Equipment

Latest patents from TMag, Callaway, Ping and Titleist

Published

10 years ago

Apr 22, 2014

It’s been a month since we last looked at what the major OEMs have been up to in the world of patent filings. So it seems like a good time to see what the best and brightest (or at least best paid) in golf’s R&D have been up to.

This month: A sampling of recent filings from Callaway, TaylorMade, Ping, and Titleist along with traditional patent drawings, which a comment on a previous edition in this series referred to as “napkin sketches.”

Without further ado, brief descriptions and corresponding napkin drawings.

Callaway/Odyssey putter

Screen shot 2014-04-17 at 2.42.57 PM

On behalf of subsidiary Odyssey, Callaway applied for a putter with a “low head center of gravity and a high MOI.” According to the filing, the putter features both low-density and high-density layers. In addition, the layers appear to be joined by a urethane dampening layer, and the heel and toe of the putter are outfitted with tungsten weights.

It appears that this putter will also include the white/black components the company has been including in their designs in recent years.

Overall, the putter appears similar to the flatsticks in the White Damascus family in terms of design and weighting, but presents elements of the Versa family of putters as well.

View the full patent filing on FreshPatents.

TaylorMade iron

Screen shot 2014-04-22 at 10.32.54 AM

TMag has filed a patent “coated golf club head/component,” which features an “outer layer of titanium carbide, typically comprising at least forty percent…carbon content.” One would assume that the outer layer is designed to enhance distance, and indeed the multi-layer structure is engineered toward this end.

The filing indicates that the club will possess multiple layers. Further, it states, the “titanium carbide layer is durable and can provide the golf club component with a desired aesthetic appearance, such as a black color.”

Certainly, this could be a red herring. However, the document seems to suggest that TaylorMade, with its penchant for pushing boundaries, could be working on a (at least partially) black iron.

View the full filing here.

TaylorMade fairway wood

Screen shot 2014-04-22 at 10.57.43 AM

California-based TaylorMade has also been granted a patent for a “fairway wood center of gravity projection.” The club will look something like the above, with three weights near the front of the sole of the club.

Not surprisingly, with the design the company is pursuing “club heads for a fairway wood that at least one of a high moment of inertia, a low center-of-gravity, a thin crown and a high coefficient of restitution.”

Yes. That ought to do it.

View the full filing here.

Ping hybrid

Screen shot 2014-04-22 at 12.50.03 PM

Here’s a hybrid club Ping is working on referred to as a “club head with deflection mechanism and related methods.” The intention of the mechanism seems to be to make it easier to hit the ball on the center of the club face (reportedly, that’s not a bad place to consistently make contact).

The filing also features sketches of a fairway wood with similar characteristics.

View the full filing here.

Founder Karsten Solheim’s company is also working on an iron that looks like this, which looks to be part of a complete set of clubs with variable constructions.

Screen shot 2014-04-22 at 12.57.39 PM

View the full filing here.

Titleist fairway wood

Screen shot 2014-04-22 at 1.10.39 PM

Fairhaven, Mass-based Titleist filed a patent for a “golf club head with flexure.” According to the filing, “the flexure provides compliance during an impact between the golf club head and a golf ball, and is tuned to vibrate, immediately after impact, at a predetermined frequency.”

Thus, the design, which looks rather progressive compared the Titleist’s more traditional offerings, seems also to be at the fore of the trend toward enhanced feedback. And it doesn’t take an R&D whiz to realize that the face is likely hotter because of the flexure/increased face flex.

View the full filing here.

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12 Comments

jc

Apr 23, 2014 at 12:05 pm

taylor made will announce that they are building a solid metal head with no slots and it will come in only black and the sheep will run and buy it because the ad will talk about pure mass being better than flex.

