Patent Application
20100099508
The present invention relates to games and game equipment, and particularly to a game combining certain aspects of golf and certain aspects of baseball, and a set of equipment for use in such a game.
A slender, long baseball bat known as a “fungo” bat has long been used to hit baseballs to provide practice for fielders. A fungo batter tosses a ball up to about eye height or above, then hits the ball with the fungo bat as the ball falls. The fungo batter, in time, can learn to “toss up and hit” the ball with reasonable accuracy and much enjoyment. Without fielders eager to catch the ball, however, the batter must follow after the ball when it has been hit.
In golf at least one and usually several clubs of various specialized types are carried and used to move a small ball along a prescribed course and into each of several holes. The ball is hit from its latest position on the ground using a club chosen for each shot. However, a set of clubs is expensive to purchase and tiring to carry.
Additionally, a great deal of land, specially prepared, planted, and maintained, is required for a golf course, and care of a golf course is often extremely costly. Use of land for a golf course is therefore basically exclusive of other uses for that land.
Golf courses normally include a flag mounted on a stick set into each hole, but for yard games intended to be played in a fashion similar to that of golf other targets are known, as shown, for example, in Benson U.S. Design Pat. No. D500,349; Alder U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,267; Reck U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,134; Folsom U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,086; Dineen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,483; Gubany U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,671; and Rokusek U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,833. Previously known sets of targets to be used for a small-scale golf-like game, however, have been mostly bulky and hard to transport.
Sets of game equipment for games in which a ball may be propelled toward each of a series of targets are disclosed, for example, in Folsom U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,086 and Eldredge et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,849,238. Targets for such games are disclosed, for example, in Switzer U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,570 and Guyer U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,713. Various modified golf clubs are known, as shown, for example, in Kruspe U.S. Pat. No. 2,144,846, which discusses using the disclosed golf club to strike a ball thrown up into the air, in much the same manner as is done in fungo.
Many baseball bat modifications have been proposed, apparently primarily for the purpose of improving baseball batting accuracy. Several of these modified bats include flat areas along a portion or all of a side of the barrel of the bat. The objective of such flat areas, however, is to supposedly be able to hit a pitched baseball more easily in a specific direction, depending on the orientation of the flat surface when the ball is struck. Several patents disclose other bat shapes that are not the ordinary generally cylindrical bat barrel shape. See, for example, Merritt U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,687; Pendergast U.S. Pat. No. D351,868; LaBorde et al. U.S. Pat. No. D397,385; Kelliher U.S. Pat. No. D543,251; Wells et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,086,973; Fulp U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,738; and Gregg U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,462.
What is desired, therefore, is a game and playing equipment for such a game that can offer the enjoyment and challenges of both “toss-up and hit” batting and golf, but without the need for the investment in equipment and real estate demanded by golf, and without the need to carry a heavy set of golf clubs along a playing course.
The present invention provides a combination fungo bat and golf putter, and related game equipment that may be used to provide answers to the needs and desires for a game combining some of the more enjoyable aspects of baseball batting and golf play as disclosed herein and defined in the appended claims.
As a first important aspect of the playing equipment disclosed herein, a combination bat-putter may include an elongate generally cylindrical ball-striking barrel portion having an outer tip end and a circular cross-sectional shape with a diameter, a tapered mid portion extending in a first direction away from the barrel portion, a slender handle portion connected with the barrel portion through the tapered mid portion, and a planar ground-stroke ball-striking face located at the outer tip end of the barrel portion and extending along the barrel portion over a short distance.
In another embodiment of the bat-putter a planar ball-striking face may be provided on the knob at the end of the handle.
As another important aspect of the playing equipment disclosed herein a target toward which a ball may be batted and putted may include a slender rod, which may be provided with a flag at an upper end, and a target body of a desired size that can rest on the ground, held in place by the slender rod extending down through it into the ground.
In one embodiment of such a target, the target body may be a tapered frustoconical cup that can easily be stacked with similar cups so that a set of several such target bodies can be nested and stored in a compact stack whose height is but a small fraction of an equal multiple of the height of each such target body.
In one embodiment a target body retainer and stabilizer may be fitted snugly on the rod to help keep the target body in place on the ground.
A game according to the present disclosure may be played on a golf course, using existing golf tee areas, greens, and holes, or may be played on a smaller area, such as an available athletic field, or in a yard associated with a person's house, for example. In either version, a player attempts to move a ball around a course of preferably several targets such as golf course holes in a minimum number of strokes, first using the bat-putter to hit the ball using “toss-up and hit” fungo or baseball skills. When the ball rests on a golf course green or within a prescribed distance from a target, the ground-stroke face of the bat-putter must be used to move the ball the remaining distance to place the ball in the cup on a golf course green, or to cause the ball to strike the target body of one of the targets provided as part of a set of game equipment.
