I find myself sometimes scrolling through the US Patent list to see if any golf companies have anything cool coming down the pipeline like normal people with normal hobbies do. Most of the time its a company patenting the ornamental design of a club that was released a few years ago. Other times though we get patents like I found today from a manufacturer that doesnt look anything like I have seen before.

The Summary

This is the summary straight from the patent:

” A Golf Club head with an adjustable weight assembly that includes a pair of stacked,rotatable circular plates with through-slots and a slidable weight that can move within the slots and clamp the plates together so that they can move within the slots and clamp the plates together so that they are reversibly fixed to a body portion is disclosed herin. The plates are preferably composed of a lightweight material such as composite, and are located on the sole so that the weight assembly is visible to a user. The plate and slideable weight combination and allows for an increased range of personal performance customization by way of adjustability and interchangeability without using up available discresitionary mass in the golf club head”

New Weight system?

On this patent there is a circular disk shaped item on the sole of the club that resembles the original Cobra LTD to a certain extent. There is also a new weighting system that I havent seen before. This weighting system can go into a bunch of different settings. You can set it to be draw or fade while leaving the weight in the middle to have some influence on flight. Its the same kind of settings weve seen for years but the use of that little sole plate and the fact the weight track looks so much different is pretty dang cool. Under the hood it also looks like the weight is moving more in a swirl motion than any previous way of straight left to right or front to back. Not sure the reason why but it is pretty interesting.

Is it happening?

I cant make any promises. Im also not an engineer but this is a new weighting system and sole plate I havent seen from a Callaway driver before. It takes quite a bit to engineer this stuff and then pay for the patent but it could be just an idea they think could be useful in the future just in case. Maybe they have the idea but not the tech to do it yet. Again its not a guarantee this is a preview of their new driver. It would also be pretty crazy to submit a patent in August 2021 for a product not set to release for 17 months. I know they already have the idea for a driver 3 years down the line but requesting the patent seems early. I also know this is the time of year when they make their decision on the shaft and grip that will be stock in their products. They need to get these ordered so they can have their stuff ready for the Golf Digest Hot List and other marketing materials. The driver for 2023 has already been designed and is getting the final touches put on now so a patent hitting the market now may not be too crazy.

Final Thoughts

Im not some crazy industry insider. I could be totally wrong but it is something new. The pictures all have Callaway’s Jailbreak tech so its not a super old patent. This is the time of year the OEMs are finalizing what their 2023 lineups look like. Ill also point out patents have been taking 15-18 months to get approved so if this was filed last august it wouldnt have been ridiculous for Callaway to think it wouldnt go through until December 2022. Its not a guarantee that its the new club but it is at least intriguing to look at.