High performance golf ball having a reduced-distance

US008l52656B2

(12) Umted States Patent (10) Patent N0.2 US 8,152,656 B2 Sullivan et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Apr. 10, 2012 (54) HIGH PERFORMANCE GOLF BALL HAVING (51) Int. C]. A REDUCED-DISTANCE A63B 3 7/06 (2006.01) (52) U.S. Cl. ..................................................... .. 473/373 (75) Inventors: Michael J. Sullivan, Barrington, R1 (58) Field of Classification Search ................ .. 473/373, (US); Steven Aoyama, Marion, MA 473/374, 376 (US) See application file for complete search history. (73) Assignee: Acushnet Company, Fairhaven, MA (56) References Cited (US) U S PATENT DOCUMENTS ( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 2,356,128 A 8/ 1944 Thomas eH11~ egg ifsjttiltdefi 3; adjusted under 35 332333313 8 1/133 t);’T.1.1iZle’1' - - - y y5~ 4,229,337 A 10/1980 Brenner This patent is subject to a terminal dis- 4’5e0’1ee A 12/1985 _Aeyeme Ciaimer (Contmued) (21) Appl. NO‘: 13/081,714 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS WO WO 00/23519 4/2000 (22) Filed: Apr. 7, 2011 (Continued) (65) Prior Publication Data OTHER PUBLICATIONS Us 201 1/0312446 A1 Dec 22’ 201 1 “USGA letter to manufacturer takes ball debate to new level,” by D. Seanor, Golfweek, pp. 4, 26, Apr. 23, 2005. Related U.S. Application Data Primary Examiner 4 Raeann Gorden (63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 12/331,462, (74) Attorney) Agent or Firm A D 1\/hehaelhiurhS

filed on Dec. 10, 2008, now Pat. No. 7,938,745, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 11/214,428, filed on Aug. 29, 2005, now Pat. No. 7,481,723, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 11/108,812, filed on Apr. 19, 2005, now Pat. No. 7,156,757, which is a continuation of application No. 10/784,744, filed on Feb. 24, 2004, now Pat. No. 6,913,550, which is a continuation of application No. 10/096,852, filed on Mar. 14, 2002, now Pat. No. 6,729,976, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 10/964,449, filed on Oct. 13, 2004, now Pat. No. 7,033,287, which is a continuation of application No. 10/337,275, filed on Jan. 6, 2003, now Pat. No. 6,945,880.

(57) ABSTRACT

A golf ball having a reduced distance while maintaining the appearance of a normal high performance trajectory. The golf ball has a core, an inner cover layer, and a cover. The core has a diameter of from about 1.300 to 1.620 inches, while the ball has a weight from 1.30 to 1.620 ounces, a diameter from 1.670 to 1.800 inches and a maximum Coeflicient of Restitution from about 0.600 to about 0.790 as measured at 125 ft/sec incoming ball velocity. The ball has a drag to weight ratio of greater than 2.4 at a Reynolds number of about 207, 000 and a spin ratio of about 0.095.

20 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets

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