A novel club construction utilizes a permanent magnet fixed within the club head at a selected spot. Separated from the magnet by a non-magnetic spacer material is a keeper of ferromagnetic material which is believed to shape the flux field of the permanent magnet. This combination is used to establish a permanent field of flux within the club head.

Note that the striking plate 16 is a hard region, which in wooden clubs may be a plate of a hardened material attached to the body of the head by a set of screws 19, which overlies the center of gravity of the club, which is referred to as the sweet spot. As is well known, hitting the ball at the sweet spot is the intention of the golfer, however it is somewhat more difficult than a non-golfer would imagine. In my invention, I form a cavity in the body into which I seat a permanent magnet 21 in alignment with the sweet spot and the loft of the striking plate, as shown in FIG. 5. The permanent magnet of choice is a horseshoe magnet or a variant thereon such as a button magnet which also has north and south poles in lateral relation. As shown in FIG. 4, the poles of the magnet are positioned facing the strike plate and are covered by a layer of non-magnetic spacer 22 material such as nylon, mylar or an adhesive layer. In a wooden club or any metallic club wherein the strike plate is non-magnetic, a keeper plate 23 of a ferromagnetic material is placed across the poles separated therefrom by the spacer 22. The striking plate thus overlies the magnet assembly. Where the club design is such that the striking plate itself is ferromagnetic, then the striking plate will serve as the effective keeper and no additional keeper plate is needed. Note that the keeper must be separated from the poles of the magnet by the spacer. Although I do not imply that the following measurements are critical to the utilization of the invention, it may be helpful for others to confirm and duplicate my club to know that the magnetic strength is between 1000 to 6000 gauss and the magnet weighs between 8 and 20 grams for a driver and between 4 and 40 grams for all other clubs. The spacer thickness varies between 0.003 and 0.25 inches. From my observations, a space must exist between the magnet and the ferromagnetic keeper plate.

An alternative construction is shown in FIG. 4A, wherein I employ a pot magnet 51, a spacer 22, and a rare earth magnet 52. In this construction, the magnetic field is set up between the two permanent magnets.

It is important to note that the variation in mass of the club is not dramatically altered by the use of the invention, nor should the mere variation in weight cause the level of difference in performance observed with my prototype woods. To test whether the improved performance was due to the mass or whether to some magnetic phenomenon, I prepared duplicate woods in which I inserted non-magnetic assemblies of the same physical description as the above magnetic assembly and had two accomplished golfers "blind test" the two versions without knowing which club contained the magnet assembly or even what was in the clubs. Using a metal wood, the two golfers drove identical balls an average of 291.3 and 288.7 yards off the tee when the magnetic assembly was present. This compared to average drives of 255.1 and 268.6 yards using an identical club which had the non-magnetic assembly in place. Similar results were attained using a persimmon wood with the magnetic and non-magnetic assemblies in place.

It will be appreciated that the rules of golf forbid the use of a club with a moving part in it; thus, the magnetic assembly is fixed in place with adhesive and a screw 24 as in FIG. 3. Thus, there does not appear to be any possibility of a mechanical rebound in the construction. I have also learned that by orienting the poles of the magnet such that the north pole is closest to the heel of the club head, as in FIG. 4, the tendency to slice the ball, i.e. imparting a clockwise spin for a right handed golfer causing the ball to fade to the right of the intended course, is greatly reduced. Likewise, placing the magnet off center toward the hosel, as in FIG. 7, reduces the tendency to slice the ball and placing the magnet off center toward the toe, FIG. 6, reduces the tendency to hook. As noted in FIG. 8, the club may even have a central main magnet assembly with one or two minor magnet assemblies at the heel or toe side to increase distance and reduce the tendency of the club head to strike the ball at an angle.

While I do not know why the phenomenal results are achieved, the necessity of the flux field being present in the non-magnetic spacer indicates that movement of the club in the arc required to strike the ball interacts with the magnetic field of the earth in a manner which resists the change in inertia when the ball is struck, thus providing an extra pseudo mass to the club head as it strikes the ball.