The present disclosure relates to a golf tee, and more particularly, to a golf tee in which a portion on which a ball is placed is formed of a flexible material so as to prevent the tee from being lost or damaged by being broken or displaced due to an impact applied thereto by a golf club head when making a tee shot, and which is configured to be stably fixed as well as to be easily stuck into/pulled out from the ground and to maintain the initial height of the ball constant so as to reduce the inconvenience of adjusting the height of the ball whenever the tee is inserted into the ground.
Generally, when making a tee shot in golf, a player hits a golf ball placed on a golf tee. A typical golf tee used by many golfers is made of wood or plastic. The golf tee has a needle-shaped fixing portion with a sharp tip so as to be inserted into the ground, and a generally concave upper portion so as to place the golf ball thereon.
Such a golf tee has a high probability of breakage due to the construction thereof. When making a tee shot, if the force exerted by the head of the golf club acts only on the golf ball placed on the golf tee, there is no concern of damage. However, in most cases, the force applied by the head of the golf club is also applied to the golf tee supporting the golf ball. Thus, the golf tee made of wood or plastic is broken or pulled out from the ground and displaced by the force applied thereto. A golf tee that is broken or displaced as described above may not be used again, and is typically left on a golf course or discarded, causing unnecessary waste. Accordingly, as shown in
In addition, the stability of the golf tee is conventionally determined depending on how far the golf tee is inserted into the ground, but it is difficult to know how far the golf tee is inserted into the ground. Thus, it is not easy to stably place the golf ball on the golf tee. Furthermore, since there is no separate mark on the golf tee and the length of insertion into the ground is not fixed, it is difficult to keep the height of the golf ball constant in every tee shot. When making a tee shot, the height of the ball greatly affects the distance and accuracy of the shot. Thus, if the height of the ball is not constant, it is impossible for the player to send the ball to a desired spot.
However, even with this conventional golf tee, there is a problem of breakage of the tee by the external force applied thereto through the club. Even if the mesh portion is provided so as to be bent to a certain degree, the golf tee may be broken or pulled out to be damaged or lost depending on the force applied thereto by the golf club because the upper mesh portion and the lower rigid body portion are integrally connected to each other. In addition, the conventional mesh golf tee is also configured such that it is not easy to adjust the length of insertion into the ground or to know the distance from the ground to the golf ball after adjusting the length of insertion into the ground, which makes the impact accuracy of the golf ball poor when making a tee shot.
Therefore, what is required is a golf tee, which is not easily broken or pulled out by the external force of a tee shot when the golf tee is inserted into the ground, thereby being less likely to be damaged or lost, and which makes the distance from the ground to the golf ball constant, thereby enabling the golf ball to be correctly impacted when making a tee shot.
The present disclosure has been conceived in order to solve the problems described above.
An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee including a ball placement unit configured to place a ball thereon, and an insertion unit configured to be inserted into the ground, wherein the ball placement unit includes a through hole provided in the lower portion thereof, and the insertion unit is configured to be inserted into the ground while passing through the through hole from an upper side to a lower side, whereby the ball placement unit and the insertion unit are separable from each other so that the golf tee is not broken or lost when making a tee shot.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein the ball placement unit is formed of a flexible material so as to be bendable by an external force and maintains the initial shape thereof when the external force is not applied thereto, whereby the golf tee is not broken by the club head when making a tee shot.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein the ball placement unit is formed to have a predetermined height and includes a contact surface on the upper portion thereof so as to place the ball thereon, and the contact surface is formed to have therein an opening, so that the ball placement unit is fixed to the ground when the insertion unit is coupled by being accommodated through the opening.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein a plurality of ball placement units formed to have different heights are provided, and the insertion unit is configured to be capable of being selectively accommodated in any of the ball placement units having different heights, so that it is possible to select the height from the ground to the golf ball placed thereon.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein the insertion unit is provided so as not to be bent by an external force and includes a pin inserted into the ground and a head provided on the upper portion of the pin and having a flat surface, the area of which is wider than the area of the through hole in the ball placement unit, so that the pin is easily inserted into the ground and is capable of fixing the ball placement unit to the ground.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein the pin has a diameter that generally is increased from a lower portion to an upper portion thereof, so that the pin is easily inserted into the ground and it is possible to prevent stress from being concentrated between the head and the pin.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein the contact surface is formed to be inclined inwards and downwards, so that the golf ball is stably placed thereon.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a golf tee, wherein the ball placement unit further includes a protrusion on an outer peripheral surface or an inner peripheral surface, and the protrusion is formed to protrude in a predetermined shape from a surface of the ball placement unit, so that the ball placement unit and the insertion unit can be easily pulled out from the ground.
In view of the foregoing, the present disclosure is implemented by embodiments having configurations as follows.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a golf tee includes a ball placement unit configured to place a ball thereon, and an insertion unit configured to be inserted into the ground, wherein the ball placement unit includes a through hole provided in a lower portion thereof, and the insertion unit is configured to be capable of being inserted into the ground while passing through the through hole from an upper side to a lower side.
