Golf club head with pneumatic insert

Abstract

A golf club head with a pneumatic insert is described herein. The pneumatic insert comprises a membrane enclosing a hollow chamber filled with a pressurized gas. The pneumatic insert occupies at least a portion of the club head cavity and is secured in the cavity by one or more retainers. The pneumatic insert damps club head vibrations and reinforces portions of the club head, thereby improving club head sound, feel, and ball flight performance.

1 . An iron-type golf club head, comprising:
 a body comprising a front end defining a strike face, a top rail, a sole opposite the top rail, a heel, and a toe opposite the heel;
 a rear end opposite the front end, the rear end defining a rear wall; 
   a cavity at least partially bounded by the strike face, the top rail, the sole, the heel, the toe, and the rear wall, wherein the rear wall extends partially between the sole and the top rail;   a club head retainer disposed toward the cavity;   the rear wall forming a rear opening that fluidly communicates an exterior of the club head with the cavity;   a badge coupled to the rear wall and covering the opening, thereby to enclose the cavity;
 a pneumatic insert disposed in the cavity, the pneumatic insert comprising: 
 a membrane enclosing a hollow chamber filled with a pressurized gas at an insert pressure; and 
 an insert retainer mechanically engaging the club head retainer, thereby to secure the pneumatic insert within the cavity. 
   
     
     
         2 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the club head retainer comprises a weight pad formed integrally with both the sole and the rear wall, the weight pad comprising a weight pad forward surface angled toward the strike face such that a lower interior undercut is formed between the weight pad forward surface and a sole interior surface; and   the insert retainer engages the lower interior undercut.   
     
     
         3 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 2 , wherein the insert retainer comprises a rear protrusion configured to at least partially occupy the lower interior undercut. 
     
     
         4 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 2 , wherein the insert retainer entirely occupies the lower interior undercut. 
     
     
         5 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein the insert retainer interlocks with the club head retainer. 
     
     
         6 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein the club head retainer comprises a top rail undercut formed between interior surfaces of the strike face, the top rail, and the rear wall. 
     
     
         7 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 6 , wherein the insert retainer comprises an insert top end configured to engage the top rail undercut. 
     
     
         8 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein the pneumatic insert is secured within the cavity without any adhesives or separate coupling members. 
     
     
         9 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein the insert pressure is between 0 and 5 psi. 
     
     
         10 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein the insert pressure is between 0.5 and 1.5 psi. 
     
     
         11 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 1 , wherein the membrane is formed by a process selected from the group consisting of thermoforming, vacuum forming, pressure forming, mechanical forming, drape forming, matched mold forming, twin sheet forming, and billow forming. 
     
     
         12 . An iron-type golf club head, comprising:
 a body comprising:
 a front end defining a strike face, wherein the strike face defines a strike face rear surface and a scoring area; 
 a top rail, defining a top rail interior surface; 
 a sole opposite the top rail, the sole defining a sole interior surface; 
 a heel defining a heel interior surface; 
 a toe opposite the heel, the toe defining a toe interior surface;
 a rear end opposite the front end, the rear end defining a rear wall, wherein the rear wall extends partially between the sole and the top rail and defines a rear wall interior surface; 
 
 a cavity at least partially bounded by the strike face rear surface, the top rail interior surface, the sole interior surface, the heel interior surface, the toe interior surface, and the rear wall interior surface; 
 a club head retainer disposed toward the cavity; 
 wherein the rear wall forms a rear opening that fluidly communicates an exterior of the club head with the cavity; 
   a badge coupled to the rear wall and covering the opening, thereby to enclose the cavity; and
 a pneumatic insert disposed in the cavity, the pneumatic insert comprising: 
 a membrane enclosing a hollow chamber filled with a pressurized gas, wherein greater than 80% of the pneumatic insert resides behind the scoring area; and 
 an insert retainer mechanically engaging the club head retainer, thereby to secure the pneumatic insert within the cavity. 
   
     
     
         13 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 12 , wherein the strike face further comprises a scoring area back surface opposite the scoring area; and the pneumatic insert contacts greater than 80% of the scoring area back surface. 
     
     
         14 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 12 , wherein the scoring area is bounded by a scoring area heel-side boundary plane and a scoring area toe-side boundary plane, and the pneumatic insert does not extend past the scoring area heel-side boundary plane or the scoring area toe-side boundary plane. 
     
     
         15 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 14 , wherein the pneumatic insert does not contact the heel interior surface or the toe interior surface. 
     
     
         16 . An iron-type golf club head, comprising:
 a body comprising:
 a front end defining a strike face, a top rail, a sole opposite the top rail, a heel, and a toe opposite the heel;
 a rear end opposite the front end, the rear end defining a rear wall, wherein the rear wall extends partially between the sole and the top rail; 
 
 a cavity at least partially bounded by the strike face, the top rail, the sole, the heel, the toe, and the rear wall, wherein the cavity defines a cavity volume; 
 a club head retainer disposed toward the cavity; 
 wherein the rear wall forms a rear opening that fluidly communicates an exterior of the club head with the cavity; 
   a badge coupled to the rear wall and covering the opening, thereby to enclose the cavity;
 a pneumatic insert disposed in the cavity, the pneumatic insert comprising: 
 a membrane enclosing a hollow chamber filled with a pressurized gas; 
 wherein the pneumatic insert occupies greater than 80% of the cavity volume and comprises an insert mass less than 5 grams; and 
 an insert retainer mechanically engaging the club head retainer, thereby to secure the pneumatic insert within the cavity. 
   
     
     
         17 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 16 , wherein the membrane comprises a membrane thickness less than 0.050 inch. 
     
     
         18 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 16 , wherein the pneumatic insert, the badge, and the club head retainer cooperate to form a damping system; and wherein the damping system comprises a damping system mass less than 10 grams. 
     
     
         19 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 16 , wherein the strike face, the top rail, the sole, the heel, the toe, the rear wall, and the badge collectively define a cavity wall surface area;
 the cavity wall surface area comprises an insert contact area in contact with the pneumatic insert; and   the insert contact area greater than 80% of the cavity wall surface area.   
     
     
         20 . The iron-type golf club head of  claim 19 , wherein the insert contact area is greater than 8.0 in 2 .