Reply Report comment
- Jim
  
  Apr 25, 2014 at 6:28 pm
  
  Introducing the taylormade SCREW”R” fairway wood its got to be atleast 34 yards longer by now . The titleist and ping club looks like every adams club and the rbzs the slots in the woods and hybrids do help with consistency i feel if nothing else , but if every one is doing it there must be something in it.
  
  Reply Report comment
SA golfer

Apr 23, 2014 at 4:13 am

Whaha titleist rbz 3 wood.

Reply Report comment
markb

Apr 22, 2014 at 11:50 pm

If a “gimmick” introduced by Taylormade (meaning slot technology) is then copied by the arch-conservative Titleist, does it not cease to be a gimmick and become an innovation?

Reply Report comment
- 78Staff
  
  Apr 23, 2014 at 11:51 am
  
  Introduced by Adams, not TaylorMade – at least in recent metalwood history. In reality there have been slots in woods for years, see Hogan, Wilson, etc going way back in the day. :).
  
  Reply Report comment
  - leftright
    
    Apr 23, 2014 at 8:22 pm
    
    Correct, Wilson made an iron in the 70’s called the “Reflex” iron. It was the forerunner to everything made today by Taylor, Callaway, Adams, etc. It was probably crude at that time but it was the first iron with that technology. It was a cast club, not forged and I am not sure what became of it’s legacy.
    
    Reply Report comment
- BlkNGld
  
  Apr 25, 2014 at 8:40 pm
  
  Looks more like a Nike compression channel to me.
  
  Reply Report comment
MHendon

Apr 22, 2014 at 5:26 pm

I hate to see Titleist go down the path of gimmicky crap, but I guess to keep up with their competitors they have to. It’s a shame so many people buy into it. I’ve put my old (by today’s standards) 904f up against many of the newest fairway woods on the market and it still outperforms them all. No adjustability, no moveable weights, no velocity slots, just a nice traditional pear shaped head that’s well balanced and gives me great distance and the perfect trajectory.

Reply Report comment
- enrique
  
  Apr 22, 2014 at 6:44 pm
  
  I don’t care how gimmicky/techie it is as long as I can’t see those bits. And it looks like I can see all that on this Titleist. Boo!
  
  Reply Report comment
BeTheBall

Apr 22, 2014 at 4:04 pm

I am a betting man and I bet that TaylorMade is finally going to bring the technology that they have in the face of the Gloire driver to an iron and bring it to the states sometime in the future.

Reply Report comment
chris k

Apr 22, 2014 at 2:59 pm

The iron from taylormade i believe will be the SLDR irons. More forgiving and a hotter face.

Reply Report comment
- K
  
  Apr 24, 2014 at 11:45 am
  
  Yup, they’re coming out with SLDR and SLDR S next. Irons will be called SLDR
  
  Reply Report comment

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Equipment

A shocking Backstryke putter appearance + 7 interesting gear photos from the Zurich Classic

Published

32 mins ago

Apr 25, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to New Orleans, where TPC Louisiana plays host to the 2024 Zurich Classic. In between breakfast beignets and nightly Creole feasts, PGA Tour players are also competing in the unique two-man format at the Zurich this week.

Although the vibes in Nawlins are a bit lighter-fare than the recent back-to-back competitions the Masters and the RBC Heritage signature event), the gear news was no less serious this week.

We spotted some recent changes from Rory McIlroy, a very rare Odyssey Backstryke putter, dove into the bag of legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and spotted Patrick Cantlay continuing to test new equipment.

Get your beads out and crack your crawfish, because it’s time for an equipment rundown from The Big Easy (meaning New Orleans, of course, not Ernie Els).

See all of our photos from the Zurich Classic here

Rory’s on-and-off lob wedge

Since the end of 2023, Rory McIlroy has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a Titleist Vokey K-Grind lob wedge. In his last start, it was on, and the wedge is back in the bag again this week. We got a great look at the complicated grind that McIlroy uses.

