Things appear to be heating up in the golf shaft patenting arena.
 
Regular readers of the Golf-Patents blog know that I was surprised by the low number of golf shaft related patents that issued in 2006 (see post). Fortunately, earlier this year, Fujikura Rubber had an interesting shaft application publish, as discussed here.
 
This week another interesting shaft patent application published as US Pub. No. 20070105644 titled “Golf Club Shaft.” The application is assigned to SRI Sports and is directed to an improved golf club shaft made of fiber reinforced resin.

Let’s face it, very few golfers ever consider the amount of engineering R&D that does into the design of a golf club shaft. If you have ever wondered why shafts can be pretty expensive just read this application. The design, orientation, and placement of the multiple plies are engineered to a level that few people can appreciate. Just consider the figure below illustrating the various layers that make up this shaft.

Congratulations SRI… fascinating patent application.

Dave Dawsey – The Golf Intellectual Property Lawyer