JP2014144198A - Golf club - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a golf club which can eliminate discomfort at a swing and prevent breakage and positional deviation of a sensor casing.SOLUTION: The golf club comprises a head at the front end of a shaft 3, and a grip 4 at the rear end of the shaft. The grip is provided with a sensor body used for behavior analysis of a golf swing. The sensor body comprises a sensor part 11 accommodating at least one of an angular velocity sensor, an acceleration sensor and a magnetic sensor, and a battery part 12 accommodating a battery. The battery part is disposed in the grip.

Description

  The present invention relates to a golf club. More particularly, the present invention relates to a golf club to which a sensor for analyzing a golfer's swing is attached.

  It is an eternal theme for golfers to extend the distance of the ball and to fly it in the direction and angle aimed at. To that end, it is important to use a golf club that fits your swing.

  Selecting a golf club suitable for a golfer is generally referred to as fitting. In this fitting, it is proposed that a golfer actually swings and performs fitting based on the measurement result of the swing.

  And the method of attaching a various sensor to golf club itself with respect to the method of using a television camera and optical detection means separate from a golf club for the measurement of a swing is known (for example, patent documents 1-1). 2).

  Patent Document 1 discloses that an acceleration sensor and a strain gauge are provided on a shaft of a golf club in order to analyze a golfer's swing. Patent Document 2 discloses that a measuring instrument having a gyro sensor or an acceleration sensor as a sensor is mounted on a shaft of a golf club.

  The method described in Patent Document 1 can measure the behavior of a specific part of a golf club shaft. However, since a sensor is attached to the shaft, the influence of the shaft bending or vibration during the swing, and also the impact at the time of impact. There is a risk that the accuracy of the measurement value may be reduced. In addition, since the casing for housing the sensor is large, heavy, and has a poor club balance, there is a problem that the golfer cannot perform the original swing.

  Further, in the method described in Patent Document 2, the measuring instrument is large, and there is a concern that the swing may be hindered. Although it is also described that a measuring instrument is attached to the arm, it is impossible to measure the effect of wrist movement on the shaft behavior when worn on the arm, so analyze accurate swing behavior and golfer swing characteristics. Difficult to do.

  Therefore, the present applicant has proposed a golf club that can analyze the swing behavior of the entire golf club and improve the analysis accuracy without being affected by the deformation of the shaft during the swing. (Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-101630, hereinafter referred to as “prior application invention”).

  In the prior application invention, the sensor unit 30 as shown in FIG. 8 is disposed at the grip end of the grip 4 of the golf club 1 as shown in FIG. The sensor unit 30 includes a short cylindrical sensor casing 31, and a sensor, a battery as a power source, and the like are accommodated in the sensor casing 31. A tip bulge portion 32 is formed on one end surface of the sensor casing 31. By engaging the tip bulge portion 32 with an engagement recess formed at the grip end end, the sensor casing 31 is formed. It is fixed to the grip end. Further, in order to reliably prevent the rotation of the sensor unit 30 during the swing, four round bar-shaped pins 33 are provided at regular intervals around the tip bulging portion 32, and the pins 33 are grips. It is punctured or inserted into a pin hole formed at the end.

JP 2010-1887749 A JP 2011-72518 A

  By using the golf club according to the invention of the prior application, it became possible to accurately analyze the swing behavior of the entire golf club. However, the sensor casing 31 accommodates all elements necessary for sensing such as a sensor and a battery. Therefore, there is a golfer who feels uncomfortable when the golf club is gripped because the height of the sensor casing 31 is high and the user is concerned about the height. Further, there is a possibility that the sensor casing 31 hits the golfer's arm when swinging, the position of the sensor casing 31 is shifted, or the sensor casing 31 may be damaged in some cases.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a golf club capable of eliminating a sense of incongruity during a swing and preventing displacement and breakage of a sensor casing.

(1) The golf club of the present invention is a golf club in which a head is provided at the tip of a shaft and a grip is provided at the rear end of the shaft,
The grip is provided with a sensor body used for golf swing behavior analysis,
The sensor body includes a sensor unit that houses at least one of an angular velocity sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a magnetic sensor, and a battery unit that houses a battery.
The battery part is arranged in a grip.