Depending on where a game as disclosed herein is played, the ball used may be a golf ball, a baseball, or another ball as selected. For example, a ball of a size and configuration designed to present a greater air resistance or to have less weight or a smaller ability to rebound or be driven by the bat-putter may be used, so that the game can be played in a more restricted area. Thus the game can be played, for example, on an ordinary golf course, using a golf ball, or on an athletic field using a baseball, or on a home lawn, using a limited-flight, lightweight ball such as a Wiffle® ball.
The foregoing and other features of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to
The planar ball-striking face 34 may be an outer surface of an insert such as a face plate 46 fastened closely against a base surface 48 of the bat-putter 20. The plate 46 may be held in place by suitable fasteners such as screws 50, extending through holes 51 in the plate 46 and into corresponding holes 53 in the base surface 48, and optionally by suitable adhesives (not shown) as well. The surface 48 is recessed with respect to the cylindrical outer surface 42 by a distance 52 that is somewhat dependent upon the thickness 54 of the plate 46 so that the ball-striking face 34 is located at a distance somewhat less than half the diameter 24 from the adjacent cylindrical surface 42 when the planar ball-striking face 34 is parallel with the diameter 24 and the central longitudinal axis 44.
The thickness 54 of the face plate 46 may be chosen depending at least partially upon the density of the material of the plate 46, in order to result in the plate 46 being heavy enough to substantially balance the bat-putter 20 around the central longitudinal axis 44, compensating for the weight of material omitted or removed from the barrel 22 to form the base surface 48 and the connecting surface 40 at the outer tip end 32 of the barrel portion 22. The face plate 46 may be of any of several materials, including without limitation, wood, metal, composites, and plastic, to vary the weight, speed, and power of the bat-putter 20 for the toss-up and hit. Thus for a bat-putter 20 whose primary material is wood, a stainless steel or bronze plate 46 may have a thickness 54 of about 0.1 inch where the base surface 48 is a small distance from the central longitudinal axis 44, as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
As shown in
Thus the ball-striking face 34 may be used to putt a ball 38 in a conventional golf putt fashion with the ball-striking face 34 parallel with the central longitudinal axis 44, or the bat-putter 20 with the ball-striking face angled down as shown in
While the ball 38 may be an ordinary golf ball for play on a golf course, for play in a smaller area a ball that will not travel so far should be used, such as standard commercially available limited flight golf balls, commercially available perforated golf balls, commercially available hollow plastic light weight golf balls, commercially available baseballs, commercially available perforated baseballs, commercially available softballs or commercially available perforated softballs.
As shown in
As shown in
As explained previously, in many instances an ordinary golf course will not be available, or it may be desired to play a golf-like game in a smaller area in connection with a family gathering where players of various levels of skill would be involved and where many players would have little or no golf ability nor any desire to bear the costs usually associated with play on a conventional golf course. There is thus disclosed a set of game equipment that may be used to provide a suitably challenging course of play including suitable targets.
Referring to
The flagstick 102 may be of strong yet slender and not too heavy material such as wood, fiber reinforced plastic, or composite, or may be a slender hollow metal tube or a heavy wire, with a length 110, of, for example, about 36 inches, long enough for the flag 104 to be visible easily at a distance over somewhat uneven ground. The flagstick 102 should have a sharp pointed end 112 that can easily pushed into the ground where it is desired to have a target 100, as in an area of a yard or playground where a course is to be set up for play in accordance with the game, as will be described in greater detail subsequently. For compact storage of several flagsticks 102, the diameter 113 of the flagstick 102 should be small, no greater than one inch and preferably no greater than about 0.3 inch, and more preferably no greater than about 0.1 inch.
