Patent Application
20250018252
This invention relates to the field of putters. More particularly, this invention relates to a putter that aids alignment of the putter head face and the stroke to a target.
A putter is a specialized golf club used for short-distance strokes on a putting green. The major components of a putter include the head, the hosel, the shaft, and the grip. The grip is grasped by the golfer to hold the putter. The shaft extends from within the grip down toward and in proximity to the putting surface. The hosel connects the distal end of the shaft to the head. The head is used to strike the golf ball.
The head is described as having a face-which is the surface of the head that contacts the ball, a toe-which is the surface of the head that faces away from the golfer, a heel-which is the surface of the head that faces toward the golfer, a bottom-which is the surface of the head that is adjacent the putting surface, a top-which is the surface of the head that faces upward toward the golfer and the sky, and a back-which is the surface of the head that faces away from the ball. These several surfaces can all be formed in a variety of different shapes, and the head itself can be formed of a variety of one more different materials.
The putter is used by the golfer by grasping the grip with both hands, and bring the face of the head in close proximity to the golf ball. The golfer aligns the face of the putter so that a short and controlled stroke of the putter contacts the face of the putter to the ball, and sends the ball toward the cup in the putting surface, typically allowing for slope, windage, and other factors in the trajectory of the ball.
Determining the desired trajectory of the golf ball and the force with which the golf ball must be struck to have it drop into the cup are two of the many skills that a golfer must master in order to be successful, and typically take years of practice to master over a range of different putting-surface conditions.
However, golfers of all experience levels have noticed that there are certain physical characteristics of putter designs that tend to make the use of various putters either easier or more difficult to use successfully.
What is needed, therefore, are design elements that tend to improve putter performance, at least in part.
The above and other needs are met by a putter head having a top and a face adapted to address a golf ball, where the top adjoins the face at a substantially ninety-degree angle at an edge between the face and the top, with a groove cut along the entire length of the edge, with the groove filled with a gold-colored material.
In various embodiments, a hosel is attached to the top, with the hosel having an offset forward of the face. In some embodiments, the hosel attaches to the head at a position on the top is relatively closer to a heel of the head and relatively farther from a toe of the head. In some embodiments, the hosel and the putter head are integrally formed from a single block of material. In some embodiments, a slot is disposed behind the face, the slot extending from the top to a bottom of the head. In some embodiments, the gold-colored material is elemental gold. In some embodiments, the gold-colored material includes elements that sparkle with reflected light. In some embodiments, the face adjoins a bottom at a substantially ninety-degree angle.
According to another aspect of the present embodiments, there is described a putter with a putter head having a top and a face adapted to address a golf ball, where the top adjoins the face at a substantially ninety-degree angle at an edge between the face and the top, with a groove cut along the entire length of the edge, with the groove filled with a gold-colored material. A shaft is connected at a first end to the head, and a grip is connected at a distal second end of the shaft.
Further advantages of the invention are apparent by reference to the detailed description when considered in conjunction with the figures, which are not to scale so as to more clearly show the details, wherein like reference numbers indicate like elements throughout the several views, and wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, there are depicted all of the claimed elements of the various embodiments, although all claimed embodiments might not be depicted in a single drawing. Thus, it is appreciated that not all embodiments include all of the elements as depicted, and that some embodiments include different combinations of the depicted elements. It is further appreciated that the various elements can all have many different configurations, and are not limited to just the configuration of a given element as depicted. As indicated above, the elements of the drawings as depicted are not to scale, even with respect one to another, and relative size or thickness of one element cannot be determined by the aspect ratios of that element or with reference to any dimension of another element.
The head 100 as depicted in the figures includes a toe surface 102, a top surface 104, a heel surface 106, a bottom surface 108, a face surface 110, a back surface 114, a hosel 112, an offset and attachment point 118, and a sound slot 120. Of particular note is the groove with gold-colored inset 116 that runs along the intersection of the face 110 and the top 104.
The head 100 is incorporated into a putter 712 by attaching the head 100 into a first end of a shaft 710 at the attachment point 118, and fitting a distal second end of the shaft 710 into a grip 708.
In some embodiments the head 100 is formed of a single block of material, such as steel or titanium. In other embodiments, the head 100 has a body formed of one material, and a hosel 112 formed of a different material. In some embodiments the entire head 100 is coated with a relatively low-friction thermoplastic resin, such as polytetrafluoroethylene. In some embodiments the face 110 includes an insert of a material that is different from that which the rest of the head 100 is formed, such as aluminum or titanium.
In some embodiments a sound slot 120 is cut into the head 100, from the top 104 to the bottom 108. In some embodiments the slot 120 is cut from very near the toe 102 to very near the heel 106, and runs substantially parallel to the face 110. The slot 120 is adapted to make a sound when the face 110 strikes a golf ball 704. The characteristics of the sound for a given head 100 will vary depending upon the angle of the face 110 and the velocity of the head 100 as the ball 704 is struck. This sound provides immediate feedback to the golfer 702 as to those and other factors of the golf swing.
In some embodiments, the aspect ratio of the slot 120, as measured by the length of the slot 120 along the toe 102 to heel 106 direction, over the width of the slot 120, as measured along the face 110 to back 114 direction, is very high, such that the slot 120 appears to be no more than a thin slit or line in the top 104 and bottom 108 of the head 100.
While many of the ordinal surfaces 102, 104, 106, and 114 may tend, in some embodiments, to smoothly flow one into another, the junction between the face 110 and the other surfaces, especially the top 104, does not. The face 110 forms a substantially ninety-degree angle between the top 104 in some embodiments, and also forms a substantially ninety-degree angle with the other ordinal surfaces that it contacts, such as the toe 102, the heel 106 and the bottom 108, in some embodiments. In some embodiments the face 110 is substantially planar, and disposed so as to sit substantially perpendicular to the plane of the putting surface on which the ball 704 lies.
Running along an edge between the face 110 and the top 104, and extending entirely from the toe 102 to the heel 106, is a very thin cut 116 that is filled with a gold-colored material. In some embodiments, the gold-colored material is pure elemental gold or an elemental gold alloy. In some embodiments, the gold-colored material includes elements that sparkle as they reflect light. In some embodiments the width of the cut 116 is no greater than about one millimeter.
Because the face 110 is substantially planar, the filled-cut 116, when viewed from above, from the perspective of the golfer 702, appears as a substantially straight line. This thin, straight, gold-colored line is of great utility to the golfer 702. By orienting the stroke of the putter 712 so that the highly-visible gold-colored filled-cut 116 is perpendicular to the desired initial path of the ball 704, the golfer 702 is able to align the stroke with a high degree of accuracy. In some embodiments, the desired path is a straight line between the ball 704 and the cup 706. However, as introduced elsewhere, the desired path is typically highly dependent upon a variety of different putting surface and environment conditions.
The foregoing description of embodiments for this 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. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments are chosen and described in an effort to provide illustrations of the principles of the invention and its practical application, and to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.
