GB2177010A - Golf swing practice aid - Google Patents

Abstract

A Golf Swing Practice Aid has a rectangular base 1 hinged centrally at 5 with level adjusters 6 under the foot support portion 3 and under the ball support portion, 2. Inlaid on the ball support portion is a section of artificial turf 21, also colour coded guidelines are marked to aid foot and club position. Adjustable foot restraints 14 are also provided on the foot support portion. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Golf Swing Practice Aid The present invention relates to a golf swing practice aid.

Various devices have been previously proposed for aiding golfers in the practice of their swing.

These are in general based on the use of a flat level surface. In practice however such a lie is very rarely encountered. Thus, since different types of lie require significant variations in the attitude of the golfer relative to the ball, the direction of striking of the ball and so on, such aids are of only relatively limited value in developing and improving a golfer's ability to cope with the wide range of different lies encountered in real life on the golf course.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid or minimise one or more of the abovementioned disadvantages.

The present invention provides a golf swing practice aid comprising a platform having a plurality of spaced apart height adjustable ground engagement means whereby said platform may be secured in a plurality of different attitudes tilting in different directions, said platform having a ball support portion for supporting a golf ball in a predetermined position and a foot support portion for supporting, in use, the feet of a golfer standing in a position for addressing the ball.

Preferably said ball support portion and foot support portion are provided with pairs of mutually inclined intersecting index lines for indicating respectively the direction of striking of the ball and the alignment of the toes of the golfer's feet for different attitudes of the platform corresponding to different types of lie.

Advantageously the ball support and foot support portions are hingedly interconnected so as to permit relative tilting therebetween, thereby to facilitate simulation of an even greater number of different possible lies.

Thus with an aid of the present invention it is possible to practice the correct stance and attitude and swing for each of a large number of different possible lies which may actually be encountered on a course.

Further preferred features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description given by way of example of a preferred embodiment illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. lisa perspective view of a first aid of the invention; Fig. 2 shows the aid of Fig. 1 in use to simulate a range of different lies; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a simplified aid; and Fig. 4 shows the aid of Fig. 3 in use to simulate some further different lies.

Fig. 1 shows a golf swing practice aid 1 in the form of a platform 2 comprised by a generally rectangular foot support portion 3 and a generally trapezoidal support ball support portion 4 hingedly connected 5 to the foot support portion 3. The foot support portion 3 is provided with four height adjustable legs 6 disposed in the region of its corners 7. The legs 6 are provided with splayed out feet 8 which can readily support the weight of a golfer 9 (see Fig.

2) without damage to an underlying ground surface 10 at the upper ends 11 which project above the foot support portion 3, are provided hand grip portions 12 for rotating legs 6 whose shanks 12 are screw threadedly engaged in suitably formed supports 13 in the foot support portion 3 to screw in or screw out the legs 6 thereby to raise or lower the foot support portion 3.

On the foot support portion 3 are provided two elongate foot guides 14 which extend generally towards the ball support portion 4 in order to engage the leading side edges 15 of a users feet 16 when addressing a golf ball 47 (see Fig. 4) disposed on the ball support portion 4. The foot guides 14 are secured to the foot support portion 3 by securing pins 17 which are captively engaged in engagement slots 18 which extend parallel to the hingeing line 5 between the foot and ball support portions 3,4, so that the foot guides 14 can be positionally adjusted both as to their lateral position on the foot support portion and their inclining relative to a central line 19 extending through the ball support portion 4 generally perpendicularly to the hingeing line 5.

The foot support portion has a single support leg 6 at its side 20 remote from the hingeing line 5.

Between the leg 6 and the hingeing line 5 is provided a small rectangular panel of artificial turf 21 on which the golf ball 47 is placed. On the one hand, this helps to simulate a natural lie whilst on the other hand it retains the ball against rolling away when the ball support portion is disposed in an inclined attitude (see Fig. 2).

On the ball support portion are provided a plurality of guidelines including a central standard guideline 23 extending parallel to the hinge line 5 and a downhill guideline 24 inclined to the centre line 23 and extending from the free edge side 20 of the centre line 23 across the centre line intersecting it where it intersects the central line 19, towards the hingeing line 5 in the direction towards the leading side 25 of the platform 2 as viewed in Fig. 1. An uphill line 26 intersects the centre guideline 23 in the opposite sense. These guidelines 22 serve to indicate the direction which the club should follow during the swing.

Corresponding foot guidelines 27 are provided on the foot support portion 3 close to the hingeing line 5 to indicate where the users toes should be aligned for the particular types of lie being practiced.

As may be seen from Fig. 2 a whole series of different lies can be simulated by appropriate adjustment of the height of the legs 6 including complex lies such as those indicated in Figs. 2d and 2e where the ground is respectively concave and convex between the ball position and the golfer's position. Naturally other lies in which the ground slope includes a component in the direction towards or away from that in which the ball is to be driven-as shown in Fig. may also be readily simulated.

