The present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by superposed curves. In addition, the present invention is directed to golf balls having improved aerodynamic performance due, at least in part, to the selection of the dimple plan shapes and resulting dimple patterns.

The present invention is directed to golf balls having improved aerodynamic performance due, at least in part, to the selection of the dimple plan shapes. In particular, the present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by high frequency periodic functions along a simple closed path. In addition, the present invention provides methods for producing dimples having a plan shape defined by a high frequency periodic function along a simple closed path.

The present invention is directed to golf balls having improved aerodynamic performance due, at least in part, to the selection of the plan shapes of the dimples thereon. In particular, the present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by low frequency periodic functions along a closed simple path. In addition, the present invention provides methods for designing dimples having a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function along a closed simple path.

The present invention is directed to golf balls having improved aerodynamic performance due, at least in part, to the selection of the plan shapes of the dimples thereon. In particular, the present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by low frequency periodic functions along a closed simple path. In addition, the present invention provides methods for designing dimples having a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function along a closed simple path.

The present invention is directed to golf balls having surface textures with unique appearances and improved aerodynamic characteristics due, at least in part, to the use of curvilinear dimple plan shapes. In particular, the present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by a number of convex or concave arcs that are derived from the vertices of a regular n-sided polygon.

The present invention is directed to a golf ball comprising of non-concentric arcs defining a non-planar parting line on its spherical surface resulting in having a large size disparity between non-circular dimples in one hemisphere and adjacent non-circular dimples from the opposing hemisphere. The parting line is produced by a pair of adjacent non-circular dimples, wherein .sub.d indicates the average non-circular dimple diameter and N indicates dimples from the Northern hemisphere and those from the Southern hemisphere are indicated by S. A large disparity may be created, if the following condition is satisfied: $\frac{{}_d\left(N\right)}{{}_d\left(S\right)}>1.25\mathrm{or}\frac{{}_d\left(N\right)}{{}_d\left(S\right)}<0.80.$

The present invention provides a method for arranging dimples on a golf ball surface in which the dimples are arranged in a pattern derived from at least one irregular domain generated from a regular or non-regular polyhedron. The method includes choosing control points of a polyhedron, generating an irregular domain based on those control points, packing the irregular domain with dimples, and tessellating the irregular domain to cover the surface of the golf ball. The control points include the center of a polyhedral face, a vertex of the polyhedron, a midpoint or other point on an edge of the polyhedron and others. The method ensures that the symmetry of the underlying polyhedron is preserved while minimizing or eliminating great circles due to parting lines.

The present invention provides a method for arranging dimples on a golf ball surface in which the dimples are arranged in a pattern derived from at least one irregular domain generated from a regular or non-regular polyhedron. The method includes choosing control points of a polyhedron, generating an irregular domain based on those control points, packing the irregular domain with dimples, and tessellating the irregular domain to cover the surface of the golf ball. The control points include the center of a polyhedral face, a vertex of the polyhedron, a midpoint or other point on an edge of the polyhedron and others. The method ensures that the symmetry of the underlying polyhedron is preserved while minimizing or eliminating great circles due to parting lines.

The present invention provides resin compositions for golf balls which have excellent flexibility, fluidity, and resilience, and golf balls formed from the resin compositions. The present invention relates to a resin composition for golf balls including a polymer that contains a diene polymer moiety and a carboxylic acid-based moiety wherein carboxyl groups derived from the carboxylic acid-based moiety are neutralized.

The present invention provides a method for arranging dimples on a golf ball surface in which the dimples are arranged in a pattern derived from at least one irregular domain generated from a regular or non-regular polyhedron. The method includes choosing control points of a polyhedron, generating an irregular domain based on those control points, packing the irregular domain with dimples, and tessellating the irregular domain to cover the surface of the golf ball. The control points include the center of a polyhedral face, a vertex of the polyhedron, a midpoint or other point on an edge of the polyhedron and others. The method ensures that the symmetry of the underlying polyhedron is preserved while minimizing or eliminating great circles due to parting lines.