Patent Application
20200238142
This disclosure relates to golf clubs, and related sporting equipment, whether it be a golf club driver, iron, or even perhaps a putter, and provides for an orientation of the golf club head to compensate for a draw, fade, or a straight shot, when utilizing such clubs during participation in the game of golf. In a preferred embodiment, it includes a leveling bubble, or other means of indication, and a demarcation line, which can orient the club relative to the float bubble, to compensate for such deviations as fade and draw when utilizing the club. The device can also be used for providing corrective use of related sporting equipment.
Numerous modifications have been made to golf clubs, in order to enhance the play of the golfer, whether it be changes to the club head, adding additional weights to certain sections of the club heads, variations in the design of the head of the putter, and related types of changes that are all intended to make the golfer's game perfect, a feat, which has not as yet been accomplished in the art.
Various prior patents have displayed such club modifications, and these publications are generally as follows:
An example of a golf putting training device can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,966, to Wash, showing a housing having a light source that orients with respect to the putting surface of the golf putter, in order to provide for training in putting through the use of such a device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,658,682, shows a golf club handle grip with ball marker. Obviously the marker can be removed and used as a marker on the surface of the green, during application.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,460,120, to Azimi, shows a method for auto-lining a golf club head. The device encompasses a movable club head, electronics, a power source, all for use for adjusting the golf club head position at the time of impact with a golf ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,770,639, discloses a system and method for monitoring performance characteristics associated with user activities involving swinging instruments. Obviously, this is used in golf, incorporating electronics, for monitoring and tracking a user's performance during a golf swing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,145, shows a laser aiming device on the shaft of a golf putter.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,617,005, to Moran, et al., shows a golf data collection device. It includes a GPS receiver, computer inner face, and processor.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,598, shows a golf club with slope indicator.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,151, shows a golf club alignment apparatus, that utilizes laser beams to orient the hitting or putting of a golf ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,813, shows a golf club alignment device and method. It apparently utilizes optics to achieve golf club alignment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,083, shows a golf club with converging directional indicia.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,595, shows golf clubs with golf club heads, which various instrumentation for monitoring the usage of the shown clubs.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,409,076, shows another means for monitoring the usage of golf clubs and golf club heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,155, shows a golf club alignment indicator apparatus, which provides means for adjusting the angle of the club-face relative to the horizon and depending upon the slope of the ground surface, to get the type of lift to the golf ball when it is driven by the associated club.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,944, shows a type of level for a power hand drill.
These are examples of the prior art known to the applicants.
This disclosure contemplates a modification to the handle of golf clubs, in order to add more perfection in the alignment of the club, relative to the golf ball, in preparation for undertaking a golf shot. As is well know in the art of participation in golf, golfers, particularly the inexperienced or beginning golfers, will frequently hit the ball in a direction that leads towards a hook, or a slice, that ends up having the golf ball landing far laterally of the center line that the participant had hoped to achieve when driving the ball for some distance. While the slice and hook does not occur that frequently when utilizing the irons, it does occur with the use of the driver. The device can also be used with a tennis racquet, baseball bat, and other related sporting equipment.
But, once the golfer has corrected the slice and the hook problem, there is still further refinement that the golfer would like to undertake, so as to minimize the slight variation in the driving of the ball, to lessen the potential for a fade shot, or a draw shot, where the ball may still slightly deviate to the left, or the right, depending upon the alignment of the ball, relative to the direction of flight, in order to minimize deviation in the drive of the ball towards the cup.
The current disclosure provides a means for precise adjustment to the club head, before hitting the ball, in order to achieve a more straight and aligned shot, whether it be with the driver, the iron, or the like.
