GB2356574A

GB2356574A - Adjustable height golf tee

Info

Publication number: GB2356574A
Application number: GB0009822A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Laurance Allan Jones; James Albert Rimmer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-11-24
Filing date: 2000-04-25
Publication date: 2001-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 2020-04-25
Also published as: GB0009822D0; GB9927627D0; GB2356574B

Description

2356574 Title:- Adjugtable Height Golf Tee The present invention relates

to golf tees and is more particularly concerned with the provision of adjustable height golf tees.

Currently golfers on a golf course use wooden or plastic golf tee pegs that are stuck in the golf teeing ground or in slits made in artificial turf or rubber golf teeing mats. The tee pegs may either be of a standard length with the height above the ground being manually adjusted by the golfer or may be of the so-called castle tee type which are manufactured in four versions each providing a different level of ball height. The height of a golf ball on the tee peg is of critical importance depending upon the club used on the teeing ground. To achieve good ball distance when using drivers, the ball requires to be teed higher than when using shorter clubs where accuracy rather than distance is of importance to the golfer. After striking the golf ball from the tee peg the wooden or plastic golf tee invariably leaves the ground or mat and may be difficult to find or may be broken. This leads to the golfer abandoning the retrieval of the wooden or plastic tee pegs thereby creating a problem for the golf course maintenance staff in that abandoned tee pegs become a hazard to course maintenance machinery. A flirther disadvantage of the manually inserted golf tee peg is that in hard ground conditions it is difficult to find a suitable place on the golf teeing ground to insert the tee peg. Yet a further disadvantage of the wooden and plastic tee pegs is that they may cause damage to the club face when the face come into contact with the peg.

An alternative tee arrangement is often used on golf driving ranges where a mat is provided with a hole through which rubber tees of a standard height protrude. These rubber tees consist of a ball supporting hollow cylinder portion extending from a flat circular base. The diameter of the cylinder portion is such as to pass through a hole in the mat from below the mat, whereas, the diameter of the flat circular base is significantly greater than the hole in the mat thereby retaining the base below the mat.

-2A significant disadvantage of this type of tee is that it is of a standard height and is therefore not suitable for many clubs in the range of clubs used by a golfer. A further disadvantage of the driving range tee is that as the mat hole wears the tee may jump clear from its mat locating hole, being driven through the enlarged hole in the mat by the force applied by the club head when striking the ball and rubber tee. The cylindrical hollow rubber tees used on golf ranges, however, have the advantage that they do not damage the golf club face.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned difficulties and to provide an adjustable height golf tee that can be installed on a golf course teeing ground or the teeing area of a driving range.

According to the invention there is provided an adjustable height golf tee comprising a fixed member (15) co-operating with an adjustable height golf ban support member (11), the golf support member co-operating with a spring loaded hinged section (13) interconnected with a fixed member co-operating section (14) arranged such that when the fixed member (15) is held in a receptacle below the surface of the ground the height of the ball support member (11) is adjustable with respect to the surface of the ground.

The adjustable golf tee according to a feature of the invention is accommodated within &-cylindrical receptacle (10) which has external dimensions allowing it to be accommodated within a standard golf green pin cup and has the fixed member accommodated within its base.

The adjustable golf tee according to a further feature of the invention is arranged so that the fixed member co-operating section (14) is threaded and it co-operates with a threaded nut incorporated within the fixed member (15).

3The invention together with its Various features will be more readily understood &om the following description of one embodiment of the invention which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The drawing shows in schematic form the adjustable height golf ball tee accommodated within the cylindrical container (10). The dimensions of the container (10) are arranged to be such that the container can be accommodated within a standard golf green pin cup. This has the advantage that the same pin cup cutting tool used on a golf course green to cut holes for the reception of the pin cup can be used to cut a hole in a golf course teeing ground to accommodate a pin cup which in turn accommodates the container(10).

The adjustable height golf ball tee comprises a cylindrical hollow rubber golf ball support member (11) having a flat cylindrical base of greater diameter than the hollow golf ball support which is fixed to a disc shaped weighted plate (12) of similar diameter to the base of the golf ball support member. The golf ball support member (11) may be a standard unit as used in golf driving ranges and is fixed to the weighted plate (12) using screws into- threaded holes in the weighted place (12).

