ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,658, issued on April 29, was assigned to SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD. (Hyogo, Japan).

"Golf club head" was invented by Yuki Shimahara (Kobe, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A golf club head comprises a face portion having a face's front surface for hitting a ball, a face's rear surface and a face's center. The face's back surface is provided with a central thin part, a sole side thin part extending in the toe-heel direction on the sole side than the central thin part, and a sole side rib extending in the toe-heel direction located between the central thin part and the sole side thin part. The width W1 of the sole side thin par...