In the field of golf club design, there is a constant balance between power, weight, and forgiveness in a putter or putter-style golf club head. A head with too much forgiveness may result in a putter that is difficult to control. A head with too much power may cause the putter to be too difficult to control. Thus, at least a portion of the prior art putter-style golf club heads are intended to have a balancing act between power and forgiveness. One such type of putter-style golf club head is a blade-type putter.
Blades are part of a putter-style golf club head. A blade adds loft, lowers CG, and increases back-swinging. Thus, the blade acts as a “helper” putter in that it provides distance and control to a putt. A blade is usually a thin piece of metal or other material that is attached to the face of a putter. Blades are made from metal (steel, titanium, aluminum, etc.), plastic or composite. Most blades are integrally formed and cast in a single piece. Blades are mounted to the putter head face by a variety of fastening means such as screws or rivets.
The prior art discloses methods for constructing putter-style golf club heads wherein the blade is attached to a face of the putter. One method of attachment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,178 to Gregg (“the '178 Patent”). The '178 Patent discloses a method of making a putter by inserting a blade material into a recess of a mold and infiltrating the blade material with a material of the putter head face. However, the method of the '178 Patent is difficult to control, as variations in the blade material and blade material density may result in over-infiltrated blade material and gaps in the blade material, respectively. Over-infiltrated blade material makes the blade material stronger than desired and results in weight of the putter-style golf club head. The gaps may lead to a poor bond between the blade material and the putter head face and result in loss of blade material and/or damage to the surface of the putter head face.
Another method of attaching blades to a golf putter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,702 to Wood (“the '702 Patent”). The '702 Patent discloses
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