The flag 104 should include markings to show the order of play, such as the numeral seven illustrated in
As shown in
As shown in
The target body 106 should be large enough to present a target which can be struck without requiring too precise a path to be followed by a ball 38, and thus may conveniently have a maximum diameter 114 in the range of 2½ inches-4½ inches. The target body 106 should be tapered and hollow, with an interior cavity 115, and having a smaller diameter 116 at an upper, closed, end 118. While the target body 106 may be conical or pyramidal, for convenience and visibility it may be in the form of a frustoconical cup with a circular closed upper end 118 and a height 120, as shown in
For example, a target body 106 may be in the form of a thin-walled, tapered, inexpensive cup, such as a tapered plastic beverage cup with a rolled rim 122 to provide some rigidity and stability. For example, such a cup may have a maximum diameter 114 of 4 inches, a closed-end diameter 116 of 3.5 inches, and a height 120 of 4 inches. The cup may or may not have ornamental coloring, printing or painting of words or numbers of most any kind and most any purpose. A hole 124 is located in the center of the closed end 118 to receive the flagstick 102 when the target 100 is in use. Similarly, a bore 126 extends through the target stabilizer 108, so that the flagstick 102 can pass through both the target body retainer and stabilizer 108 and the target body 106.
The target body retainer and stabilizer 108 may be made of a variety of materials, including without limitation, hollow plastic, solid plastic, hollow rubber, solid rubber or foam rubber, with a diameter or largest dimension 109 preferably no greater than 4.5 inches. The target body retainer 108 may, but need not, be an ornamental representation of a golf ball, baseball, or softball. With the target body 106 being light in weight the weight of the target body retainer and stabilizer 108 can keep the target body 106 in its desired position on the ground.
As shown in
As shown in
For play on a golf course, the bat-putter 20 or 70 described above is used, and the ball 38 should be a commercially available standard golf ball. Preferably each player should have a separate bat-putter 20 or 70, and each player must have an individual ball 38. The bat-putter may not exceed 38 inches is length and may not have a barrel diameter 24 greater than 2¾ inches or less than 1¾ inches. The bat-putter 20 or 70 is the only batting and putting device that may be used by a player to complete the course, unless the bat-putter 20 or 70 breaks, splits, cracks, chips etc., in which case the player may continue play with a replacement bat-putter or use another player's bat-putter to complete the course.
The object of the game is, within these rules, to play the golf course in the fewest swings. The player to complete the golf course with the fewest swings is the winner. Scoring should be kept by each player for the number of swings to complete each hole, as in the game of golf.
Play is commenced on each hole, on the designated golf teeing area, with each player tossing-up a respective ball 38 above the player's head and swinging at the ball on its downward flight (“toss-up and hit”) with the bat-putter 20 or 70, with the intention of hitting the ball 38 in the direction of the flagstick 94 in the hole on the golf green 92. Each swing at a tossed up ball 38 is counted as a swing in the player's score, regardless of whether or not the swing comes into contact with the ball. In making the toss-up and hit swing, the player should turn the bat-putter 20 in the player's hand so that the putting face 34 of the bat-putter is turned up, down, or back, away from the ball, so as to avoid hitting the ball 38 with the putting face 34. After the ball is struck by the player in the teeing area of the golf course, the player's next toss-up and hit occurs over the place where the ball lies. At that place, the player stands over the place where the ball lay and proceeds with the player's next toss-up and hit in the direction of the flagstick 94 in the hole 90 on the green 92 and so on until the ball is on the green. Switch-hitting, as in baseball, from the left or right, is allowed and may be useful to the player to avoid hitting obstacles, as will be explained below.
The toss-up and hit swing may not be used on a golf green 92. On the golf green 92 putting the ball with the putting face 34 or club face 74, 82, or 84 on an end of the bat-putter 20 or 70 is the only allowed manner of striking the ball 38. The ball 38 is putted from where it comes to rest on the green 82 in the direction of the hole 90 until the ball falls in the hole. Each putt on the green is counted as a swing in the player's score.
Hazard Play. A hazard is any sand bunker or designed water hazard (as opposed to standing rainwater, over-irrigation etc.) on the course. If a ball 38 goes into a hazard the player is charged with a swing and may take another toss-up and hit swing from where the ball landed in the hazard, if playable, or if not playable, may move the ball to an area just past the hazard and resume play from there, in which event the player is charged with two swings. If the ball 38 lands in an unplayable area such as standing irrigation or rainwater that is not designated as a hazard, the ball may be moved without penalty to the area just beyond the standing water, etc., towards the next flagstick 94.
Obstacle Play. Obstacles are things on the course so close to where the player's ball rests that the player cannot take a swing without hitting the obstacle, e.g., trees, bushes, poles, buildings, etc. The player is allowed to avoid hitting the obstacle without a penalty swing by switch-hitting. If a player's ball 38 lands on an obstacle or so near to it that the player cannot take a swing without hitting it, the player is charged with a swing and may move the ball to a selected position within twice the length 31 of the player's bat-putter 20 or 70 from the original lie and must resume play from there.
