Nonconforming anti-slice ball

Abstract

A non-conforming golf ball has a plurality of dimples formed on the outer surface of the ball in a predetermined dimple pattern, the outer surface comprising one or more first areas which include a plurality of first dimples which together have a first dimple volume and at least one second area having a dimple volume less that the first dimple volume, the first and second areas being configured to establish a preferred spin axis. The second area may be a hand around the equator which has a lower dimple volume or no dimples, with the polar regions have a higher volume of dimples, creating a preferred spin axis through the poles.

1 . A golf ball mold having a surface that comprises a plurality of bumps configure to form a plurality of dimples on the outer surface of a golf ball made using the mold, the mold surface comprising one or more first areas which include a plurality of first bumps which together produce a first dimple volume and at least one second area that will produce a dimple volume less that the first dimple volume, the first and second areas being configured to establish a preferred spin axis and a gyroscopic center plane for the golf ball such that the gyroscopic center plane does not go through all of the areas. 
     
     
         2 . The golf ball mold of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second areas define a non-conforming dimple pattern. 
     
     
         3 . The golf ball mold of  claim 1 , wherein the second area comprises a band around the equator of the golf ball and the one or more first areas comprise polar regions of the golf ball. 
     
     
         4 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the band comprises at least two rows of bumps that define second dimples, one row being located on each side of an equatorial plane associated with the golf ball. 
     
     
         5 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the band comprises between two and eight rows of bumps that define second dimples. 
     
     
         6 . The golf ball mold of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second area is within the 45 degree position with respect to the gyroscopic center plane. 
     
     
         7 . The golf ball mold of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more first areas are outside of the 45 degree position with respect to the gyroscopic center plane. 
     
     
         8 . The golf ball mold of  claim 4 , wherein the bumps define second dimples that are of smaller volume than at least some of the first dimples. 
     
     
         9 . The golf ball mold of  claim 8 , wherein the bumps define first dimples that are spherical dimples and second dimples that are truncated dimples. 
     
     
         10 . The golf ball mold of  claim 9 , wherein the truncated chord depth of the truncated dimples is less than the spherical chord depth of the spherical dimples. 
     
     
         11 . The golf ball mold of  claim 10 , wherein the truncated dimples have a radius which is the same as the radius of at least some of the spherical dimples. 
     
     
         12 . The golf ball mold of  claim 11 , wherein the truncated chord depth is less than half of the spherical ehord depth. 
     
     
         13 . The golf ball mold of  claim 10 , wherein the truncated chord depth of each truncated dimple is approximately 0.004 inches and the spherical chord depth of each spherical dimple is approximately 0.012 inches. 
     
     
         14 . The golf ball mold of  claim 8 , wherein the bumps define first dimples and second dimples that are truncated dimples. 
     
     
         15 . The golf ball mold of  claim 8 , wherein the bumps define first dimples and second dimples that are spherical dimples. 
     
     
         16 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the bumps define dimples in the polar regions that are of at least two different sizes. 
     
     
         17 . The golf ball mold of  claim 16 , wherein the bumps define dimples in the polar regions that are of at least three different sizes. 
     
     
         18 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein at least some of the bumps define dimples in the polar regions that have radii in a first range from approximately 0.067 inches to approximately 0.0875 inches. 
     
     
         19 . The golf ball mold of  claim 18 , wherein all of the dimples in the polar regions have radii in the first range. 
     
     
         20 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the bumps define dimples in the polar regions that comprise a first set of spherical dimples having radii in a first range and a second set of spherical dimples having radii in a second range smaller than the radii in the first range. 
     
     
         21 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the second range of radii is from approximately 0.03 inches to approximately 0.04 inches. 
     
     
         22 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define a second set of spherical dimples that are all the same size. 
     
     
         23 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define a second set of spherical dimples that include dimples of at least two different sizes. 
     
