GOLF RELEASE TRAINING CLUB

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a hinged golf swing training club that provides the kinesthetic feeling of the three most important mechanical aspects of the golf swing: the backswing, the transition and the release. It is composed of an upper portion, lower portion, hinge assembly, and a removable elastic means that can be attached to the upper portion and lower portions of the shaft.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to golf training aids, specifically to a golf swing training club. Moreover, this invention relates to a hinged practice golf club with a removable elastic apparatus that allows the golfer to experience and feel what had heretofore been the most difficult parts of the golf swing to master, namely, the backswing, the transition and the release.

In addition, this swing training club enables the golfer to practice their swings anywhere and any time. And, when the removable elastic member is taken off, it can be used to hit balls in practice or on the course.

2. Description of Prior Art

Through the years there have been many swing aids incorporating a hinged design as one of their features. In most of these designs, the hinge is of a fork type deign; one hinge member has a pair of arms forming a fork, the other hinge member has a single arm (or tongue) which is received within the fork, and a pivot pin passes transversely through all three arms. These were easily constructed because the only stress vectors at the 90 degree angle were on the pivot pin and not on the forked sides.

All of these forked hinge designs would fail if they were turned to a 0 degree angle relative to the reference plane of the 0 degree clubhead because there is no reinforcement at the bottom of the fork. In other words, when the golfer would swing and impact a ball or the earth at clubhead speeds in the neighborhood of 100 mph, the leverage exerted upon the inner sides of the fork member by the tongue member would cause the forked members to bend or fail. This failure would present a hazard to the user and any onlookers, as the lower part of the club could become separated from the shaft and fly through the air.

Lyford U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,035 was obviously aware of this forked hinge limitation and has marketed his invention with the club face coated with a rubber coating so that you could not hit balls with it.

Tiller U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,340 was the exception as his fork design was set at a reference angle of 0 degrees. Obviously the drawings in Tiller U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,340 precludes hitting balls with the instrument, as the forked hinge design shown would not hold up to the constant pounding of balls and earth that it alludes to. Also, if the hinge is to mirror the positions that the hands, wrists and forearms assume, then the hinged portion should not move both upwardly and downwardly as the wrists never deviate downwardly from the position of address as taken in the full golf swing. What is desirable in such a hinge is that it only hinge upwardly. Also there is no evidence that Tiller U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,340 ever was commercialized.

Unfortunately, to be correct, the angle for the hinge must be 0 degree angle relative to the reference plane of the 0 degree clubhead, if it is to mirror and give exact, user understandable feedback as to the correct action of the hand, wrists and forearms in the golf swing. If the hinge is to exactly mirror the wrists in the full swing, then it must also only hinge upwardly, as that is how the wrists work. It also must be at this angle if you are to give exact, unmistakable three-dimensional feedback as to where the shaft is to be throughout the swing in order to effect the correct swing plane.

Whitney U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,579 discloses a training club in which the action of a spring is diametrically opposed to that of the invention disclosed herein. The purpose of Whitney's spring is to alert the user that at the top of their backswing that they have made too fast of a move to the top of the swing or too fast or jerky of a movement too start the downswing. The resultant momentum will cause the hinge to break downward. When viewing Whitney's FIG. 2, we can see that the lower part of the shaft would break to the left when such supposed mistakes were made. The springs main purpose is too keep the shaft straight, and to give feedback to the user when the shaft breaks or unhinges. That's why he has provided a stop element 12 to assist the spring in keeping the shaft normally straight. In Whitney's description he states, ‘thus, if the backswing be decelerated too quickly or the early portion of the down swing be accelerated too quickly the shaft flexes thereby warning the player of the fault.’

The drawings on U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,579 show that it would not be possible to have the hinge function like ours, as the shaft could perhaps only break at an angle of five to ten degrees. The purpose of the elastic member on our club is too cause the hinge to break to its full 90 degree angle and too keep the shaft hinged at this angle, only allowing the shaft to straighten at impact, which signifies the correct movement. Also, Whitney's spring is not meant to be disconnected from the club at any time, whereas, our club's elastic member is removable so that one can hit balls with the club. So, again we can see that the structure and operation of the club disclosed herein is the opposite of Whitney's club.