Draws and fades are shots featuring controlled movements of the golf ball. A draw occurs from the players right to the left (for a right-handed golfer) while a fade moves in the opposite direction, from left to right. Some players hit draw shots or fade shots to gain the proper position on the fairway, or to land the ball at a desired spot on the green. This disclosure provides for a modification to the upper end of the golf club, and it attaches a bubble level to the end of the club, positioned above the end of the grip allows for a visual means to consistently line the head of the club for a fade shot, a straight shot, or a draw shot. A marker is provided upon the top end of the attachment, and when the golfer lines the mark on a bubble level, that is arranged beneath the lining mark upon the cap, and with the bubble level on the left side of the mark, it will position the club head for a fade. Lining the mark on the right side of the bubble, will produce a draw shot. Having the mark lined up in the center of the level bubble, will allow for a straight shot. This type of innovation has been experimented with and works on all types of clubs, whether it be the driver, the iron, and perhaps even the putter. The drivers and irons, using this device, provides for consistent driving of the golf ball, in the direction sought by the golfer. This device can also be attached to the putter, to allow for more consistent puts when attached to the grip end of the putter. In addition, the bubble leveling device also helps in checking the shoulder position of the golfer, before the swing. For example, for a straight shot, the golfer would position the mark in the center of the leveling bubble, with the golfer's shoulder in a level position. Then, the golfer gets into position for the shot and will check the bubble mark making sure it is aligned in the center of the bubble, confirming level shoulder position when undertaking a back swing, for a straight shot.
The device is comprised of a liquid bulls eye level, a magnet, and a means for attaching the device to the grip end of the golf club. The bulls eye level has a mark on the outside edge. This mark which indicates angle of the club in relation to the leveling bubble. The bubble always remains at the highest point at the polymer or glass enclosure beneath the demarcation line provided upon the cap, arranged there above. The enclosure, holding the bubble, provides for the bubble always seeking the highest point therein. Then, a magnet attaches to the end of the grip with a screw or adhesive means of connection. The backside of the bulls eye level has a steel disc attached with an adhesive. This allows for the bulls eye to be magnetically attached to the grip and allows for positioning of the bulls eye in a rotary fashion allowing the golfer to position the mark in the center of the bubble when the face of the club is lined up for a straight shot to the target, or cup. Once the alignment is set, the golfer can reference the mark for adjusting the club angle, whether it be for a straight shot, a fade shot, or a draw shot, as known in this game. This method takes the guess work out of aligning the club, making for consistent straight shots, even though a fade or a draw shot may be required for consistent direction towards the flag.
It should also be mentioned that an indication and setting of the golf club angle can be accomplished also by other means. A pendulum, electronic level, a ball leveling device, etc., can all be used in providing for compensating for the fade, or draw shot. In the electronic version of the club angle, the alignment could be displayed in a numeric format, using a digital display on the end of the grip. The ball level and pendulum methods would be similar to the bubble or bulls eye method.
It could be that where the electronic version of the device may be employed, and connected to the top of the club head, when the alignment of the club is being undertaken, there could be an electronic readout which gives an indication as to the alignment of the club head, the amount of degrees of angle that indicates that the golfer will be undertaken a fade, draw, or straight shot, in order to allow the golfer to slightly pivot the club to attain the best shot required for getting the ball aligned for the fly, once it has been hit. Such an electronic version would provide for a precise reading of the club head angle, consistently, to attain the type of alignment that the golfer is seeking, before undertaken a golf shot.
There are other and different devices that can also be located on the grip end of the golf club, such as a range finder, a swing velocity meter, and impact meter, distance to the pin readout, score keeping, and other means for providing information to the golfer with respect to the perfection sought while using such an enhanced golf club. The concept of the disclosure is to utilize the grip end of the golf club for use with such devices. It is believed that the grip end of the club is the most visual place to mount these types of control panels, readouts, indicators, and the like, while in the act of playing golf. There actually is no other location upon the club, that is better than what has been described, for providing such indicators.
A further advantage and major enhancement to the mounting of this alignment device to the head or end of the golf club is that the golfer does not encounter any interference with placing of the club into the golf bag. Other devices, that mount onto the club, and extend laterally, have difficultly in their insertion within the golf bag, after usage.
