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 band 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 having an outer surface, a gyroscopic center plane, and a plurality of dimples formed on the outer surface of the ball, 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 and such that the gyroscopic center plane does not go through all of the areas and to establish a Motion of Inertia (MOI) difference of at least 0.100 percent for the golf ball. 
     
     
         2 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second areas define a non-conforming dimple pattern. 
     
     
         3 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the second area comprises a band around the equator and the one or more first areas comprise polar regions of the ball. 
     
     
         4 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the band comprises at least two rows of second dimples, one row being located on each side of the equatorial plane. 
     
     
         5 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the band comprises between two and eight rows of second dimples. 
     
     
         6 . The golf ball of  claim 4 , wherein the second dimples are of smaller volume than at least some of the first dimples. 
     
     
         7 . The golf ball of  claim 6 , wherein the first dimples are spherical dimples and the second dimples are truncated dimples. 
     
     
         8 . The golf ball of  claim 7 , wherein the truncated chord depth of the truncated dimples is less than the spherical chord depth of the spherical dimples. 
     
     
         9 . The golf ball of  claim 8 , wherein the truncated dimples have a radius which is the same as the radius of at least some of the spherical dimples, 
     
     
         10 . The golf ball of  claim 9 , wherein the truncated chord depth is less than half of the spherical chord depth. 
     
     
         11 . The golf ball of  claim 8 , 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. 
     
     
         12 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the dimples in the polar regions are of at least two different sizes. 
     
     
         13 . The golf ball of  claim 12 , wherein the dimples in the polar regions are of at least three different sizes, 
     
     
         14 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein at least some of the dimples in the polar regions have radii in a first range from approximately 0.067 inches to approximately 0.0875 inches. 
     
     
         15 . The golf ball of  claim 14 , wherein all of the dimples in the polar regions have radii in the first range. 
     
     
         16 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the dimples in the polar regions comprise a first set of spherical dimples having radii in a first range and second set of spherical dimples having radii in a second range smaller than the radii in the first range. 
     
     
         17 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the second range of radii is from approximately 0.03 inches to approximately 0.04 inches. 
     
     
         18 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the second set of spherical dimples are all the same size. 
     
     
         19 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the second set of spherical dimples include dimples of at least two different sizes, 
     
     
         20 . The golf ball of  claim 19 , wherein the second set of spherical dimples includes dimples of three different sizes. 
     
     
         21 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the first set of spherical dimples are all the same size. 
     
     
         22 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the first set of spherical dimples comprise dimples of at least two different radii. 
     
     
         23 . The golf ball of  claim 22 , wherein the first set of spherical dimples comprise dimples having a plurality of different radii between a smallest dimple radius and a largest dimple radius. 
     
     
         24 . The golf ball of  claim 23 , wherein the majority of dimples in the first set have a radius between the smallest and largest dimple radius. 
     
     
         25 . The golf ball of  claim 23 , wherein there are more dimples of the largest dimple radius than the smallest dimple radius. 
     
     
         26 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein all of the dimples in the polar regions are the same size. 
     
     
         27 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein at least some dimples of the second set have a radius which is approximately half the radius of at least some dimples of the first set. 
     
     
         28 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein dimples of the second set have a radius in the range from approximately 0.030 to 0.040 inches and dimples of the first set have a radius in the range from approximately 0.065 to 0.075 inches. 
     
     
         29 . The golf ball of  claim 27 , 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. 
     
     
         30 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , 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. 
     
     
         31 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the dimples of the second set are interspersed between at least some of the dimples of the first set. 
     
     
         32 . The golf ball of  claim 31 , wherein the dimples of the second set 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 the band around the equator contains only dimples of the first set. 
     
     
         33 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein the second set of dimples are located around the respective pole and the first set of dimples are located between the second set of dimples and the reduced volume band around the equator. 
     
     
         34 . The golf ball of  claim 7 , wherein the first and second dimples each include a plurality of different size dimples. 
     
     
         35 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the band around the equator includes a dimpleless area. 
     
     
         36 . The golf ball of  claim 35 , wherein the band around the equator contains no dimples. 
     
     
         37 . The golf ball of  claim 35 , wherein the dimpleless area extends around the equator and is centered on the equatorial plane, and the band includes at least one row of dimples extend around the ball on each side of the dimpleless area. 
     
     
         38 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the preferred spin axis extends through the poles, whereby reduced dispersion is produced when the ball is hit from a poles-horizontal (PH) orientation. 
     
     
         39 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the total number of dimples is between 336 and 410. 
     
     
         40 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , wherein the total number of dimples in the band around the equator is between 184 and 240. 
     
     
         41 . The golf ball of  claim 40 , wherein the total number of dimples in one polar region is between 48 and 113. 
     
     
         42 . The golf ball of  claim 7 , wherein the dimples in the band around the equator are truncated and have a radius less than that of at least some of the dimples in the polar regions and a truncated chord depth no more than half the spherical chord depth of the dimples in the polar region. 
     
     
         43 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is in the range of about 0.100 to about 0.500 percent. 
     
     
         44 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is in the range of about 0.200 to about 0.500 percent. 
     
     
         45 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is in the range of about 0.250 to about 0.500 percent. 
     
     
         46 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is greater than about 0.200 percent. 
     
     
         47 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is greater than about 0.300 percent. 
     
     
         48 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is greater than about 0.400 percent. 
     
     
         49 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the MOI difference is calculates as the maximum moment of inertia for the golf ball minus the minimum moment of inertia divided by the maximum moment of inertia. 
     
     
         50 . The golf ball of  claim 49 , wherein the first and second areas being configured to establish a preferred spin axis, and wherein the maximum moment of inertia is achieved when the ball is oriented so that it will spin around its preferred spin axis. 
     
     
         51 . The golf ball of  claim 50 , wherein the minimum moment of inertia is achieved when the ball is in a different orientation than the orientation that causes the ball to spin around its preferred spin axis. 
     
     
         52 . The golf ball of  claim 50 , wherein the orientation that produces spin around the preferred spin axis is the Poles Horizontal (PH) orientation.