Patent Application
20220019090
Lineup glasses suited for aligning directions for sports, including but not limited to golf, are presented herein. Although lineup glasses provided herein is mainly for sports, but the scope of the claims shall not be limited to sports, because other uses, including but not limited to scientific or engineering, are included in the scope of the claims presented.
In various sports, especially in golf, aligning oneself to the target, whether it is a flag or a hole, is one of the most essential element. It is not an overstatement to state that golf is a directional sport.
When a golfer selects a target and establishes a subjective target line, aligns oneself to that target line, and sets up to swing, much of the aligning is done by feeling based on the golfer's subjective target line. Thus, without much practice, the alignment of the golfer's feet and swing are often off the true target line to the target.
One of the most important and most commonly used stroke in golf is putting. A professional golfer uses about 40% of his or her strokes to the putting and an amateur golfer uses about 57% of his or her strokes to the putting. Perhaps this is the reason why even a professional golfers might state that putting is the most challenging part of golf. As in lining up to swing a golf club to send a ball towards the flag, the putting also requires the golfer to lineup to the golfer's subjective imaginary target line between the hole and the ball on the green. Because the alignment is made to an imaginary target line, the alignment for putting and for swinging are all subjective guesswork. Thus what appears to be the easiest part in the game of golf, the putting is perhaps the most difficult skill to master in golf.
Therefore, there is a need for a golfer to align himself or herself to the target, not only subjectively based on the imaginary target line, but also objectively based on a virtual target line from the ball to the target. The inventor believes a virtual target line from the ball to the target may be objectively achieved by a pair of lineup glasses as described herein.
Lineup glasses has two lenses connected to each other. A left lens is connected to a right lens. One or both of the left lens and the right lens has a horizontal line. The horizontal line may be drawn on the lens or may be imbedded in the lens. If the lenses are tinted, including but not limited to as in sunglasses or in transitional lenses, then a line may be a simple clear transparent line in the lens dividing the lens above the horizontal line and the lens below the horizontal line. The horizontal line parallels the ground when a user wears the lineup glasses and looks forward.
Lineup glasses are a part of a wearing means, such as an eyeglass frame as shown in the Figs. The wearing means, however, are not limited to an eyeglass frame, but also include various other wearing means. For example, commonly used wearing means may be an eyeglass clip mounted on an eyeglass frame, a string or a band of various materials attached to each end of the lenses, a mask with the lenses mounted on a front side of the mask.
One or both of the left lens and the right lens of the lineup glasses may also have a vertical line that is perpendicular to the horizontal line. The vertical line is perpendicular to the horizontal line, but the vertical line may or may not intersect the horizontal line.
The horizontal line has a plurality of horizontal spacing points and the vertical line has a plurality of vertical spacing points. Moreover, a preferred version of the lineup glasses is lenses with the horizontal line and the vertical line meet perpendicularly at an intersecting point so that the horizontal line extends left and right of the vertical line and the vertical line extends above and below the horizontal line. In addition, a preferred version of the lineup glasses is has a plurality of horizontal spacing points and a plurality of vertical spacing points. Either the lineup glasses having either or both the horizontal line and the vertical line on either or both of the lenses or the lineup glasses may be used pending the golfer's preference.
A preferred version of the lineup glasses has each of the horizontal lines having a plurality of horizontal spacing points and each of the vertical lines having a plurality of vertical spacing points. Moreover, The lineup glasses may have the left lens and the right lens that are tinted, ultraviolet (“UV”) radiation protected and glare resistant, as well as other commercially available eyeglass improvements, including but not limited to the lenses being transition lenses, transitioning their color, tint or opacity according to the surrounding conditions, including but not limited to light, temperature and UV radiation.
Some of the benefits of the lineup glasses, including but not limited to, are that (1) the golfer can see a virtual target line from the ball to the target, whether the target is a flag or a hole, and reduce the subjective guess work in the feet alignment and addressing the golf ball and (2) the golfer can align a putter to a virtual horizontal and virtual vertical line visible to the golfer as shown in Figs.
A variation to the lineup glasses may be made to the wearing means by having a frame accepting both the left lens and the right lens, and the frame having a right nose pad and a left nose pad such that either or both of the right nose pad and the left nose pad is rotatably attached to the frame using grooves. One or both of the nose pads may be rotated and fixedly secured by the grooves to better adjust the lineup glasses according to the preference of the golfer.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the lineup glasses will become better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Lineup glasses are described in detail as shown on the Figs.