Because of the earlier mentioned limitations of the hinged training clubs, I developed U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,267, which did give you the aforementioned benefits, of course, without the elastic member. By accident, I happened to revisit this invention after having some initial success with it with my students. I had some of these clubs lying around against the wall one day when a magnetic scrap picker upper that I had ordered arrived at my house. I was planning to use it to pick up scrap parts of shafts that I had cut for my various inventions. I was reading the specifications and it said that it had a 40 lb pull. I just happened to be by my practice clubs when I decided to see if it would pull the short end of U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,267 up. I picked up the club, put the magnetic end down by short portion of the club, and it immediately pulled the hinge into a ninety-degree angle. Upon experiencing this, it suddenly occurred to me that if I had the means to hold the angle to ninety degrees and then release it that it might be beneficial to my students to be able to experience and feel various important aspects of a true golf swing. It also occurred to me that if you had the means to also let the club shafts become a straight line at impact from the ninety-degree angle and make the resistance variable to fit any type of golfer, and then you might have something really valuable.

The simplest and easiest way to accomplish the goals above was to provide rubber bands of varying resistance that could be selectively removed from the training club. Bands of this type can be purchased from Alliance Rubber Company in Arkansas. Of course, other options would be combinations of gears, springs, bungee cords, exercise tubing, sheeting or pneumatic apparatus or pulleys and wires or electro magnets, variable resistance linear position sensors and switches or electrical apparatus or any combinations of those so that they hold the hinge in a backwardly angle then smoothly releases at impact with correct hinging of wrists and forearms thru the swing and provide variable resistance for the user. I chose the rubber bands because of the relative simplicity and safety and they gave me exactly the feel I was looking for.

After trying this device with golfers, I determined that it gave an entirely different feeling than anything that either they or I have ever experienced from a training aid. And the immediate results that I got from my students convinced me that I was right. It immediately helped them with the major mistakes that all amateurs make, namely, the takeaway, the transition and the release. And we found that once they got the feeling of those three things, just about everything else in the swing worked itself out. Most students take the club away too slow and do not swing it. This corrects that fault by making you swing the club back and you know you're doing it right when the hinge straightens causing the shaft to straighten out and then rehinges to its ninety degree angle at the top of the backswing. The feedback it gives you with the transition is that when one gets to the top of the backswing, the elastic member causes it to snap to its ninety degree orientation. This snapping accentuates the feel of the movement and makes a sound when it happens. Once the student senses this action, that is their cue to return the club to impact with the ball. It also accentuated the feeling of when the release of the clubhead should occur in the downswing. We found that all they had to do to learn the previously arcane mechanical aspects of the swing was to swing the club back, hinge it and then swing it so that it straightened out at what would be impact with the ball and then rehinge it. This makes learning the mechanics of the golf swing incredibly simple in comparison to the contradictory, body position driven teaching of conventional golf instruction.

One student was a 13 yr old who was scoring in the 90's. After using the device for less than 10 minutes, he went out and shot a 73 in a tournament. It immediately helped him with the major mistakes that all amateurs make, namely, the takeaway, the transition and the release. They also were able to avoid all the thinking that ruins golf shots by concentrating on the feel that the device provided for them. When they get this right, everything else works out correctly. My other students achieved similar results with the device.

Other manifestations of the device could include these elements of the invention: When hitting golf balls, for safety, it would be advantageous to use the hinge described by my patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,267 or some similarly safe hinge, but not absolutely necessary for other forms of the invention. You just need a hinge of some sort that hinges ninety degrees, and for basic training, any simple apparatus will do if not hitting golf balls. The upper shaft element-lower shaft elements could be as simple as dowels or the like with a hinge and elastic member releasably fastened to the shaft portions—a clubhead would be optional—training, iron or wood—because you could make the lower shaft element heavier. A grip, also would not be absolutely necessary.

Another advantage of the current invention is that we have noticed a distinctive sound made by the rubber bands when the shafts straighten out at impact. So it would be advantageous to incorporate some sort of sound producing device that would increase the sound that occurs when the shafts is straightened.

