Patent Application
20240049871
The present invention relates to a golf accessories to facilitate and to accelerate game play.
The game of golf has a long rich history and enjoys exceptional worldwide popularity, with over 35,000 courses worldwide. According to the National Golf Foundation, more than 108 million Americans either watched, read, or played golf in 2019. A staggering 34 million Americans, aged over 6+, actually teed it up on the driving range or took to the links. Perhaps the most impressive stat of all is that the game has seen six consecutive years with more than two million beginners joining annually.
Golf is a sport that allows the parties playing to be vastly different in age, ability and different sex. Golf still is one of the most challenging sports to master, and the skill required to play at the highest levels is unattainable for most people, yet it is enjoyable at all levels.
Pace-of-play has been an increasing issue in the golf world. Despite the overall growth of the sport, slow play has contributed to some golfers simply quitting the sport because of the time factor involved, which averages more than five hours on a weekend. A recent survey by the United States Golf Association revealed that the ideal length of time for a round of golf was 3 hours 54 minutes. However, the 5-hour threshold was the point at which golfers report a round to be too long, thus taking away from its enjoyment. The survey also showed that nearly a third of all golfers reported that the most significant factor contributing to slow play was waiting for the group in front of them.
One aspect to address slow play is having golfing accessories readily available when needed. It has been calculated that if each player in a foursome took just five second less per shot, the group would shave 25 minutes off a round. For example, significant time is added to a round when a golfer leaves the green or the tee box to retrieve a ball marker or tee from his bag. A number of golf belt and belt mounted accessory holders have been proposed to address this particular time wasting practice.
For example, see the belt supported golf accessory holders set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,769,587; 6,209,766; 6,202,911; 5,494,202; 4,850,483; 4,356,943; 1,911,256; 3,674,189; 4,893,739; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 296,388; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 296,308 and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 266,201. Additionally, U.S. Published Patent Application 2009-0070919 is a representative example of golf accessory holding belt with these elements incorporated into the belt material itself.
The above patents and published applications address the issue of having the tools readily available to the golfer with various solutions, but suffer from other defects. First, is that bulky accessory carriers can obstruct the golfer's swing and negatively impact the user's game, presenting a situation in which “the cure is worse than the disease.” Increasing the speed of play while hindering a golfer's swing is simply not an effective solution.
Second, many of these earlier solutions ignore the style and presentation of the associated device. Golfers on private courses are often subjected to written dress codes and there is understanding of a desire to maintain a certain style, and many if not most of the prior art solutions fail to meet the spirit and intent of such dress codes. Professional leagues like the PGA have detailed dress codes defining that “All professionals are required to present a neat appearance in both clothing and personal grooming.” In the professional leagues there are monetary penalties for infractions, and many of the prior art solutions in this space could violate both the spirit and intent of these policies. Even on public courses many golfers, particularly for example those engaged in golfing with business related associates, desire to maintain a stylistic presentation and many of the prior art solutions fail to meet this level and this will hinder the wide adoption and use of these potential solutions.
There remains a need for stylish golf belt and belt mounted discreet accessory holders.
The present invention addresses the deficiencies of the prior art and provides a stylish universal user configurable golf utility belt that provides a ball marker and can be discreetly selectively configured by the user to hold at least tees and/or golfing gloves.
The term stylish within the meaning of the present application defines a device exhibiting an elegant appearance and, more tangibly, the term defines a device that complies with the vast majority of dress codes for private golf courses and professional golf tours around the world, specifically at least the USGA and PGA rules.
The term universal within the meaning of the present application defines that a single device or belt is appropriately sized for over 95% of the relevant consuming public.
The phrase “user configurable” within the meaning of the present application defines that the user can adjust the number and location of at least some of the golfing accessories supported on the belt of the present invention.
The phrase “golf utility belt” within the meaning of the present application defines that the belt can hold golfing accessories such as tees, golf gloves, ball markers, green repair tools and the like.
The advantages of the present invention will be clarified in the following description taken together with the attached figures in which like reference numerals represent like elements throughout.
The present invention addresses provides a stylish universal user configurable golf utility belt 10 shown in
The belt strap 20 will originally be approximately 1350 mm (53 inches +/−½ inch) in length from the leading end 22 (or tongue 22) to the buckle end 28 and approximately 31.5 mm (1 ¼ inches +/−¼ inch) in width to 37 mm in width (1 ½ inches +/−¼ inch). The buckle end 28 will include markings 26 allowing the user to adjust the length of the strap 20 to the desired total length for the user. After trimming the strap 20 to length it is coupled to the buckle 40 by inserting the trimmed buckle end 28 to the clamp or coupling member 44 and securing the locking teeth in place. The belt strap 20 may include logos and or other decorative features 32
The belt 10 is preferably a “ratchet belt” which is a type of belt that uses a hidden track 30 of ratchet teeth sewn in the back of the strap 20 to adjust the belt with—NO belt holes. Traditional belts use 5-7 holes spaced about 1 inch (25 cm) or more apart but a ratchet belt like the present invention allows users adjust in small increments (e.g. about ¼ inch). This yields a better fit for the user. Further there are no holes that elongate and are detrimental to the life and appearance of the belt. The ratchet belt 10 of the present invention yields a more stylish belt than does a traditional belt hole strap system.