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A full look into McIlroy’s bag above also shows that he switched out of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper that he used at the RBC Heritage, and he’s back into the Qi10 core 3-wood. As we discussed last week, McIlroy will likely keep the BRNR around as a course-specific club, trading it in and out for the 3-wood.

See Rory McIlroy’s full 2024 WITB from the Zurich here

Turning Back the clock

Unless Tommy Gainey is in the field, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see Odyssey’s Backstryke technology make an appearance on the PGA Tour.

But then, when you least expect it, Russ Cochran shows up.

For more than a decade – since the 2013 Sony Open in Hawai’i – Cochran has been stuck on 599 PGA Tour starts. This week will be his 600th.

Cochran is in the field at the Zurich this week playing alongside Eric Cole, whose regular caddie is Reed Cochran, Russ’s son.

The Backstryke putter was first released back in 2010, and its unique design helps shift the axis point of the putter closer to the CG of the head. And, the putter is getting a nod this week at the Zurich Classic, thanks to Cochran’s 600th career PGA Tour start.

The putter is certainly awesome, but don’t forget to check out Cochran’s full WITB from this week.

Drew Brees with a Super Bowl winning Scotty Cameron putter

Drew Brees, a legendary retired quarterback for the hometown New Orleans Saints, made an appearance at the Zurich’s Wednesday Pro-Am, playing alongside Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, and current Saints QB Derek Carr.

Brees’ bag included a TaylorMade Stealth2 Plus driver, a BRNR Mini 13.5-degree, a Stealth 5-wood, a mixed set of P-790 and P-760 irons, Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges, and a custom Scotty Cameron “New Orleans Saints” putter, which Scotty made for Brees following his Super Bowl MVP-winning performance in 2010.

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It should also be noted that Brees has his Venmo QR code as a bag tag.

If you’re gambling with Brees on the course, just know that not having cash won’t work as an excuse.

Brilliant.

See Drew Brees’ full WITB from the Zurich here

Stricker’s unrecognizable putter

Steve Stricker has made numerous upgrades to his bag recently, including a new TSR3 driver and T100 irons, but his longtime Odyssey White Hot No. 2 putter is still going strong. It’s the most recognizable unrecognizable putter ever.

Here’s a better look at Stricker’s flatstick, which he started using back in 2007.

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Patrick Cantlay has opened the equipment-switching floodgates

Over on the PGA Tour’s Equipment Report this week, we covered Cantlay’s recent switch into Ping Blueprint S irons, and a Titleist TSR2 driver.

Cantlay hadn’t switched irons for about seven years, so the iron switch he made at The 2024 Masters came as a shock to the norm. He simply isn’t one to change gear very often, so anytime Cantlay makes a switch, it’s news.

It seems the floodgates of equipment testing have opened up a bit for Cantlay, who was also spotted testing a custom Scotty Cameron blade putter on Tuesday this week. By Wednesday, Cantlay was back practicing with his familiar Scotty Cameron T5 Proto mallet, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on going forward.

Daniel Berger’s custom Jailbird site lines

Berger, who’s currently using Odyssey’s Ai-One Mini Jailbird mallet putter, has a unique 3-dot, 2-line alignment on the crown of his navy-white-navy-white mallet putter. Looking down at the putter, it’s easy to see why this alignment system would help; it just seems impossible to set up to the ball off-center, or misaligned to the target.

Also, for anyone worried, you can rest easy. Yes, he’s still playing the 2013 TaylorMade TP MC irons, which we highlighted in our recent “Modern Classics: Old vs. New” video testing series.

FitzMagic teams back up

Brothers Matthew and Alex Fitzpatrick are teaming up once again at the Zurich this year, and Bettinardi Golf hooked them up with some festive “FitzMagic” headcovers to match this week.

See what else is in Alex Fitzpatrick’s WITB here

And, with that, we say goodbye to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week, including 30 unique photo galleries full of equipment photos.

We’ll see you next week in Texas for the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson!

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