According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ball placement unit is formed of a flexible material so as to be bendable by an external force, and to maintain the initial shape thereof when an external force is not applied thereto.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ball placement unit is formed to have a predetermined height, and includes a contact surface on an upper portion thereof so as to place the ball thereon.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of ball placement units having different heights are provided, and the insertion unit is capable of being selectively accommodated in any of the ball placement units having different heights.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the insertion unit is provided so as not to be bent by an external force and includes a pin inserted into the ground and a head provided on the upper portion of the pin and having a flat surface, the area of which is wider than the area of the through hole in the ball placement unit.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the pin has a diameter that is generally increased from a lower portion to an upper portion thereof.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the contact surface is formed to be inclined inwards and downwards.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ball placement unit has a diameter that is increased from a lower portion to an upper portion thereof.
According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ball placement unit further includes a protrusion on an outer peripheral surface or an inner peripheral surface, and the protrusion is formed to protrude in a predetermined shape from a surface of the ball placement unit.
The present disclosure is capable of obtaining the following effects through a combination of the above-described embodiments and configurations to be described below and a usage relationship therebetween.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee including a ball placement unit configured to place a ball thereon, and an insertion unit configured to be inserted into the ground, wherein the ball placement unit includes a through hole provided in the lower portion thereof, and the insertion unit is configured to be inserted into the ground while passing through the through hole from an upper side to a lower side, whereby the ball placement unit and the insertion unit are separable from each other so that the golf tee is not broken or lost when making a tee shot.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein the ball placement unit is formed of a flexible material so as to be bendable by an external force and maintains the initial shape thereof when the external force is not applied thereto, whereby the golf tee is not broken by the club head when making a tee shot.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein the ball placement unit is formed to have a predetermined height and includes a contact surface on the upper portion thereof so as to place the ball thereon, and the contact surface is formed to have an opening therein, so that the ball placement unit is fixed to the ground when the insertion unit is coupled by being accommodated through the opening.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein a plurality of ball placement units formed to have different heights are provided, and the insertion unit is configured to be capable of being selectively accommodated in any of the ball placement units having different heights, so that it is possible to select the height from the ground to the golf ball placed thereon.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein the insertion unit is provided so as not to be bent by an external force and includes a pin inserted into the ground and a head provided on the upper portion of the pin and having a flat surface, the area of which is wider than the area of the through hole in the ball placement unit, so that the pin is easily inserted into the ground and is capable of fixing the ball placement unit to the ground.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein the pin has a diameter that is generally increased from a lower portion to an upper portion thereof, so that the pin is easily inserted into the ground and it is possible to prevent stress from being concentrated between the head and the pin.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein the contact surface is formed to be inclined inwards and downwards, so that the golf ball is stably placed thereon.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a golf tee, wherein the ball placement unit further includes a protrusion on an outer peripheral surface or an inner peripheral surface, and the protrusion is formed to protrude in a predetermined shape from a surface of the ball placement unit, so that the ball placement unit and the insertion unit can be easily pulled out from the ground.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments of a golf tee according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present disclosure, a detailed description of known functions or configurations will be omitted when it is determined that the detailed description may make the subject matter of the present disclosure rather unclear. Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein have the same meanings as the general meanings of the terms understood by a person ordinarily skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs, and when the general meaning conflicts with the meaning of the terms used herein, the meanings of the terms follows the definition used in the specification.
Throughout the specification, when a component is described as “including” a certain component, it means that other elements may be further included, rather than being excluded unless specifically stated otherwise. As used herein, terms such as “ . . . unit” mean units for processing at least one function or operation. When certain components are described as being “connected”, it is not limited to the case in which the components are in direct contact with each other and being fastened to each other, but may include the case in which the components are fastened to each other via other components. Further, it may mean that the components are disposed to be capable of transmitting a predetermined force or energy to each other even if they are not fastened to each other. Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail by describing embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The ball placement unit 10 may be provided so as to place a golf ball thereon. Referring to
The ball placement unit 10 may be formed of a flexible material.
When a golf ball is put on a golf tee and a tee shot is made using a golf club, an external force acts on the golf ball and the golf tee in the process in which the club head strikes the golf ball. Before the impact process, the initial shape of the ball placement unit 10 is maintained as illustrated in
A conventional golf tee does not include a flexible portion, and thus, if an external force equal to or greater than a certain level is applied, the golf tee is broken or pulled out of the ground, thereby being lost or damaged. Even if the golf tee includes a flexible portion, it is impossible for the flexible portion to exhibit sufficient resistance and the force is transmitted to the lower portion, which causes the portion to be broken or pulled out because the flexible upper portion and the lower portion inserted into the ground are integrally formed. However, in the present disclosure, the ball placement unit 10 and the insertion unit 30, which will be described later, are not provided integrally but are applied to the flexible ball placement unit 10. Thus, the possibility that the hard portion of the insertion unit 30 is broken or pulled out from the ground is greatly reduced even if a force of a predetermined level or more is applied to the flexible ball placement unit 10.