It should further be noted that when the golfer is aligning the club head, and the mark to the center of the level bubble, changing the position of the golfer's hands as it relates to lining up the mark and the club head to a straight position as necessary when the golfer undertakes a swing and maintains a level shoulder position through the swing movement. Many golfers, when trying to hit a long shot, swing much harder and the result is they lean back in the swing causing the golf head to turn out, thereby causing a slice, as known in the art. With this current device, knowing you are going to hit a hard shot, you can use this device to compensate for that hard swing, and to maintain shoulder balance.
It is, therefore, the principal object of this disclosure to provide addition to the top of the golf club, above the hand grip, for furnishing a display or readout of information to the user that will add to the golfer's proper alignment of the club head for attaining a more perfect shot.
Another object of this disclosure is to provide the application of indicators, whether it be a display, an electronic means, or other indicators that help the golfer align and attain a more perfect shot.
One further major advantage of the disclosure herein is that by adding all of the identified devices, such as displays, circuitry, and other components to achieve the disclosed results, and displayed information, are located within the grip end of the club, and displayed at the end of the grip end, so that these devices present no interference with the placement of the club back into the golf bag, after usage.
Another object of this disclosure is to provide the golfer with the visual means, for helping to align the club head, so as to achieve either a straight, fade, or draw shot, depending upon the layout of the golf ball, upon the ground topography relative to the direction that the golfer desires to hit the ball, towards the green and its flag.
These and other objects may be come apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the summary as provided herein, and upon undertaking a study of the description of its preferred embodiment, in view of the drawings.
In referring to the drawings,
In referring to the drawings, the concept of this disclosure, and what it is intended to achieve when employed, can be seen in
If a fade shot is to be undertaken, where the club head is to be aligned slightly to the right, in an angular direction, to some degrees, then the alignment device upon the club head will be arranged approximately to the right of the leveling bubble, to the amount of degrees that the golfer considers necessary to attain a drive of the golf ball that will eventually end up in alignment with the cup upon its approach. On the other hand, as can be seen in
In the preferred embodiment,
An upper or top cap 8 is then applied to the top of the steel disc 7, also by adhesive, or by other fastening means. Within the top cap 8 is a fluid leveling device, providing an air bubble, as at 9, and which will be arranged, generally in the position as shown in
Hence, this provides a means of indication to the golfer that in his/her analysis of the lay of the ball, relative to the green, and what type of shot will be necessary either slightly to the left, to the right, or straight, the indicator mark 10 will be aligned over the air bubble in the various positions, as previously reviewed, in order to afford the type of shot that the golfer believes must be undertaken, in order to get the ball directly towards the cup, on the green, as deemed necessary.
For example, as previously described, the first device utilized upon the club is the bubble level. This is attached to the grip end of the club with special markings. The primary application is to assist the golfer during their pre-shot routine, when determining which user friendly format, readily available, and will have appeal far beyond those with just specialized knowledge of the golf swing.
The key data points as referenced in
The grip display is generally a device designed for supplementing and boosting a user's knowledge and capabilities while performing a sporting event, for example, during the play of golf. The display is strategically located on the grip end of the sporting instrument (i.e., golf club) to collect and distribute data to the user, during performance. The display can distribute data remotely via an electronic screen, speakers, haptics, projectors, lighting and transmitters, and even can display such data on a small screen provided on the upper end of the grip of the club, as can be noted in
Importantly, the input and output configurations may vary depending upon the sport and application. This device, though, is primarily related to the usage of the device in the sport of golf. For example, the grip display might combine a digital output and GPS input or possibly a speaker output and a gyro input. The display will have iterations and variants of the circuit displayed in
As noted in
The various calculations that may be made when utilizing this device, as previously reviewed, may be applied during usage of the golf club, a tennis racquet, or even a baseball bat. It will have the various components provided within an associated instrumentation, or minuscule electronic components, of these types, may be embedded within the actual club, racquet, or bat ends themselves. In any event, the concept of this disclosure is to provide results relating to the distance a ball is driven, the speed of the ball off of the golf club or tennis racquet, etc., and the timed distance calculated to whether the ball comes to rest, which can be determined through the usage of the GPS component. Various types of measurements that may be provided may include, as noted in
There may also be other calculations and displays that can be transmitted for display, in the manners as previously explained, such as GPS and weather data may be transmitted from an external device (phone) to the grip display transmitter. Key data points to be observed will be the wind direction, and the wind speed, to aid the golfer in shot selection. The GPS and weather data may be transmitted from an external device, such as the phone, as suggested, to the grip display transmitter, for display upon one of the communications outputs 16, as noted.