Another option would be to incorporate a light signaling device such as an LED that would signal the user that the shafts had gotten into a straightened position.

Another option would be to incorporate a vibrational device such as the buzzer on a cellphone that would signal the user that the shafts had gotten into a straightened position. It might also be advantageous to include all three of the sound and light and vibrational feedback to the user when the shafts go into a straightened mode.

So there have been no hinged golf training clubs that provided an detachable elastic member that held the lower part of the shaft at a ninety degree angle from the upper part of the shaft that pivoted at a 0 degree angle relative to the reference plane of the 0 degree clubhead, and with a safe construction that one could actually hit balls without presenting a safety hazard to the user and onlookers, and further, that looked exactly like and acted exactly like a conventional golf club in every way except for the elastic action of the hinge. Also there have been no hinged golf training clubs that would give unmistakable positive feelings to the user, allowing them to correct the three major mistakes that all amateurs make, namely, the takeaway, the transition and the release, and that have as a part of their construction an elastic member that gives a heightened sense of awareness of how the release works in the swing in order to help the user effect the correct swing.

The present application also helps the user transfer the feel of what they have been practicing to the golf course by having the elastic member be removable so that they could have the additional feedback of the actual ball flight as you performed the correct motion.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a training club that can be used anywhere with or without a golf ball and that can actually be taken out on the course or range and be used for playing shots if desired.

The preferred embodiment of the invention described and illustrated in this application comprises a conventional golf clubhead, shafts and hinges and elastic members that allow the golfer to take off the elastic member and actually hit balls. This allows them to transfer the feel of the hinging and unhinging with the elastic element on the club to the range and the golf course. So this method of training makes it easy to accomplish one of the hardest parts of golf, transferring the feel of practice to the course.

Further aspects of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the drawings and the ensuing description of exemplary embodiments of the invention. A person skilled in the art will realize that other embodiments of the invention are possible and that the details of the invention can be modified in a number of respects, all without departing from the concept. Thus, the following drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

Other objects will become apparent as the specification proceeds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features of the invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view from the back of an iron head type golf training club, illustrating enough of the shafts to show the main features of the Golf Release Training device.

FIG. 2 shows how centrifugal force elongates the elastic member and the shaft straightens out where impact would be with a ball.

FIG. 3 shows how the hinge without the elastic member attached would straighten out at impact if hitting an actual ball.

FIG. 4 shows the golfer at address preparing to practice his swing with the training club with elastic member attached.

FIG. 5 is a fractional view of FIG. 4 taken from the target side showing how the elastic member when attached holds the upper and lower shafts at a ninety degree angle.

FIG. 6 shows the how the club operates during a correct backswing, centrifugal force causing the shafts to become straight.

FIG. 7 shows the top of the backswing, and how the elastic member has pulled the upper and lower parts of the shaft to their preferred ninety degree angle.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the swing back to where a ball would lie from FIG. 7, where, if the swing plane is maintained, the pivoted portion of the lower club goes back to the straight position where impact with a ball would occur.

FIG. 9. is a view showing how the elastic member will help the golfer feel how to rehinge the pivotal portion of the golf club to its ninety degree angle.

FIG. 10 is a view of the completed finish where the pivotal portion of the golf club has returned to its original ninety degree orientation when at address.

FIG. 11 shows the golfer at address hitting a ball with the training club with elastic member detached, the shaft in a a normal straight orientation.

FIG. 12 shows the golfer at the top of the backswing being alerted by feel and sound that the club has hinged to its ninety degree orientation.

FIG. 13 shows the golfer just before impact with a ball, the shaft now straightened.

FIG. 14 shows the golfer at the finish with club rehinged.

FIG. 15 is a view showing the simplest manifestation of the device and how it would be straightened by centrifugal force at impact, the bottom of the swing.

FIG. 16 is a view showing the simplest manifestation of the device with the elastic member causing the hinge to be engaged at ninety degrees, when at address, for example.