The design of this frame 42 of the invention is that includes a removable metal ball marker 50 having a decorative logo 52 thereon, examples of which are shown in FIG. 10. The ball maker 50 with design element 52 provides stylish and expressive features to the belt 10 and is prominently visible on the buckle 40.
The removable metal ball marker 50 is coupled to the frame 42 through a magnetic coupling or a snap fit or other easy to remove and couple connection. The ball marker is a small (about 25 mm+/−5 mm) very thin flat disc.
The ball marker 50 represents a significant element of the golf game. When playing golf in a group, it is important to carry a ball marker so that the golfer can mark his ball on the putting surface. According to the U.S. Golf Association's (USGA) “Rules of Golf,” golfers should mark balls with specially made markers, small coins or similar objects. Rule 20 in “Rules of Golf” outlines marker etiquette, lifting, dropping and placing. Ball marking is referenced throughout the official PGA golf rules, but the most common points are covered under rules 20-1 and 20-3. Rule 20-1 states in part, “The position of a ball to be lifted should be marked by placing a ball-marker, a small coin or other similar object immediately behind the ball.” While there's no penalty for using an object that's not similar to a plastic ball-marker or a small coin, one will rarely—if ever—see a PGA player use anything other than a small, flat disc to mark a ball. The belt 10 provides quick easy access to a suitable accepted ball marker 50 which also serves at providing the stylish appearance to the buckle 40.
As discussed above the buckle 40 includes the clamp or coupling member 44 that has pivoted locking teeth that clamp onto the trimmed buckle end 28 of the strap 20. The buckle includes a loop 46 which is the part of the belt 10 that the belt strap 20 goes through after putting it through the buckle. The loop 46 (and possibly other belt loops of the user's pants) prevents the tongue 22 of the belt strap 20 from hanging down.
As noted above the belt 10 is a ratchet belt that ratchets down to the desired size by using a buckle mechanism 54 with pawls (also called locking dogs or pegs or latches) 56 that locks into place on the ratchet teeth of track 30. The position of the belt 10 is maintained by using the series of teeth in track 30 and the latch formed by pawls 56. The mechanism 54 and pawls 56 may be biased into locking position by a biasing force via magnets or spring. As noted above the mechanism 54 with pawls 56 of belt 10 replace the traditional peg/prong and holes that most belts use. This way the ratchet belt 10 makes a perfect fit without putting visible holes in the leather of strap 20. The end result is a belt 10 looks better, lasts longer and fits perfectly every time the user wears it. To release the ratchet mechanism 54 the user just pulls on the bottom and pulls out the belt strap 20 from the buckle 40.
The two tee receiving sleeves are positioned to extend along the length of the belt strap (e.g. horizontal rather than vertical). The horizontal orientation for the tee receiving sleeves formed by the patch 74 and member 72 is less obtrusive and less likely to interfere with the golfer than would vertical positioning. The patch is preferably leather or a leather simulated material matching the leather of the strap 20. The patch 74 may further include logos 78 matching other logos 32 on the belt 10.
Golf gloves represent another golfing accessory that some golfers desire to carry on their person for selective use during a round.
The adjustable golf glove holding element 90 includes a glove holding element 94 on a front face of the member 92. The element 94 may be the loop part of hook and loop type fasteners that are ubiquitous as golf glove closures, and can be used to couple conventional golf gloves from the element 94 until the gloves are needed by the user. The element 94 could also be formed as a snap or even a carabiner coupling for other glove types but the hook and loop type fastener is particularly common. The elements 70 and 90 can be removed from or added to the belt 10 as desired by the user and slid into any convenient location. The belt 10 allows the user to remove the elements 70 and 90 completely and use the golf belt 10 as a decorative belt 10 suitable for post round activities in club environments.
The preferred embodiments described above are illustrative of the present invention and not restrictive hereof. It will be obvious that various changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, other golf accessories, such as a ball mark/divot repair device, may be coupled to the belt 10 in a manner similar to the tees and gloves discussed above, using a tubular fabric member similar to members 72 and 92, generally woven with seamed ends, configured to fit over and slide along the strap 20, and with a couple associated with the particular golf accessory. The desire to maintain a certain stylishness to the belt 10 would limit the number of golf accessories to be added to a given belt 10. The precise scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereto.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/396,697 filed Aug. 10, 2022, titled “Stylish Universal User Configurable Golf Utility Belt” which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63396697 | Aug 2022 | US |