Lineup glasses 10 are a part of a wearing means 40, such as an eyeglass frame 45 as shown in the Figs. The wearing means 40, however, are not limited to an eyeglass frame 45, but also include various other wearing means. For example, commonly used wearing means may be an eyeglass clip 50 (as shown in
One or both of the left lens 20 and the right lens 25 of the lineup glasses 10 may also have a vertical line 55 that is perpendicular to the horizontal line 30. The vertical line 55 is perpendicular to the horizontal line 30, but the vertical line 55 may or may not intersect the horizontal line 30. For example, the vertical line 55 may be above the horizontal line 30 or below the horizontal line 30 or have more than one shorter vertical lines one on each side of the lens 15. Alternatively, the vertical line 55 may start from or end at the horizontal line 30, having the vertical line 55 only on one side of the horizontal line 30. A preferred version of the lineup glasses 10 is that each lens 15 with the horizontal line 30 and the vertical line 55 meet perpendicularly at an intersecting point 60 so that the horizontal line 30 extends left and right of the vertical line 55 and the vertical line 55 extends above and below the horizontal line 30.
The horizontal line 30 may have a plurality of horizontal spacing points 65 and the vertical line 55 may have a plurality of vertical spacing points 70. A preferred version has the horizontal spacing points 65 spaced equally apart on the horizontal line 30 and the vertical spacing points 70 spaced equally apart on the vertical line 55. Also, a preferred version has the horizontal spacing points 65 starting from the intersecting point 60 and are spaced equally apart on the horizontal line 30 and the vertical spacing points 70 starting from the intersecting point 60 and are spaced equally apart on the vertical line 55. An alternate version of the lineup glasses 10 may be available with either or both the horizontal spacing points 65 and the vertical spacing points 70 gradually increase the spacing or gradually decrease the spacing proportional to the height of the user, the golfer, or the radial effect as the objects or portions of the ground farther away from the pupil of the user's eye. For ease of seeing the horizontal spacing points 65 and the vertical spacing points 70, the horizontal spacing points 65 and the vertical spacing points 70 may be presented as bars perpendicular to their respective lines as shown; a bar is a short line that intersects the horizontal line 30 or the vertical line 55 at the horizontal spacing points 65 or the vertical spacing points 70 for marking the horizontal spacing points 65 and/or the vertical spacing points 70. The horizontal spacing points 65 and/or the vertical spacing points 70 may be also marked with dots on each of the horizontal spacing point 65 and/or the vertical spacing points 70.
Although the Figs. show the horizontal line 30 and the vertical line 55 are on both lenses, the horizontal line 30 and the vertical line 55 may be placed only on one of two lenses 15; if so, preferably for the dominant eye of the user.
One may readily see and understand the benefits of the lineup glasses 10 as the user aligns the feet parallel to the virtual target line 85 and aligns the putter face with the virtual vertical line 90. Moreover, the user could make putting simplified because he could focus on making his putting stroke to simply follow along the visible virtual target line 85. Having and being able to see a visible virtual target line 85 aligned to the hole or to a target point as he putts or swings would make it much easier to make his putting stroke straight (or the swing on line to the target line), smooth and to have a much better follow through, helping to make putts more successful. Also for putting, the user may use a ball with a line on it to align also the line on the ball with the virtual target line.
One unseen benefit of the lineup glasses 10 is that the lineup glasses 10 gives confidence to the golfer that he is lined up well to the hole and that his swing or putting is actually on the virtual target line 85. The user can actually see the swing path or the putting path as he or she makes the swing, especially if he does not rotate his or her head during his swing. This is most evident during his or her putting.
One should note that the each virtual horizontal spacing point 100 on the green may indicate increasing distance between two virtual horizontal spacing points 100 as the virtual horizontal spacing points 100 are further away from the ball due to slightly increasing angle of the eye to the hole. This difference may also be compensated by the user in his or her calculation with practice.
It should be apparent that one or both of the left lens 20 and the right lens 25 of the lineup glasses 10 may have a vertical line 55 without a horizontal line 30.
While the description, drawings and references have presented, shown and described with reference to different embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations in form, detail, compositions and operation may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