Lost Ball Play. In the event the player loses his ball 38 in play, the player is charged with one swing and must go back as nearly as possible to the place of the player's last swing and resume play from there.
Out-of-Bounds Play. Out-of-bounds is where play is prohibited according to the golf course regulations. It may be indicated by stakes, fences, lines above or on the ground, electronic light etc. Any ball 38 on or over the boundary line is out-of-bounds. If a player's ball 38 lands out-of-bounds the player is charged with a swing and must move the ball to a spot just inside the boundary line that is the closest possible lie to where the ball was lying out-of-bounds and must commence play from there.
Order of Play and Etiquette. Off the first teeing area, the order of play is by agreement of the players or determined by lot such as by drawing straws. After all players' balls 38 are hit out of the teeing area, the player with the ball furthest from the hole is the next to play and so on. After play of the first hole is completed, on the next hole's teeing area, the player with the best score on the prior hole has the honor to start play and where two or more players on the prior hole have the same score the order of play is again determined by agreement or by lot. No one should move, talk to the player or stand close to the player when the player is in the process of swinging at a ball. When a ball 38 has been played, or the hole play completed, a player should move quickly to where the ball lies for the next swing or to the next teeing area for commencement of the next hole.
Care of the Golf Course. Players shall take care of the golf course as is customary, by raking bunkers, repairing ball-marks and spike-marks on greens and by avoiding damage to the greens by leaning on their bat-putter 20 or 70 or course flagsticks 94.
Equipment for Sports Field or Yard Play. In order to play safely in a limited area, the ball 38 should be a ball that will not travel as far as a golf ball, such as standard commercially available limited flight golf balls, commercially available perforated golf balls, commercially available hollow plastic golf balls, commercially available baseballs, commercially available perforated baseballs, commercially available softballs or commercially available perforated softballs. Also needed are a bat-putter 20 or 70 as described above, one “start” or similarly named flag 104 and a flagstick 102 and nine or eighteen targets 100 with consecutively numbered flags 104 and flagsticks 102 as described above. The recessed and flattened area of the ball-striking face 34 of the barrel portion 22 of the bat-putter 20 may not exceed the last 4½ inches adjacent to the outer tip end 32.
The bat-putter 20 or 70 for sports field or yard play is to be as described above. The bat-putter 20 or 70 is the only batting and putting device that may be used by a player to complete the course, unless the bat-putter breaks, splits, cracks, chips, etc. in which case the player may continue play with a replacement bat-putter 20 or 70, or use another player's bat-putter to complete the course.
The “start” or similarly named flag 104 and flagstick 102 and nine (9) or eighteen (18) consecutively numbered game flags 104 and flagsticks 102 may be identical except for coloring, lettering and/or numbering. The lettered and numbered flagsticks are placed on the sports field or yard from which play is commenced for the “start” or similar named flagstick and play follows in the order of the consecutively numbered flagsticks until completed at the last flagstick as further described below.
The Sports Field or Yard Course. The sports field or yard course of the game allows for play to occur in smaller areas due to the use of limited flight balls as described above. The course is set in advance of any play. Instead of putting the ball 38 into a hole, it is putted into a target body 106 of a flagstick 102 as in the game of croquet. The play from one target 100 to another target 100 is an “inning” to be completed in the fewest number of swings, as in a hole of golf. To play a nine-inning game, the course would have one “start” or similarly named flagstick and nine flagsticks numbered 1 though 9 planted in the field or yard. To play an eighteen-inning game the course would have one “start” or similarly named flagstick and eighteen (18) flagsticks numbered 1 though 18. Play commences with a toss-up and swing by each player from the location of the “start” flagstick 102 and proceeds around the course in the order of the consecutively placed numbered flags 104 until the course of targets 100 has been completed when the last putt has been made into the target 100 including the last consecutively numbered flagstick.
Object of the Game. The object of the game is, within these rules, to play the sports field or yard course in the fewest swings. The player to complete the sports field or yard course with the fewest swings is the winner. Scoring should be kept for the number of swings required to complete each inning as for a hole in the game of golf.