REFERENCED NUMERALS IN DRAWING

20 Golf Release Training Club

22 Elongated longer upper portion of shaft

24 Elongated shorter lower portion of shaft

26 Grip

28 Hinge assembly

30 Elastic member

32 Clubhead

34 Means to attach elastic member to clubhead

36 Means to attach elastic member to upper shaft portion

38 Target line

40 Protective sleeve for elastic member

42 Elongated longer upper member for simplest manifestation

44 Elongated shorter lower member for simplest manifestation

46 Hinge for simplest manifestation

48 Elastic member for simplest manifestation

50 Means to attach elastic member to elongated longer upper member

52 Means to attach elastic member to elongated shorter lower member

54 Simplest manifestation of invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-3, FIG. 1 shows the present invention, a Golf Release Training Club 20 encompassing the above elements with an elastic member 30 encased in a protective sleeve 40 attached to the elongated upper shaft portion 22 by a means to attach elastic member 36 to upper shaft portion 22 and such elastic member 30 attached to the clubhead 32 by an attachment means 34.

FIG. 2 shows how the centrifugal force of a true swinging motion straightens out the elastic member 30 and allows the hinge assembly 28 to straighten causing the upper shaft 22 and lower shaft 24 to assume what would be a normally straight golf club shaft at impact.

FIG. 3 shows the same straightening effect in FIG. 2, except, without the elastic member 30 attached.

A golfer is shown at the golfing address position ready to practice in FIG. 4 with the present invention. It has both elongated longer, upper 22 and shorter, lower 24 shaft sections, connecting at their confronting ends by a hinge assembly 28 having a distinct hinge axes. At the end of the longer upper end 22 thereof, a grip 26 is provided. Notice that when the elastic member 30 is attached it holds the shorter lower portion of shaft 24 and the clubhead 32 so that they are angled ninety degrees from the elongated upper shaft portion 22.

Practice with the training club 20 of the present invention with the elastic member 30 attached is illustrated by the sequence of views of FIGS. 4-10. With conventional golf instruction, to get to the top of the backswing in FIG. 7, normally the golfer would have to think about keeping his left arm straight and pronated, the right arm supinated and in flexion, with both wrists in radial flexion, the left wrist in palmar extension and the right wrist in extension. Instead of thinking about all of that, all the golfer has to do is swing the training club 20 back and up shown by FIG. 6 so that the hinge assembly 28 assumes a straight line positioning as shown in FIG. 6. This straightening shows that he has swung the training club 20 back instead of just taking it back. As he is doing this, the elastic member 30 is pulling the upper portion of the shaft 22 and the lower portion of the shaft 24 into its normal ninety degree orientation shown on the line of 12 in FIG. 7. Once he has felt this realignment at FIG. 7, it is his cue to return the training club 20 to impact, FIG. 8, where the upper shaft 22 and lower shaft 24 will be straightened by centrifugal force. This makes the swing an athletic, reactive event instead of a thinking, static exercise. Instead of having to think of all the old time conventional thoughts about the transition of the golf swing, such as what part of the body starts his downswing, is it the hips, the hands, the left foot, etc., all the golfer has to do once he has felt the realignment caused by the elastic member 30 acting on the upper 22 and lower shaft 24 portions is to return the training club 20 to what would normally be impact as shown in FIG. 8.

As the golfer continues his motion from FIG. 8 thru FIG. 9, the slowing of the training club 22 causes the elastic member 30 to pull the upper shaft portion 22 and lower shaft portion 24 back into their ninety degree orientation along line 14. This allows the golfer to feel how the release works in the golf swing as he continues to FIG. 10, the finish of the swing. In FIG. 10, we can see that the training club 22 has returned to its hinged orientation, the same as it was in FIG. 1. Previous to our training club 20, this was one of the hardest parts of the swing to learn. And the best way to learn it is thru the feeling that you get by swinging our club.

Practice with the training club 20 of the present invention with the elastic member 30 removed and hitting a golf ball is illustrated by the sequence of views of FIGS. 11-14. FIG. 11 shows the golfer at address with the training club 20 hinge assembly 28 straightened out by gravity so that the upper portion of the shaft 22 and the elongated shorter lower portion of shaft 24 are in a straight line, just like a normal golf club.