In the golf club of the present invention, the battery portion occupying a relatively large volume in the sensor body is accommodated in the grip. Therefore, when the sensor unit that houses the sensor is disposed at the grip end, the height of the sensor unit (the size in the shaft axial direction) can be kept low. In addition, when the sensor unit is arranged in the grip together with the battery unit, it is only necessary to arrange the cap member at the grip end end, so that the height of the protrusion at the grip end end can be further reduced.
As a result, the golfer does not feel uncomfortable when holding the golf club. Further, since the sensor unit is prevented from hitting the golfer's arm when swinging, there is no possibility that the position of the sensor unit is shifted or damaged.

(2) In the golf club of (1), the sensor portion is disposed at a grip end of the grip, and a connection portion is provided in the grip between the sensor portion and the battery portion. The connecting portion includes a contact portion that contacts the inner peripheral surface of the shaft that is inserted into the grip, and a neck that is located closer to the grip end than the contact portion and has a smaller diameter than the contact portion. It may consist of parts.
(3) In the golf club of (2), a length along the shaft axis direction of the connecting portion may be 7 to 30 mm.

(4) In the golf club according to (2) or (3), the neck portion is disposed in a central hole of the end cap of the grip, and a peripheral surface of the neck portion, an edge portion of the central hole, A buffer portion for alleviating the impact caused by the hit ball may be provided between the two.
(5) In the golf club of (4), it is preferable that the buffer portion is made of a material having a Shore A hardness of 40 ° to 60 °.

(6) In the golf clubs of (2) to (5), the sensor portion includes a sensor casing having a substantially short cylindrical shape, and is formed on the end cap of the grip on one end surface of the sensor casing. It is preferable that the convex part inserted into the concave part is formed integrally with the sensor casing.
(7) In the golf club of (6), it is preferable that a plurality of the convex portions are formed around the neck portion.

(8) In the golf club of (6) or (7), the sensor casing preferably has a height of 30 mm or less.
(9) In the golf clubs of (1) to (8), it is preferable that the weight of the sensor body is 13 g or less.

(10) In the golf clubs of (1) to (9), the total weight of the grip and the sensor body is preferably 50 g or less.
(11) In the golf clubs of (1) to (10), it is preferable that the sensor unit further includes a temperature sensor.

(12) In the golf club of (6) or (7), it is preferable that an outer diameter of the sensor casing is smaller than a diameter of the grip end end.

  According to the golf club of the present invention, it is possible to eliminate a sense of incongruity at the time of swing, and to prevent displacement and breakage of the sensor casing.

It is explanatory drawing of one Embodiment of the golf club of this invention. It is principal part explanatory drawing of the grip of the golf club shown by FIG. It is a perspective explanatory view of a sensor body. It is front explanatory drawing of a sensor body. It is side surface explanatory drawing of a sensor body. It is principal part explanatory drawing of the grip in other embodiment of the golf club of this invention. It is a figure explaining the method of measuring a swing using the golf club of this invention. It is a perspective explanatory view of a sensor part in a prior application invention. It is explanatory drawing of the golf club which concerns on prior invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a golf club of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a golf club 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a main part of a grip 4 of the golf club 1 shown in FIG.
The golf club 1 according to the present embodiment includes a wood type golf club head 2 having a predetermined loft angle, a shaft 3, and a grip 4. The head 2 has a hosel 6 provided with a shaft hole 5 for inserting and fixing the tip end 3a on the distal end side of the shaft 3. The butt end 3 b on the rear end side of the shaft 3 is inserted into the grip hole 7 of the grip 4 and fixed. The tip end 3 a is located inside the head 2, and the butt end 3 b is located inside the grip 4.

  The head 2 in the present embodiment is a hollow head, and the material thereof is not particularly limited in the present invention. For example, titanium, titanium alloy, CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic), stainless steel, maraging steel, Soft iron or the like can be used. Further, not only using a single material, but also the head 2 may be manufactured by appropriately combining a plurality of materials.

  The shaft 3 is a carbon shaft, and is produced by a normal sheet winding method using a prepreg sheet as a material. More specifically, the shaft 3 is a tubular body made of a laminated body of fiber reinforced resin layers, and has a hollow structure. A steel shaft may be used in addition to the carbon shaft, and a shaft made of other fiber reinforced resin such as GFRP, BFRP, KFRP reinforced with fibers other than carbon may be used.

