A golf club head includes a body having a face plate having a strike surface and an opposing interior surface, a rear end, and a sole connecting the faceplate with the rear end. The face plate, the rear end, and the sole partially define a cavity. An insert is positioned within the cavity, the insert presenting an insert surface facing the interior surface of the face plate and spaced therefrom.

Some embodiments of the lightweight golf clubs described herein include a thin crown, a thin sole, a mass efficient weight system, and a thin faceplate to maximize performance gains (e.g., ball travel distance, impact efficiency, and ball speed) targeted to individuals with swing speeds less than 85 mph. As will be further described below, in order to achieve a lightweight golf club head (having a thin crown, a thin sole, a mass efficient weight system, and a thin faceplate), the golf club head further comprises a crown-to-faceplate bridge and a sole-to-faceplate bridge to control the characteristic time (CT) properties of the golf club head.

Customizable golf putters are disclosed. The putters include a putter face; a putter head that is configured to be reversibly connected to the putter face (with the putter head being selected from a plurality of different putter head styles); and a hosel that is configured to be reversibly connected to any of a plurality of hosel receiving channels that are accessible on a top surface of the putter head (the hosel is also selected from a plurality of different hosel styles). The golf putters further include a threaded shaft connector that is configured to reversibly connect the hosel to a putter shaft. In addition, the golf putters include one or more peg fillers, which are configured to be inserted into empty hosel receiving channels.

A multi-material golf club head having an improved performance is disclosed. More specifically, the present invention relates to a multi-material golf club head having a metallic frontal striking face portion and aft body portion with a crown opening and a sole opening that are covered by a composite crown sub-shell and a composite sole sub-shell, respectively.

Putter type club head with vertical groove patterns are described herein. A putter type club head comprises a putter face having a plurality of first curved grooves and a plurality of second curved grooves. The first curved grooves and the second curved grooves intersect each other at a plurality of points across the putter face. The width and depth of the first curved grooves and the second curved grooves can vary across the putter face in a direction extending from a heel end to a toe end, and/or in a direction extending from a top rail to a sole. The curved groove pattern provides consistent ball speed performance for any impact location on the putter face.

Golf club components with complex structures such as lattice structures, beam structures, and complex surface-based structures, are described herein. A binder jet machine is used create complex structures within these golf club components to optimize weighting, sound, and performance of golf club heads. These components may be manufactured using a method that includes the steps of designing a golf club head component in CAD using optimization software, printing the component from a powdered material, and then removing excess powder from the component via port holes that extend into an external surface of the component and communicate with interior voids within the component.

A golf club head includes: a striking face including a front surface configured to strike a golf ball and a rear surface opposite to the front surface; a periphery portion surrounding and extending rearwards from the striking face; a cavity at least partially enclosed by the striking face and the periphery portion; a support arm extending at least partially through the cavity from the periphery portion and being spaced apart from the rear surface of the striking face; a first damping element between a first side of the support arm and the rear surface of the striking face; and a second damping element on a second side of the support arm opposite to the first side of the support arm.

A picture with multiple slices is encoded by generating a coded slice representation for each of the slices. A slice flag is set to a first value for the first slice in the picture and corresponding slice flags of the remaining slices are set to a second defined value. A respective slice address is generated for each remaining slice to enable identification of the slice start position within the picture for the slice. A coded picture representation of the picture comprises the coded slice representations, the slice addresses and the slice flags. The slice flags enable differentiation between slices for which slice addresses are required and the slice per picture for which no slice address is needed to identify its slice start position.

A picture with multiple slices is encoded by generating a coded slice representation for each of the slices. A slice flag is set to a first value for the first slice in the picture and corresponding slice flags of the remaining slices are set to a second defined value. A respective slice address is generated for each remaining slice to enable identification of the slice start position within the picture for the slice. A coded picture representation of the picture comprises the coded slice representations, the slice addresses and the slice flags. The slice flags enable differentiation between slices for which slice addresses are required and the slice per picture for which no slice address is needed to identify its slice start position.

A method of customizing a golf club, wherein the method includes generating operating data representative of a user operating a mechanical device. The operating data is generated by a first sensor sized and configured to be removably positioned in a mounting port formed on the mechanical device during operation of the mechanical device. The sensor is interchangeably positionable in the mounting port with at least one mass insert, the at least one mass insert being adapted to be interchangeably positioned in the mounting to provide at least two different mass configurations. The method further includes determining a recommended configuration of the at least one mass insert specific to the user based on the operating data generated by the sensor, and transmitting information representative of the recommended mass insert.