TaylorMade Driver Patent - WITH FINS!

[GolfSpy_X]

The Taylormade Driver with Fins!

It's official...well kind of. TaylorMade is one step closer to producing a driver with fins! If you are a long time reader of MGS ten you might remember back in June of 2008 we published an article about a new patent application TaylorMade had filed regarding a driver with fins. Well just last week the patent issued! Which means it is one step closer to becoming a reality.

 

The driver is all about sound and creating hopefully the most desirable sound to a golfers ears. Here is an excerpt from the previous article explaining a little more about the design:

TaylorMade In Search Of Perfect Sound

This week if you get a chance to watch both the College Baseball World Series and the USGA U.S. Open at the same time, do a quick experiment at home. Put both events on at the same time and see if you can tell the difference between the sound of a “modern driver” and the sound that comes off the “aluminum baseball bat”.

All Sounds The Same

Ten years ago the you never even heard the reference being made about a driver sounding like an aluminum bat. That has all changed, and in the golf world not for the better. Golfers buying equipment today have had to sacrifice sound for size. But with companies promising both longer and straighter drives they have seemed to give up on the fight for one of the most important aspects of a golf club. The sweet sound of a well hit ball. When someone hit a bad drive a few years ago, you would almost always hear a partner saying something like, “You hit it thin” or “You hit it off the toe” or “You hit a heelie”. That is because you could actually tell the difference in the sound that came off the driver. Hard to remember those days but TaylorMade looks like they might be trying to bring them back with this new patent that just issued.

Purpose of The Patent

From what I have read it is to perfect the sound of the driver or at least make it resemble what drivers used to sound like. And that is where the “Fins” come in, the “Fins” actually change the sound coming from the driver by how and where they are located.

Taylormade States the Preferred Sound is:

The sound generated by a golf club is based on the rate, or frequency, at which the golf club head vibrates upon impact with the golf ball. Generally, for wood-type golf clubs (as distinguished from iron-type golf clubs), particularly those made of steel or titanium alloys, a desired frequency is generally around 3,000 Hz and preferably greater than 3,200 Hz. A frequency less than 3,000 Hz may result in negative auditory feedback and thus a golf club with an undesirable feel.

 

Related Articles:

- Callaway Golf – New Driver Patents

- Shocking Patent Issued by TaylorMade Golf

- Cleveland Golf with a Square Driver?

 

[GolfSpy Dave]

This would be a great learning tool for new new player. Also fun on the range to know that the person next to you just hit it off the toe. Do you think that they could use some of the names of the old cars with fins? TM Bel Air. 57 has big fins...

I would worry too about the 3W in the bag knocking them off.

[Moecat]

It'll take some real skilled paint work to make those fins blend in with the crown!

[GolfSpy Dave]

It'll take some real skilled paint work to make those fins blend in with the crown!

I don't think you could. You would have to market it as patented tri-fin alignment system with polytonal feedback.

[MmmmmmBuddy]

UGH..... Never never never. I still think that I can tell where someone hits it on the face by the sound and the flight. I do look at about 800 to 1000 golf shots a day, but that is just me.

I don't care if I hit that thing 500 yards, and it goes in the hole EVERY time. NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!

[GolfSpy Dave]

UGH..... Never never never. I still think that I can tell where someone hits it on the face by the sound and the flight. I do look at about 800 to 1000 golf shots a day, but that is just me.

I don't care if I hit that thing 500 yards, and it goes in the hole EVERY time. NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!

So....maybe?

[Matt Saternus]

I wonder what the marketing behind this would look like. It seems like all they ever sell is distance (true of all companies, I suppose). Is the pitch something like, "If you can hear where you hit it, you'll get better, then hit it farther"? That doesn't roll off the tongue the way "SUPERFAST!" does.

[jamo]

Plain In Shape? I dunno......

[jarnol18]

the continual downturn of TaylorMade...

[GolfSpy Dave]

If it plays well, someone will bag it. It is quite a mess though.

[Addicted2Golf]

Yeah, but wouldn't those fins make for one helluva alignment aid?

[GolfSpy Dave]

Yeah, but wouldn't those fins make for one helluva alignment aid?

What can they be made of though that would be strong enough to prevent them snapping off? Granted one usually does not hit the top of the driver on the ground, but stuff happens...

[Addicted2Golf]

What can they be made of though that would be strong enough to prevent them snapping off? Granted one usually does not hit the top of the driver on the ground, but stuff happens...

 

You saying the G's generated from the powerful force of your swing would shear those puppies right off?

[GolfSpy Dave]

I may have envisioned contrails...

[MmmmmmBuddy]

So....maybe?

Sooooooo..... NEVER!!!!!

[DJNiich]

isn't there a rule to keep clubs looking like clubs?

[jamo]

isn't there a rule to keep clubs looking like clubs?

 

Like I said earlier, they must be "plain in shape." The problem is that everybody has a different operational definition for plain in shape.

[Addicted2Golf]

 

I don't think everyone's definition varies on that. A standard driver shape is pear shaped like the traditional persimmon drivers of old.

[GolfSpy Dave]

Like I said earlier, they must be "plain in shape." The problem is that everybody has a different operational definition for plain in shape.

Three fins does make it look like a plane so what't the problem?

 

Square, pear, triangle, and whatever the machspeed is rhombus?

Gotta catch the eye of the consumer...

[jamo]

Three fins does make it look like a plane so what't the problem?

 

Square, pear, triangle, and whatever the machspeed is rhombus?

Gotta catch the eye of the consumer...

 

Airplane in shape. Aerodynamics at it's best.

[Addicted2Golf]

Airplane is shape. Aerodynamics at it's best.

 

Yeah, but an airplane is designed to achieve flight. If I tossed it in anger, I'm sure it fly like a bird but what does that lower my handicap?

[jamo]

Yeah, but an airplane is designed to achieve flight. If I tossed it in anger, I'm sure it fly like a bird but what does that lower my handicap?

 

I meant airplane in shape. Airplane wings are designed to provide lift, maybe the fins on these are designed to make to club go down towards the ball in the downswing.

[DJNiich]

I meant airplane in shape. Airplane wings are designed to provide lift, maybe the fins on these are designed to make to club go down towards the ball in the downswing.

Then wouldn't you make a divot with it?

[GolfSpy Dave]

Aren't you supposed to hit the ball on the upswing with the driver.

Fins may be FTW if they generate lift

However, according to Bernoulli's principle, fins do not increase lifting forces.

[Dave]

I'll wait until it come's with a rear spoiler

[jamo]

Aren't you supposed to hit the ball on the upswing with the driver.

 

Not necessarily, most pros hit slightly down on the ball with the driver.

[JohnBarry]

And a big fat loud muffler!

[Matt Saternus]

Aren't you supposed to hit the ball on the upswing with the driver.

Fins may be FTW if they generate lift

However, according to Bernoulli's principle, fins do not increase lifting forces.

 

 

Here you go injecting "science" into it again. Don't you know it's all about being louder, more colorful, and making the most ridiculous claims about increased distance? Have you learned nothing?

[GolfSpy Dave]

Here you go injecting "science" into it again. Don't you know it's all about being louder, more colorful, and making the most ridiculous claims about increased distance? Have you learned nothing?

Don't you have to drive someplace today?

[Matt Saternus]

Don't you have to drive someplace today?

 

 

Already there, buddy. 15.5 hours of driving, up for 24+ hours straight. The Red Bull I drank (solid recommendation, BTW) lasted for about 75 minutes before it, too, failed to keep me alert.