  The material and structure of the grip 4 are not particularly limited, and those that are normally used can be appropriately employed. For example, natural rubber can be obtained by molding and vulcanizing a material obtained by mixing and kneading oil, carbon black, sulfur and zinc oxide into a predetermined shape, or a synthetic rubber such as EPDM. .

  The weight of the grip 4 alone is not particularly limited in the present invention, but since a sensor body described later is provided on the grip, it is preferably lighter than the weight of the ordinary grip 4 alone, for example, 25 g or more and 45 g or less. It can be.

3 is an explanatory perspective view of the sensor body 10, FIG. 4 is an explanatory front view of the sensor body 10, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory side view of the sensor body 10. FIG.
The sensor body 10 is used for golf swing behavior analysis, and includes a sensor unit 11 that houses a sensor and a battery unit 12 that houses a battery. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the sensor unit 11 is disposed at the grip end end of the grip 4, and the battery unit 12 is accommodated in the grip 4. As described above, the height (the size in the axial direction of the shaft) of the sensor unit 11 is suppressed to be lower than that of the prior application invention by accommodating the battery unit 12 that accommodates the battery occupying a relatively large volume in the grip 4. Can do. As a result, the golfer does not feel uncomfortable when holding the golf club. Further, since the sensor unit 11 is prevented from hitting the golfer's arm when swinging, there is no possibility that the position of the sensor unit 11 is shifted or broken.

  The sensor unit 11 includes a sensor casing 13, and a sensor, an A / D converter, a CPU, a wireless interface, and a wireless antenna are accommodated in the sensor casing 13.

  As an example of the sensor accommodated in the sensor casing 13, an angular velocity sensor, a three-axis acceleration sensor, and a three-axis that can measure angular velocities about three-axis directions (x-axis direction, y-axis direction, and z-axis direction). A magnetic sensor can be mentioned, at least one of which is housed in the sensor casing 13. Then, analysis or analysis of the golfer's swing is performed using the measurement result of the sensor, and a golf club suitable for the golfer can be selected based on this analysis. Note that a temperature sensor may be accommodated in the sensor casing 13 for confirmation of prevention of deterioration in accuracy due to sensor heat generation.

  The sensor casing 13 has a substantially short cylindrical shape, and the height h can be set to, for example, 5 to 30 mm, and the diameter d can be set to, for example, 10 to 30 mm. Among these ranges, from the viewpoint of reliably preventing the sensor unit 11 from interfering with the swing, the height h is preferably 20 mm or less, particularly 13 mm or less, and the diameter d is 25 mm or less, particularly 20 mm. The following is preferable. The sensor casing 13 in the present embodiment is disposed concentrically with the axis of the shaft 3 and has an outer diameter d set to be smaller than the diameter D of the grip end. Specifically, the outer diameter d is set to be about 2 mm smaller than the diameter D of the grip end. Thus, by making the width | variety thru | or thickness of the sensor casing 13 smaller than the size of a grip end end, it can prevent that the sensor part 11 becomes obstructive during a swing. As a result, the golfer can perform a smooth swing as usual, and can improve the reliability of the swing analysis.

  The sensor casing 13 is preferably made of a material having rigidity, unlike a buffer portion described later, from the viewpoint of preventing the displacement of the sensor due to deformation due to the centrifugal force of the swing. Specifically, for example, a synthetic resin having a Rockwell hardness of R90 to 130 such as MC nylon, an aluminum alloy, a titanium alloy, a magnesium alloy, or the like can be used. Of these, MC nylon is preferably used because it is lightweight. The sensor casing 13 in the present embodiment is integrally formed with a casing of the battery unit 12 described later and a synthetic resin.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the battery unit 12 includes an elongated rectangular parallelepiped casing 14, and a lower end opening of the casing 14 is closed by a lid 15. For example, a lithium ion battery or a nickel metal hydride battery is accommodated in the casing 14. The battery may be rechargeable. In that case, a charging circuit for charging the battery can be provided in the sensor unit 11.