The displayed information as noted in
There may also be a lost club display, to let the golfer know when they may have left a golf club behind, following play. There may also be a display identified as the stance of the golfer, such as the feet alignment, which is furnished upon the grip display to assist a golfer in lining up their shot during the pre four-shot routine. A digital display may indicate if the stance is too open, or too closed, or square. A club head height display may be provided, which indicates when the height of the golf club at address, of the ball, just prior to hitting the shot, is measured and displayed on the digital display. A shot tracking may be displayed, and the shot tracking application is provided to automatically keep track of the number of shots hit, and the application can be segmented by putts, fairway, and tee shots. Application can be segmented by number of shots per hold. The transmitter will send and receive shot data from tracking applications by way of phone, or other of the communications outputs, as noted at 16. There may also be a club recommendation provided, particularly when the transmitter receives data from an external GPS, weather app, and tracking app, which recommends the type of club selection based upon the weather, and other data, distance to the cup, supplied through the tracking application. The transmitter sends and receives shot data from the tracking application on one of the communications outputs.
With reference now to
The top portion 80 of the grip 82 may also comprise a circular portion or disc, that holds the circular rod portion 54 therein, and the disc may be secured to the top of the grip by any form of securement or fastener, such as a screw or by an adhesive, or the like.
In operation of the golf head alignment device 50, a golfer decides what kind of shot needs to be selected. If, by way of example only, the golfer decides that a fade shot is called for, with the fade shot meaning that a golf ball will be hit so that the ball will curve to the right, assuming the golfer is right-handed, then the golfer will adjust the golf club having the device 50 such that the bubble 62 will be centered on the first indicator 64 on the left side 68 of the rod portion 54. By way of example only, a golf ball driven in this manner may curve approximately 45 feet to the right on a drive of 200 feet. If the golfer decides that a draw shot is desired, with the draw shot meaning that the golf ball will be hit so that the ball will curve to the left, again assuming that the golfer is right-handed, then the golfer will adjust the golf club such that the bubble 62 will be centered on the second indicator 66 on the right side 70 of the rod portion 54. Again, by way of example only, a golf ball hit in this manner may curve approximately 45 feet to the left on a drive of 200 feet. Also, if the golfer desires to hit a straight shot then the golfer will center the bubble 62 within the central portion 72 and confirms that the bubble 62 is centered by use of the secondary alignment indicator 86, or 86a.
Referring now in particular to
With reference now to
Variations and modifications to the subject matter of this disclosure may occur to those skilled in the art upon review of the disclosure as described herein. Such variations, if within the spirit of this disclosure, are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing herein. Any equivalent means for achieving the results to be obtained from the alignment device of this disclosure, are also considered to be within the scope of the disclosure as explained. The description of the disclosure in the preferred embodiments, and their depiction in the drawings, are generally set forth for illustrative purposes only.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/350,421, filed on Nov. 15, 2018, which was a non-provisional patent application upon provisional patent application being Ser. No. 62/707,862, filed on Nov. 20, 2017.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62707862 | Nov 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16350421 | Nov 2018 | US |
| Child | 16873412 | US |