When the golfer swings the club back to the top of the backswing as shown in FIG. 12, he will be alerted to return the club to impact by the feel and sound of the rehinging to the ninety degree angle. Here again, from FIG. 12, he just uses the feeling that he learned with the elastic member 30 attached to straighten the shafts, and rehinge the training club as shown in FIG. 14. The reason that it is so simple to use is that there should be no thoughts involved in practicing with the training club 20, the golfer only need to recreate the feelings that the they get when using it.

We can see further that this training club 20 allows the golfer to feel the correct release of the golf training club 20 through the ball with the additional feedback of being able to observe ball flight after the swing when the elastic member 30 is taken off of the training club 20. This will allow both inexperienced and scratch golfers to improve their ball striking abilities.

Obviously this invention could be adapted to other sports that involved a hitting stick and object, such as tennis, baseball, cricket, etc.

Although some embodiments are shown to include certain features, the applicant(s) specifically contemplate that any feature disclosed herein may be used together or in combination with any other feature on any embodiment of the invention. It is also contemplated that any feature may be specifically excluded from any embodiment of the invention.

As used herein, the following terms and variations thereof have the meanings given below, unless a different meaning is clearly intended by the context in which such term is used.

“A,” “an” and “the” and similar referents used herein are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural unless their usage in context indicates otherwise.

“About” means within two percent of a recited parameter or measurement, and preferably within two percent of such parameter or measurement.

“Comprise” and variations of the term, such as “comprising” and “comprises,” are not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. “Exemplary,” “illustrative,” and “preferred” mean “another.”

Claims

1. A golf release training device comprising: an upper shaft section having a grip;a lower shaft section having a clubhead having a reference plane;a one-way hinge assembly comprising a female hinge member that is fixed to said upper shaft section and a male hinge member that is fixed to said lower shaft section and that is pivotably connected to said female hinge member; andan elastic member having two ends, one end being attached to said male hinge member and another end being attached to said female hinge member, said elastic member being operative to urge said male hinge member to assume an angle of about 90 degrees to said female hinge member;wherein said female hinge member comprises a longitudinal cavity within which said male hinge member pivots about a transverse axis, said transverse axis being perpendicular to the reference plane of a clubhead having a zero degree loft, said cavity being formed by two outer walls that are connected at their lower ends by a third wall, said third wall being operative to prevent pivoting of the male hinge member by more than about 90 degrees.

2. The golf release training device of claim 1 further comprising a roll pin about which male hinge member pivots.

3. The golf release training device of claim 1 wherein said clubhead is selected from the group consisting of: an iron, a driver, and a training head.

4. The golf release training device of claim 1 in which the hinge assembly is located at or near the center of gravity of the golf release training device.

5. A golf release training device comprising: an upper shaft section;a lower shaft section;a hinge assembly comprising a female hinge member that is fixed to one of said upper shaft section or said lower shaft section and a male hinge member that is fixed to the other of said lower shaft section or said upper shaft section, said male hinge member being pivotably connected to said female hinge member; andmeans for urging said male hinge member to assume an angle of about 90 degrees to said female hinge member, said means for urging being capable of imposing a variable urging force;wherein said female hinge member comprises a longitudinal cavity within which said male hinge member pivots about a transverse axis, said cavity being formed by two outer walls that are connected at their lower ends by a third wall and at their upper ends by a fourth wall.

6. The golf release training device of claim 5 wherein said hinge assembly is a one-way hinge assembly that constrains said lower shaft section to pivot away from a plane that is parallel to said transverse axis and that intersects said side third wall.

7. The golf release training device of claim 5 wherein said third wall and said fourth wall are operative to prevent pivoting of the male member by more than about 90 degrees.

8. The golf release training device of claim 5 in which the components of said golf release training device are not substantially different from those of the traditional and customary form and make of golf club.

9. The golf release training device of claim 5 wherein said upper shaft section has a grip and said grip is selected from the group consisting of: a grip that is not substantially different from the traditional and customary form and make of golf club grip, and a training grip.

