is a heel side height (mm) of the face groove in an end portion closest to the heel side, and hc is an intermediate height (mm) of the face groove in an intermediate position between the end portion on the toe side and the end portion on the heel side).
A set of iron-type golf clubs includes long irons with channel back configurations and short irons with cavity back configurations. The rear face configurations transition from channel backs through to pure cavity backs for increased performance continuum for the set. Additional design parameters for the set may also be systematically varied through the set, such as groove type and depth, loft angle, cavity volume, hitting face roughness, and sole width. At least one of the clubs of the set includes a sandwich-type construction for the hitting face having a dampening element disposed between a hitting face insert and a lightweight reinforcing core. In one embodiment, at least one club head is oversized.
A set of iron-type golf clubs includes long irons with channel back configurations and short irons with cavity back configurations. The rear face configurations transition from channel backs through to pure cavity backs for increased performance continuum for the set. Additional design parameters for the set may also be systematically varied through the set, such as groove type and depth, loft angle, cavity volume, hitting face roughness, and sole width. At least one of the clubs of the set includes a sandwich-type construction for the hitting face having a dampening element disposed between a hitting face insert and a lightweight reinforcing core. In one embodiment, at least one club head is oversized.
A set of iron-type golf clubs includes long irons with cavity back configurations and short irons with muscle back configurations. The rear face configurations slowly transition from pure cavity back through cavity-muscle backs to pure muscle backs for increased performance continuum for the set. Additional design parameters for the set may also be systematically varied through the set, such as face area, loft angle, offset and location of the center of gravity.