Additional markings to facilitate practice may be provided on the board also. Thus for example the ball support portion can include a series of ball position index lines 28 to either side of the central line 19 to indicate optimum ball positions relative to a given position of the users laterally of the board, corresponding to the use of different clubs, the central line 19 and closely adjacent lines being used with a wedge down to a seven iron and the outermost lines 29 being used with a four iron down to a one iron. Desirably the board is coloured green to help simulate natural lies and provided, at least on the foot support portion, with a non-slip surface.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as shown for example in Fig. 3 where the ball support portion 4 is not independently adjustable relative to the foot support portion 3 even though it is conveniently hinged in the model to allow it to be followed up and readily transported using the carrying handle 30 provided at the free edge 20 of the ball support portion 4. In other respects the board of Fig. 3 is generally similar to that of Fig. 1 though in this case a less sophisticated system of guide markings 31 is utilised.

Conveniently the artificial turf panel 21 is detachable e.g. being simply seated in a suitable recess and/or held in place by hook and loop fastener means such as Velcro, for replacement by, for example, different grades of artificial turf or other material simulating different playing surfaces.

Naturally the adjustable height support means may be mechanised to a greater or lesser extent to facilitate automatic operation thereof. Thus for example there could be used pressurized fluid, usually hydraulically, drive piston and cylinder means as the support means. In the case of a driving range or golf school etc the tilting adjustment of the golf swing practice aid may be as follows (with reference to Figures 5 & 6).

Fig. 5 shows the golf swing practice aid 1 (as previously described and shown in Fig 1) the foot support portion of which is mounted on sealed weight displacement unit which comprise of four hydraulic cylinder/RAM units 3 interconnected through a four way solenoid valve 4 by hydraulic tubes 10. The solenoid valve 4 is opened and closed electronically by means of a hand held push button 5.

The ball support portion is mounted on an air/spring cylinder/RAM unit 6 fitted with a solenoid switching unit 7. The solenoid switching unit 4 is opened and closed electronically by means of a hand held push button 5. The above cylinder/RAM's are mounted on a base plate 2.

Figure 6 shows a fringe surround 8 attached to the gold swing practice aid 1 on the ground surface. All the cylinder/RAM's are attached to the gold swing practice aid by means of ball type joints 9.

An example of adjusting the board is as follows:- A golfer standing on the foot support portion (position A) pressing the hand held push button 5 will open the solenoid valve 4 allowing the hydraulic oil to follow from the weight affected cylinder/RAM units 3 to the other units. On release of the hand held push button 5 the solenoid value 4 will close, thus again sealing the weight displacement unit.

This can be seen on Fig. 6. Weight applied lowers position A. Hydraulic oil flows raising position B. To raise or lowerthe ball support portion the golfer presses the hand held push button 5 the solenoid switch 7 will activate the air/spring cylinder/RAM unit 6 which will raise automatically and can be lowered by applying weight, releasing the hand held push button 5 shuts off and seals the air/spring cylinder/RAM unit 6. Other mechanical arrangements such as rack and pinion means could also be used for adjusting the degree of extension of the support legs. Any of these different height adjustment means could be arranged to be motor driven e.g. with the aid of an electric motor.

Moreover by having each of the drives of the height adjustable suports connected to a suitable microprocessor based control circuit it would be possible to provide a number of pre-programmed lies defined by different predetermined combinations of degrees of extension for each of the support means, which lies could be selected by means of simple control instructions.

Finally it will of course be appreciated that the aid of the invention may be readily used by both left and right handed players, the direction in which the player faces the index markings used by him or her being simply reversed.

Claims (9)

1. The Golf Swing Practice Aid comprises a board on which the user stands placing his feet adjacent to the foot 'restraints' which prevent excess movement during play (golf practice).

2. A Golf Swing Practice Aid as claimed in Claim 1 wherein a rubber protection strip is fitted to the 'foot restraints' to allow a certain degree of movement during swing and follow through.

3. A Golf Swing Practice Aid as claimed in Claims 1 and 2 wherein the 'foot restraints' can be moved along two runners to the desired position (i.e.

stance), and clamped securely by means of locking screws.

4. A Golf Swing Practice Aid as claimed in Claims 1,2 and 3 wherein a section of replaceable artificial turf is fitted to simulate natural conditions, protect the club during use and can be of various grades (e.g. rough, fairway, etc.).

5. A Golf Swing Paractice Aid as claimed in any preceding Claims, wherein the level adjusters enable the board to be set at various angles to simulate a variety of different golf shots.

6. A Golf Swing Practice Aid as claimed in any preceding Claims, wherein colour coded parallel lines are marked along the board, coinciding with perpendicular colour coded lines marked across the board thus giving the user an indication of foot and ball position during various different shots.

7. A Golf Swing Practice Aid as claimed in any preceding Claims, wherein a hinge along its centre enables the board to be folded for storage or carriage by means of the clip handle.

8. A Golf Swing Practice Aid as claimed in any preceding Claims, wherein adjustment may also be of the Hydraulic Weight Displacement Type.

9. A Golf Swing Practice Aid substantially as described herein with reference to figures 1-6 of the accompanying drawings.