The body 11 forms the overall shape of the ball placement unit 10, and may have a predetermined height so as to place the golf ball on the upper portion thereof. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the body 11 may form the outer shape of a hollow cylinder. A contact surface 13, which will be described later, may be formed on the upper portion of the body 11, and the golf ball may be placed thereon, so that the body 11 has a form on which the golf ball can be stably placed. For example, as shown in
As shown in
The lower surface 15 is provided to form the bottom of the ball placement unit 10, and is provided so as to come into contact with the ground when the golf tee 1 according to the present disclosure is fixed to the ground. Since the lower surface 15 is formed of a flexible material such as rubber or silicone, the lower surface 15 is capable of coming into contact with the ground when the golf tee 1 is fixed even if predetermined irregularities are formed on the ground. Since the lower surface 15 is provided so as to come into contact with the ground, the distance from the ground to the ball placed on the upper portion of the ball placement unit is capable of being kept constant, and when the same ball placement unit is used, it is possible to make a tee shot at the same height from any place on the ground.
As can be seen from
Referring to
The head 31 is formed on the upper portion of the pin 33 (to be described later), and may be preferably formed such that the diameter thereof is larger than that of the through hole 15a so that the area of the flat surface of the head 31 is wider than the through hole 15a in a plan view. The head 31 may be formed to be entirely flat. Since the head 31 has a predetermined area, it is easy to insert the insertion unit 30 into the ground, and it is possible to prevent the ball placement unit 10 and the insertion unit 30 from being separated from each other. Since the flat surface of the head 31 is formed to be wider than the through hole 15a and the insertion unit 30 is fixed to the ground, the movement of the lower surface 15 of the ball placement unit is restricted, and even if the ball placement unit is deformed by an external force during the tee shot, the golf tee may be neither broken nor displaced. Preferably, the head 31 may be formed such that the lower inner peripheral surface of the body 11 corresponds to the flat surface thereof, and may be formed to be approximately similar to the opening 13a. Since the head 31 is as wide as possible, it is easy to insert the insertion unit 30 into the ground or pull out the insertion unit 30 from the ground.
The pin 33 is provided to fix the insertion unit 30 to the ground, and may be formed such that the diameter thereof is generally reduced from the upper portion connected to the head 31 to the lower portion. Accordingly, when the insertion unit 30 is fixed to the ground, it is possible to easily insert the insertion unit into the ground even with a small force, and it is also possible to minimize the concentration of stress that may occur between the head 31 and the pin 33, thereby stabilizing the insertion unit 30. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is preferable that the diameter of the entire pin 33 from the upper portion to the lower portion be smaller than the diameter of the through hole 15a so as to enable the pin 33 to pass through the through-hole from the upper portion to the lower portion. When the pin 33 is inserted into the ground through the through hole 15a, the head 31 of the insertion unit, the lower surface 15 of the ball placement unit, and the ground come into close contact with each other so as to ensure a constant height and stability. The pin 33 may include a transitional portion 331 and an end portion 333.
The transitional portion 331 may form the upper portion of the pin 33, and may be provided to interconnect the head 31 and the pin 33. The transitional portion 331 is formed so as to have a larger diameter than the end portion 333 formed at the lower portion of the pin 33 and preferably has a curved surface to prevent or mitigate a stress concentration phenomenon between the head 31 and the pin 33. In an embodiment, the transitional portion 331 is formed to be smaller than the thickness of the lower surface 15 of the ball placement unit, so that the transitional portion 331 does not protrude out of the lower surface 15 when the insertion unit 30 and the ball placement unit 10 are coupled to each other.
The end portion 333 forms the lower end portion of the pin and is sharply shaped like a needle so as to enable the insertion unit 30 to be easily inserted into and fixed to the ground. Since the end portion 333 is a portion that is directly inserted into the ground, it is preferable to form the end portion using a material having sufficient strength to resist damage even upon contact or collision with the ground, such as plastic or metal.
The foregoing detailed description illustrates the present disclosure. In addition, the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and explain embodiments of the present disclosure, but the present disclosure may be used in various other combinations, modifications, and environments. That is, it is possible to change or modify the present disclosure within the scope of the concept of the present disclosure disclosed in this specification, within the scope equivalent to the above-described content, and/or within the scope of the skill or knowledge in the art. The embodiments described above are intended to illustrate the best mode for carrying out the technical idea of the present disclosure, and various modifications are required for specific applications and uses of the present disclosure are also possible. Therefore, the detailed description of the present disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosure to the disclosed embodiments. In addition, the appended claims should be interpreted as covering other embodiments as well.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/806,856, filed Feb. 17, 2019, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62806856 | Feb 2019 | US |