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 dimple patterns with tetrahedral tilings where the dimples are arranged in multiple copies of a first domain and a second domain, and the dimple pattern in the first domain is different than the dimple pattern in the second domain. A majority of dimples are provided having a first plan shape and a first profile shape, and at least one of the domains has a sub-pattern of nearest neighbor dimples having either a plan shape or a dimple profile shape that is different than the majority of dimples.

The present invention provides dimple patterns with octahedral tilings where the dimples are arranged in multiple copies of a first domain and a second domain, and the dimple pattern in the first domain is different than the dimple pattern in the second domain. A majority of dimples are provided having a first plan shape and a first profile shape, and at least one of the domains has a sub-pattern of nearest neighbor dimples having either a plan shape or a profile shape that is different than the majority of dimples.

The present invention provides dimple patterns with icosahedral tilings where the dimples are arranged in multiple copies of a first domain and a second domain, and the dimple pattern in the first domain is different than the dimple pattern in the second domain. A majority of dimples are provided having a first plan shape and a first profile shape, and at least one of the domains has a sub-pattern of nearest neighbor dimples having either a plan shape or a dimple profile shape that is different than the majority of dimples.

Embodiments of golf balls and methods to manufacture golf balls are generally described herein. In one example, a golf ball may include a plurality of round dimples and a plurality of non-round dimples. Each round dimple may have a dimple diameter, and each non-round dimple may have a dimple diagonal. Other examples and embodiments may be described and claimed.

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 a periodic cosine function mapped along a circular closed path. In addition, the present invention provides methods for designing dimples having a plan shape defined by a periodic cosine function mapped along a circular closed path.

In a multi-piece solid golf ball having a core, an intermediate layer encasing the core and a cover which encases the intermediate layer and has numerous dimples on an outside surface thereof, the intermediate layer is formed of a resin material, the cover is formed of a urethane resin material, the core has a diameter of at least 38.0 mm, the core has a deflection when compressed under a final load of 1,275 N (130 kgf) from an initial load of 98 N (10 kgf) of at least 3.9 mm, the core has a center and a surface such that the value obtained by subtracting the JIS-C hardness at the core center from the JIS-C hardness at the core surface is at least 15, the sphere obtained by encasing the core with the intermediate layer (intermediate layer-encased sphere) has a surface hardness on the Shore D hardness scale of at least 69, the ball has a surface hardness on the Shore D hardness scale of 62 or less, and the (intermediate layer thickness)/(core diameter) value is from 0.025 to 0.043, the (cover thickness)/(core diameter) value is from 0.014 to 0.027.

A golf ball of the present invention includes a core and a cover located outside the core and having a plurality of dimples on a surface thereof A bottom of each of the dimples has a curved shape protruding toward an outside of the golf ball. A depth d of a center protruding portion of the bottom of the dimple is a perpendicular distance between a line S connecting both ends of an outer periphery of the dimple and a highest point of the protruding portion. A volume occupation ratio VR of the dimple is less than 0.75. A relationship between Shore D hardness H of a material of the cover and the depth d (unit: mm) satisfies the following Formula 1:

(H-83)/(−300)>d   (Formula 1).

Golf balls having outer surfaces with improved dimple patterns are provided. At least a portion of the dimples are spherical, and the spherical dimples have at least two different dimple diameters. Each spherical dimple has a radius of curvature that is substantially equal to the radius of curvature of every other spherical dimple on the outer surface of the ball. In another embodiment, the spherical dimples have at least three different dimple diameters. The spherical dimples having different dimple diameters also can have different edge angles, dimple depths, and/or dimple volumes. In one preferred embodiment, the maximum difference in radius of curvature between any two spherical dimples is less than or equal to 0.015 inches.

Golf balls having a dimple pattern arranged in an icosahedral layout are disclosed. The dimple pattern has 20 substantially identical dimple sections, where each dimple section is defined by a spherical triangle. The dimples in each of the 20 dimple sections have at least three different dimple diameters including a minimum dimple diameter, a maximum dimple diameter, and at least one additional dimple diameter. The resulting dimple pattern has a surface coverage of about 70 percent or less. The reduced surface coverage helps to reduce the flight of the golf balls.