Toss-up and Hit. Play is commenced, within 5 bat-putter lengths 31 (approximately 15 feet) from the “start” flagstick 102 with the player tossing-up the ball 38 above the player's head and swinging at the ball on its downward flight (“toss-up and hit”) with the bat-putter 20 or 70 with the intention of hitting the ball 38 in the direction of the first flag 104, numbered “1.” Each swing at a tossed up ball 38 is counted as a swing in the player's score, regardless of whether or not the bat-putter 20 or 70 comes into contact with the ball 38. In making the toss-up and hit swing, the player should turn the bat-putter in the player's hand so that the putting face 34 of the bat-putter is turned up, down, or back, away from the ball, so as to avoid hitting the ball 38 with the putting face 34. After the ball 38 is struck by the player to commence an inning, the player's next toss-up and hit occurs over the place where the ball lies when it has come to rest. At that place, the player stands over the place where the ball lay and proceeds with the player's next toss-up and hit in the direction of flagstick “1” and so on until the ball is within 5 bat-putter lengths 31 (approximately 15 feet) of the flagstick “1.” Switch-hitting, as in baseball, from the left or right, is allowed and may be useful to the player to avoid hitting obstacles, as explained below regarding Hazard and Obstacle Play. After putting into flagstick “1,” play proceeds toward the next consecutively numbered flagstick “2” with a toss-up and hit swing made within 5 bat-putter lengths (approximately 15 feet) of flagstick “1.” After completion of play of the second inning by putting into flagstick “2,” play proceeds as described above in the order of the remaining numbered flagsticks on the course and is completed with the last putt into the last consecutively numbered flagstick, or in the event of a tie, then into extra innings commencing at the “start” flagstick until one of the players posts a lower extra inning score than any of the other previously tied players.
Putting. As play approaches the flagstick “1,” the toss-up and hit swing may not be used within 5 bat-putter lengths (approximately 15 feet) of flagstick “1,” the “green” area. In the green, the ball is putted toward the target 106 at the base of the flagstick 102 as in croquet. In the “green” area, putting the ball with the putting face 34 or the club face 74, 82, or 84 on and end of the bat-putter is the only allowed swing. The ball 38 is then putted from where it lies on the field or yard in the direction of the numbered target 100 until the ball 38 hits the target body 106, at which point the inning is completed.
At that point the next inning begins with a toss-up and hit swing within 5 bat-putter lengths 31 (approximately 15 feet) from the just completed target 100, in the direction of the next consecutively numbered target, and so on until all of the innings are completed as described above. Each putt is counted as a swing in the player's score. The score for the number of swings to complete each inning should be recorded at the conclusion of each inning as in a hole in the game of golf.
Hazard Play. A hazard is any sand bunker or designed water hazard (as opposed to standing rainwater, over-irrigation etc.) or other designated hazard established when setting up the course. If a player's ball 38 goes into a hazard the player is charged with a swing and may take another toss-up and swing from where the ball 38 landed in the hazard, if playable, or if not playable, may move the ball to an area just past the hazard and resume play from there, in which event the player is charged with two swings. If the ball 38 lands in an unplayable area such as standing irrigation or rainwater that is not designated as a hazard, the ball may be moved without penalty to the area just beyond the standing water etc. towards the next target 100. Hazards shall be designated in advance of play.
Obstacle Play. Obstacles are things on the course so close to where the player's ball 38 rests that the player cannot take a swing without hitting the obstacle, e.g., trees, bushes, poles, buildings, etc. The player is allowed to avoid hitting the obstacle without a penalty swing by switch-hitting. If a player's ball 38 lands on an obstacle or so near to it that the player cannot take a swing without hitting it, the player is charged with a swing and may move the ball to a selected position within two lengths 31 of the player's bat-putter 20 or 70 from the original lie and must resume play from there.
Lost Ball Play. In the event the player loses his ball 38 in play, the player is charged with one swing and must go back as nearly as possible to the place of the player's last swing and resume play from there.
Out-of-Bounds Play. Out-of-bounds is where play is prohibited. It may be indicated by stakes, fences, lines above or on the ground, electronic lights, etc., or as otherwise decided in advance by the players. Any ball 38 on or over the boundary line is out-of-bounds. If a player's ball 38 lands out-of-bounds the player is charged with a swing and must move the ball to a spot just inside the boundary line that is the closest possible lie to where the ball was lying out-of-bounds and must commence play from there.
Order of Play and Etiquette. The order of play to commence the first inning is by agreement of the players or determined by lot, such as by drawing straws. After all players' balls 38 are hit to commence the inning the player with the ball furthest from the next target 100 is next to play and so on. After the first inning is completed, the next inning is commenced by the player with the best score in the prior inning, who has the honor to start play. Where two or more players in the prior inning have the same score, then the order of play is again determined by agreement or by lot. No one should move, talk to the player or stand close to a player when the player is in the process of swinging at a ball.
The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.
