Equipment
Latest patents from TMag, Callaway, Ping and Titleist
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
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
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.
TaylorMade fairway wood
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.
Ping hybrid
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.
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.
Titleist fairway wood
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.
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.
“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.
From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms
Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105
Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Photos from the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
CJ Cup Byron Nelson Tour Report: Koepka and Kim’s newest putters finally get hot
Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider
Details on J.J. Spaun’s surprise putter switch
GolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers
Photos from the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
PGA Championship Tour Report: Fitzpatrick, Koepka among big-name putter switches for Aronimink
Photos from the ShopRite LPGA
Maria Torres WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4 3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4 5-wood: Ping G440...
Eric Cole WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: PXG Lightning Tour Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees) Shaft:...
Si Woo Kim WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X Mini driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Mini...
Wyndham Clark’s winning WITB: 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees) Shaft: Project...
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.
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.
SA golfer
Apr 23, 2014 at 4:13 am
Whaha titleist rbz 3 wood.
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?
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. :).
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.
BlkNGld
Apr 25, 2014 at 8:40 pm
Looks more like a Nike compression channel to me.
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.
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!
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.
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.
K
Apr 24, 2014 at 11:45 am
Yup, they’re coming out with SLDR and SLDR S next. Irons will be called SLDR