Connected to the under side of the disc shaped weighted plate (12) is a cylindrical spring (12) wffich is connected to a threaded section (13) which co-operates with the threaded nut (15) set in the base of the container (10).

The container (10) is provided with a lid (16) through which the ball support member (11) projects. The lid additionally provides protection against the impact of the golf club when the adjustable height golf ball tee is in use.

In use the adjustable height golf tee is located in a suitable hole below the surface of the golf course teeing ground so that the ball support member (11) projects above the ground or mat (17) of the -olf course or driving range tee. The height of the ball above the ground or mat (17) is adjusted by rotating the ball support member horizontally to the ground or mat (17) clockwise or anti-clockwise thereby screwing the threaded member (14) into or out of the threaded nut (15). The spring (I 3_)) allows the golf ball support member (11) and the weighted plate (12) to flex or hinge vertically with respect to the threaded member ( 14) when a golf ball placed on the ball support member (11) is struck. The threaded member (14) is arranged not to be a complete tight fit with the threaded nut (15), by for example including a flat portion along the length of the threaded member (14) so that water forming in the container can drain away through the threaded nut (15) in the base of the container (10).

The above description has been of one embodiment of the invention only. Alternative forms of the invention can be envisaged. For example the adjustable height golf tee has been described as being formed within a container. However, the adjustable height golf tee mechanism could be removably located in a separate container left permanently in the golf teeing ground. The adjustable mechanism uses.a threaded section co-operating with a fixed threaded nut. However, alternative height ad ustable mechanisms could be used based on hydraulic or telescopic principles.

Claims

CLAIMS:-

I An adjustable height golf tee comprising a fixed member (15) co-operating with an adjustable height golf ball support member (11), the golf ball support member co-operating with a spring loaded hinged section (13) interconnected with a fixed member co-operating section (14) arranged such that when the fixed member (15) is held below the surface of the ground the height of the ball support member (11) is manually adjustable with respect to the surface of the ground.

2. An adjustable height golf tee according to claim I and in which the adjustable height golf tee is accommodated within a cylindrical receptacle (10) which has external dimensions allowing it to be accommodated within a standard golf green pin cup.

r I An adjustable height golf tee according to claim 2 in which the fixed member (15) is accommodated within the base of the receptacle (10).

4. An adjustable height golf tee according to any one of the preceding claims and in which the spring loaded hinged section (13) comprises a helical spring fixed at one end to the under side of a weighted plate (12) carrying the golf ball - support member (11). 5. An adjustable height golf tee as claimed in claim 4 in which the helical spring is fixed at its other end to the fixed member co-operating section (14).

6. An adjustable height golf tee as claimed in claim 5 in which the fixed member co-operating section (14) is threaded and co-operates with a threaded nut incorporated in the fixed member (15).

7. An adjustable height golf tee as claimed in claim 6 in which the fixed member co-operating section (14) includes a flat portion along its length to provide a drain path.

T.

7 Am&tdments to the claims have been filed as follows I. An adjustable height golf tee comprising a fixed member co-operating with an adjustable height golf ball support member, the golf ball support member co-operating with a spring loaded hinged section interconnected with a fixed member co-operating section arranged such that when the fixed member is held below the surface of the ground, the height of the golf ball support member is manually adjustable with respect to the surface of the ground.
2. An adjustable height golf tee according to claim 1 in which the adjustable height golf tee is accommodated within a cylindrical receptacle which has external dimensions allowing it to be accommodated within a standard golf green pin cup.
3. An adjustable height golf tee according to claim 2 in which the fixed member is accommodated within the base of the cylindrical receptacle.
4. An adjustable height golf tee according to any one of the preceding claims in which the spring loaded hinged section comprises a helical spring fixed at one end to the under side of a weighted plate carrying the golf ball support member.
5. An adjustable height golf tee according to claim 4 in which the helical spring is fixed at its other end to the fixed member co-operating section.
6. An adjustable height golf tee according to claim 5 in which the fixed member co-operating section is threaded and co-operates with a threaded nut incorporated in the fixed member.
7. An adjustable height golf tee according to claim 6 in which the fixed member co-operating section includes a flat portion along its length to provide a drain path.
8. An adjustable height golf tee substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.