10. The golf release training device of claim 5 in which said female hinge member contains a shaft cavity for receiving the lower end of said upper shaft portion.

11. The golf release training device of claim 5 in which said male hinge member and said female hinge member contain bores that accept a roll pin.

12. The golf release training device of claim 5 wherein the lower end of male hinge member is configured to fit into the hollow core of said lower shaft section.

13. The golf release training device of claim 5 configured so that the longitudinal axes of upper shaft member and lower shaft member are aligned when a ball is addressed and when the ball is struck during a proper golf swing.

14. The golf release training device of claim 5 wherein the longitudinal axis of said male hinge member and the longitudinal axis of said female hinge member are oriented at a 90 degree angle when said hinge assembly is fully cocked.

15. A method for training a golfer to execute a proper golf swing using a golf release training device comprising an upper shaft section having a handle, a lower shaft section having a clubhead, and an elastic band that urges said lower shaft section to assume an angle of about 90 degrees with upper shaft section, said upper and lower shaft sections being joined by a one-way hinge assembly, said elastic member having a length, said method comprising: addressing the ball, at which time said lower shaft section is fully cocked;executing a backswing to a first checkpoint at which said upper shaft section is pointing at a target line, said lower end of lower shaft section is pointing at a target;executing a forward swing to a second checkpoint at which said upper shaft section and said lower shaft section are in alignment and said length of said elastic member is at a maximum; andcontinuing said forward swing to a third checkpoint at which the upper end of said upper shaft section is pointing at said target line and said lower shaft section is fully cocked.

16. The method claim 15 wherein addressing the ball comprises orienting the training device so that the target is located in a plane that is perpendicular to a reference plane of a zero degree clubface.

17. The method claim 15 wherein the lower shaft section is oriented at a 90 degree angle to the upper shaft section at the first checkpoint.

18. The method claim 15 in which contact with a golf ball occurs at the second checkpoint.

19. The method claim 15 wherein the lower shaft section is oriented at a 90 degree angle to the upper shaft section at the third checkpoint.

20. The method claim 15 further comprising having an observer report to the golfer the orientation of the components of the training aid at each checkpoint after the swing is completed.

21. A golf release training device comprising: an upper shaft section having a grip;a lower shaft section having a clubhead having a reference plane;a one-way hinge assembly comprising a female hinge member that is fixed to said upper shaft section and a male hinge member that is fixed to said lower shaft section and that is pivotably connected to said female hinge member; anda rubber band that is operative to urge said lower shaft section to be disposed at an angle other than zero degrees relative to said upper shaft section;wherein said female hinge member comprises a body having a longitudinal cavity within which said male hinge member pivots about a transverse axis, said transverse axis being approximately perpendicular to the reference plane of a clubhead having a zero degree loft, said cavity being formed by two outer walls that are connected at their lower ends by a third wall.

22. A golf release training device comprising: an upper shaft section having a grip;a lower shaft section having a clubhead;a hinge assembly comprising a female hinge member that is fixed to said upper shaft section and a lower shaft section having an upper end that is pivotably connected to said female hinge member; andmeans for urging said lower shaft section to assume an angle other than zero degrees with respect to said upper shaft member.

23. The golf release training device of claim 22 wherein said hinge assembly is operative to prevent pivoting of said lower shaft by more than about 90 degrees with respect to said upper shaft.

24. A golf release training device comprising: an upper shaft section having a grip;a lower shaft section having a clubhead;a hinge assembly comprising a female hinge member that is fixed to said upper shaft section and a lower shaft section having an upper end that is pivotably connected to said female hinge member; andmeans for imposing forces on said lower shaft section and said upper shaft section that are operative to resist alignment of said shaft sections, said means for imposing forces emitting a signal when alignment occurs;wherein said female hinge member comprises a body having a longitudinal cavity within which said upper end pivots, said cavity being formed by two outer walls that are connected adjacent to their upper ends by a fourth wall and adjacent to their lower ends by a third wall that forms a forward-facing groove in the lower portion of said body and a backward-facing slot in the upper portion of said body.

25. The golf release training device of claim 24 wherein said signal is a vibration signal, an audible signal and/or a visual signal.