Golf club heads or other ball striking devices having distributed impact response and a stiffened face plate

摘要

A ball striking device (402), such as a golf club head (402), includes a face (412) having a ball striking surface configured for striking a ball and a body connected to the face and extending rearwardly from the face. The body has an impact-influencing structure (430) in the form of a channel positioned on the crown surface of the body. A majority of a force generated by impact with a ball is absorbed by the impact-influencing structure, and a majority of a response force generated by the head upon impact with the ball is generated by the impact-influencing structure. The face may have increased stiffness as compared to existing faces, and may include a stiffening structure to create the increased stiffness, such as a porous or cellular stiffening structure.