Fixed angle, one piece golf clubs are the norm for golfers today, especially those players who compete in tournaments, which require strict adherence to the United States Golf Association (USGA) rules of play. The USGA provides governance for the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf and establishing equipment standards. More specifically, the equipment standards, as they apply to golf clubs and putters in particular, are precise and rigid as to the size, shape, angle, material and method of use (stroke or swing). Thus, fixed parameter clubs have become the standard in nearly every tournament golfer's bag.
A golf club is defined as an implement designed to be used for striking the ball and generally comes in three forms: woods, irons and putters distinguished by shape and intended use. A putter is a club with a loft not exceeding ten degrees designed primarily for use on the putting green. Putters are permitted to have negative loft. However, a loft of less than −15 degrees would not be considered “traditional and customary in form and make” by the USGA. Additionally, the club must not be substantially different from the traditional and customary form and make, and must be composed of a shaft and a head. All parts must be fixed so that the club is one unit, and it must have no external attachments that affect the performance of the club.
This is interpreted to mean that no part of the golf club should be designed to move, nor should it be promoted as doing so. Therefore, if any part of a club were to incorporate moving powder, pellets, liquid, vibrating wires, rollers, tuning forks, or any number of other features which could be considered a “moving part,” it would be in breach of this Rule. Additionally, this provision is interpreted to mean that with some exceptions, when assembled, all parts are bonded such that they require heating to loosen. Of course, this does not apply to clubs with permitted adjustable features.
The following requirements typically apply to all permissible methods of adjustment in a club: (i) the adjustment cannot be readily made; (ii) all adjustable parts are firmly fixed and there is no reasonable likelihood of them working loose during a round; and, (iii) all configurations of adjustment conform to the USGA Rules. During a stipulated round, the playing characteristics of a club must not be purposely changed by adjustment or by any other means.
In order to preserve the integrity of this Rule, it clearly states that it must not be too easy for a player to make adjustments during the course of a stipulated round. This is interpreted to mean that adjustments must require the use of a special tool, such as an Allen key, a Phillips screwdriver or a custom-made tool or device. It must not be possible to make the adjustment just by using the fingers, or some other object which would normally be kept in a golfer's pocket, such as a coin or a pitch-mark repair tool. The above restrictions have been included in the Rules in order to encourage the player to make all of the necessary adjustments to his clubs before starting his round, and to protect him from either unwittingly or purposely making adjustments during a round.
An embodiment of the present invention may therefore comprise: an adjustable golf club comprising: a golf club shaft; a clubhead comprising: a hollow body wherein a bottom surface of the body defines an upper boundary confine of a cavity with the hollow body, and a top surface of the body provides a crown with an opening disposed on the crown such that a proximal end of the club shaft may protrude through the opening; a retaining plate that attaches to the body wherein a top surface of the plate defines the lower boundary confine of a cavity with the hollow body, and a bottom surface of the plate provides a sole; a rocker member disposed within the cavity comprising: a cylindrical rocker pivot that allows the assembly to rotate about a pivot center; a toe rocker arm that extend forward from a pivot center; a heel rocker arm that extends rearward from the pivot center; and, a cylindrical bore that extends from a top portion into the rocker member to retain a distal end of the club shaft; wherein the confines of the cavity allow the rocker member limit single plane rotation about the pivot center constrained by interference between the rocker arms and the confines of the cavity at minimum and maximum angular limits; and, a lie adjustor that facilitates adjustment of the rotational position of the rocker member in a plane parallel to a striking face of the golf club within the constraints of the rocker arm interference and rigidly locks the rotation of the rocker member in place between the minimum and maximum angular limits.
An embodiment of the present invention may also comprise: an adjustable golf club comprising: a golf club shaft with a proximal grip and a distal end that is connected to a rocker member comprising one or more rocker arm protrusions, the rocker member that is confined within a cavity inside a hollow clubhead such that the rocker member may rotate within the cavity in a single plane parallel to a striking face of the golf club about a pivot center, the rotation that is limited to a constrained rotational arc, the angular limits of which are determined by the rocker arm protrusions that extend outwardly in the plane from the pivot center and interfere with the confines of the cavity at minimum and maximum angular limits; and, a lie adjustor that facilitates adjustment of the rotational position of the rocker member in a plane parallel to a striking face of the golf club within the constraints of the rocker arm interference and rigidly locks the rotation of the rocker member in place between the minimum and maximum angular limits.
An embodiment of the present invention may also comprise: an adjustable golf club comprising: a golf club shaft; a clubhead comprising: a hollow body comprising a crown with an opening disposed on the crown such that a proximal end of the club shaft may protrude through the opening; a retaining plate that attaches to the body wherein a top surface of the plate defines the lower boundary confine of a cavity with the hollow body, and a bottom surface of the plate provides a sole; a rocker member disposed within the cavity comprising: a semi-spherical rocker pivot that allows the assembly to rotate about a pivot center in 2 axis; a toe rocker arm that extend forward from a pivot center; a heel rocker arm that extends rearward from the pivot center; and, a pair of lateral rocker arms that extend laterally from a pivot center approximately perpendicular to the toe rocker arm and the heel rocker arm; a cylindrical bore that extends from a top portion into the rocker member to retain a distal end of the club shaft; wherein the confines of the cavity allow the rocker member limit 2-plane rotation about the pivot center constrained by interference between the rocker arms and the confines of the cavity; and, a lie adjustor that facilitates adjustment of the rotational position of the rocker member in a plane parallel to the striking face of the golf club within the constraints of the toe rocker arm and the heel rocker arm interference and locks the rotation of the rocker member in place with respect to the face plane; a loft adjustor that facilitates adjustment of the rotational position of the rocker member in a plane normal to the striking face of the golf club within the constraints of the lateral rocker arm interference and locks the rotation of the rocker member in place with respect to the normal plane.