     
         24 . The golf ball mold of  claim 23 , wherein the humps define a second set of spherical dimples that includes dimples of three different sizes. 
     
     
         25 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define a first set of spherical dimples that are all the same size. 
     
     
         26 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define a first set of spherical dimples that comprise dimples of at least two different radii. 
     
     
         27 . The golf ball mold of  claim 26 , wherein the bumps define a first set of spherical dimples that comprise dimples having a plurality of different radii between a smallest dimple radius and a largest dimple radius. 
     
     
         28 . The golf ball mold of  claim 27 , wherein the majority of dimples in the first set have a radius between the smallest and largest dimple radius. 
     
     
         29 . The golf ball mold of  claim 27 , wherein there are more dimples of the largest dimple radius than the smallest dimple radius. 
     
     
         30 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the bumps that define dimples in the polar regions are the same size. 
     
     
         31 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define at least some dimples of the second set that have a radius which is approximately half the radius of at least some dimples of the first set. 
     
     
         32 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein humps define dimples of the second set that have a radius in the range from approximately 0.030 to 0.040 inches and dimples of the first set that have a radius in the range from approximately 0.065 to 0.075 inches. 
     
     
         33 . The golf ball mold of  claim 31 , wherein the second set of dimples comprises dimples having diameters of approximately 0.030, 0.035 and 0.040 inches and the first set of dimples comprises dimples having diameters of approximately 0.067, 0.0725 and 0.075 inches. 
     
     
         34 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the second set of dimples each have a spherical chord depth of approximately 0.008 inches and the first set of dimples each have a spherical chord depth of approximately 0.012 inches. 
     
     
         35 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define dimples of the second set that are interspersed between at least some of the dimples of the first set. 
     
     
         36 . The golf ball mold of  claim 35 , wherein the bumps define dimples of the second set that are interspersed between dimples of the first set closer to the poles, and at least one area of each polar region extending around the ball adjacent a band around the equator that contains only dimples of the first set. 
     
     
         37 . The golf ball mold of  claim 20 , wherein the bumps define a second set of dimples that are located around the respective pole and a first set of dimples that are located between the second set of dimples and the reduced volume hand around the equator. 
     
     
         39 . The golf ball mold of  claim 9 , wherein the bumps define first and second dimples that each include a plurality of different size dimples. 
     
     
         40 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the bumps define a band around the equator that includes a dimpleless area. 
     
     
         41 . The golf ball mold of  claim 40 , wherein the bumps define a band around the equator that contains no dimples. 
     
     
         42 . The golf ball mold of  claim 40 , wherein the dimpleless area extends around the equator and is centered on the equatorial plane, and the bumps define a band that includes at least one row of dimples extend around the ball on each side of the dimpleless area. 
     
     
         43 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the total number of bumps is between 336 and 410. 
     
     
         44 . The golf ball mold of  claim 3 , wherein the total number of bumps in the band around the equator is between 184 and 240. 
     
     
         45 . The golf ball mold of  claim 44 , wherein the total number of bumps in one polar region is between 48 and 113. 
     
     
         46 . The golf ball of  claim 9 , wherein the bumps define dimples in the hand around the equator that are truncated and that have a radius less than that of at least some of the dimples formed in the polar regions and that have a truncated chord depth no more than half the spherical chord depth of the dimples formed in the polar region. 
     
     
         47 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the mold comprises a compression molded cavity. 
     
     
         48 . The golf ball mold of  claim 47 , wherein the mold comprises two hemispheres. 
     
     
         49 . A golf ball mold having an outer surface that comprises a plurality of bumps configured to form a plurality of dimples formed on the outer surface of a golf ball made using the mold, the mold surface comprising one or more first areas which include a plurality of first bumps which together produce a first dimple volume and at least one second area that produces a dimple volume less that the first dimple volume, the first and second areas being configured to establish a preferred spin axis and a gyroscopic center plane for the golf ball such that the at least one second area is formed about the gyroscopic center plane.