An embodiment of the present invention may also comprise: adjustable golf club comprising: a golf club shaft with a proximal grip and a distal end that is connected to a rocker member comprising two or more rocker arm protrusions, the rocker member that is confined within a cavity inside a hollow clubhead such that the rocker member may rotate within the cavity in a first plane that is parallel to a striking face of the golf club about a pivot center and a second plane that is normal to the striking face about the pivot center, the face plane rotation that is limited to a constrained rotational arc, the angular limits of which are determined by the rocker arm protrusions that extend outwardly in the striking plane from the pivot center and interfere with the confines of the cavity at minimum and maximum angular lie limits; the normal plane rotation that is limited to a constrained rotational arc, the angular limits of which are determined by the rocker arm protrusions that extend laterally and normal to the striking plane from the pivot center and interfere with the confines of the cavity at minimum and maximum angular loft limits; and, a lie adjustor that facilitates adjustment of the rotational position of the rocker member in a plane parallel to the striking face of the golf club within the constraints of the toe rocker arm and the heel rocker arm interference and locks the rotation of the rocker member in place with respect to the face plane; a loft adjustor that facilitates adjustment of the rotational position of the rocker member in a plane normal to the striking face of the golf club within the constraints of the lateral rocker arm interference and locks the rotation of the rocker member in place with respect to the normal plane.
An embodiment of the present invention may also comprise: a method of adjusting the lie angle of a golf club comprising the steps: fixating a distal end of a golf club shaft having a proximal grip to a rocker member comprising one or more rocker arm protrusions; confining the rocker member inside a cavity within a hollow clubhead such that the rocker member may rotate within the cavity of the golf club about a pivot center; limiting the rotation to a constrained rotational arc between angular limits that are determined by the rocker arm protrusions that extend outwardly in the plane from the pivot center and interfere with the confines of the cavity at minimum and maximum angular limits; and, adjusting the angle of the shaft with respect to the clubhead by positioning the rocker member within the constraints of the rocker arm interference; and, rigidly locking the rotation of the rocker member in place between the minimum and maximum angular limits.
In the drawings,
While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many different forms, it is shown in the drawings, and will be described herein in detail, specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not to be limited to the specific embodiments described.
The disclosed apparatus overcomes the current limitations by presenting a putter that provides an adjustable head, in loft and/or lie, which still conforms to current and proposed USGA rules, thereby allowing it to be utilized in tournament play. The disclosed putter provides variable adjustment only within specific GSGA rule allowances and by specific intrinsic limits, and cannot be adjusted out of these specified limits. The adjustment that is allowed cannot be readily made and all adjustable parts are firmly fixed and there is no reasonable likelihood of them working loose during a round of golf. As shown and described herein, the disclosed adjustments to the putting club also do not allow the playing characteristics of the club to be purposely changed during a round. Thus, with the disclosed embodiments, the player is prevented from purposely modifying his club during the round, regardless of the adjustable design characteristics of the club.
The rocker 115 is constrained in its rotational limits by the pair of rocker arms 106, 108 that extend forward (heal 106) and rearward (toe 108). To reduce the shaft angle A, the pivot rocker 120 is rotated clockwise (in reference to
Similarly, as further demonstrated in
As described above, the rotational limits (Constrained adjustability) of the pivot rocker 120 are determined by the internal geometry of the rocker arms 116, 118 and their interface with the internal surfaces of the cavity 114.
For example, B and B′ may be the same angle providing equal boundaries between the center set point, or they may be different, providing a unique boundary angle about a center point. Angles B and B′ may utilize the top surface of the cavity 114 to limit rotation of the rocker 115 about the pivot center, while angles C and C′ may utilize the uppermost surface of the adjustors 122, 124 to fixate the rocker 115 in position.
With the minimum and maximum shaft angles determined by clubhead 100 geometry, and assuming that these angles fall within the USGA rules, the fine adjustment that tailors the club to the individual anthropomology of the user facilitates an adjustable club that is legal for USGA tournament play.
Thus, a short or smaller person may desire a large shaft angle 136 in order to keep the sole of the clubhead 100 flat against the surface of the putting green (parallel to the horizontal plane 134), while a taller person or someone who is using a long style putter may desire a small shaft angle 136 in order to keep the sole of the clubhead 100 flat against the surface of the putting green. In any instance, the disclosed embodiments offer the maximum adjustability within the limits of the geometry, and more specifically can be tailored to provide this maximum adjustment within USGA rules.
The 2-axis rocker 215 retained by the retaining plate 213 and pivots within the cavity 114 as did the aforementioned embodiments, but the rocker pivot 220 of
For example, the clubhead 100 depicted in
As another example, the clubhead 200 depicted in
The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and other modifications and variations may be possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include other alternative embodiments of the invention except insofar as limited by the prior art.