  A connecting portion 16 that connects the sensor portion 11 and the battery portion 12 is provided between the sensor portion 11 and the battery portion 12 and inside the grip 4. The connection portion 16 in the present embodiment includes a contact portion 17 having a contact surface 17a that contacts the inner peripheral surface of the shaft 3 inserted into the grip 4, and a grip end end side from the contact portion 17. A neck portion 18 that is smaller in diameter than the contact portion 17 and a transition portion 19 that is positioned closer to the grip tip than the contact portion 17 and connects the contact portion 17 and the battery portion 12. . The sizes of the neck portion 18, the contact portion 17, and the transition portion 19 in the shaft axis direction of the present embodiment can be normally 5 to 10 mm, 1 to 10 mm, and 1 to 10 mm. That is, the length of the connecting portion 16 along the shaft axial direction can be 7 to 30 mm.

  The contact portion 17 is a portion that is located at the upper edge portion of the shaft 3 and contacts the inner peripheral surface of the upper edge portion. The outer diameter of the contact portion 17 is very slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the shaft 3. Is set to

  The neck portion 18 is disposed in the central hole 4 b of the end cap 4 a of the grip 4. The diameter of the central hole 4b is slightly smaller than the diameter (outer diameter) of the contact portion 17, and when the sensor body 10 is attached to the shaft 3, the battery portion 12 of the sensor body 10 is pushed in. In this way, it is put in the shaft 3. Thereby, the sensor body 10 is prevented from coming off. Between the peripheral surface of the neck portion 18 and the edge portion of the central hole 4b, a buffer portion 20 is arranged for alleviating the impact caused by the hit ball. The buffer portion 20 is preferably made of a soft material from the viewpoint of absorbing impact, and specifically, the Shore A hardness is preferably 80 ° or less, and more preferably 60 ° or less. On the other hand, if it is too soft, the sensor will vibrate due to impact impact, so the Shore A hardness is preferably 30 ° or more, and more preferably 40 ° or more. Examples of the material of the buffer portion 20 include synthetic rubber such as neoprene rubber, natural rubber, synthetic resin such as polyester, and leather.

  The transition portion 19 has a tapered surface 19 a as shown in FIGS. 3 to 4, and serves as a guide when the battery portion 12 is inserted into the shaft 3.

  In the present embodiment, a pair of cylindrical convex portions 21 are formed on one end surface of the sensor casing 13, specifically, the end surface on the side in contact with the grip end. The convex portions 21 are formed so as to be positioned around the neck portion 18 and are formed at positions facing each other with the neck portion 18 interposed therebetween. The convex portion 21 is fitted into a concave portion 4 c formed in the end cap 4 a of the grip 4. The sensor body 10 can be fixed to the grip 4 by pressing the contact portion 17 into the shaft 3 and bringing the contact surface 17a of the contact portion 17 into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the shaft 3. As in the embodiment, by inserting the convex portion 21 into the concave portion 4c of the end cap 4a, the rotation of the sensor body 10 during the swing can be reliably prevented. If the sensor body 10 is rotated by the swing, the position of various sensors in the sensor casing 13 may be shifted, and the accuracy during repeated measurement may be deteriorated. However, the convex portion 21 as described above is used. Thus, it is possible to prevent such a decrease in measurement accuracy.

  Although the height and diameter of the convex part 21 are not specifically limited in this invention, Usually, they are 1 mm or more and about 1-3 mm, respectively, For example, they can be 2 mm in height and 3 mm in diameter.

  The sensor body 10 is preferably as light as possible from the viewpoint of allowing the golfer to swing as usual as possible. Specifically, it is preferably 15 g or less, and more preferably 12 g or less. The total weight of the grip 4 and the sensor body 10 is preferably 55 g or less, and more preferably 50 g or less. Therefore, the grip 4 is preferably lighter than usual, for example, 42 g or less, and more preferably 40 g or less.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a main part of a grip in a golf club according to another embodiment of the present invention. The golf club according to this embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 in that not only the battery part but also the sensor part is arranged in the grip. Specifically, a short cylindrical sensor casing 53 of the sensor unit 51 and a cylindrical casing 54 of the battery unit 52 are disposed in the grip 4 of the golf club. The casing 54 of the battery unit 52 is disposed on the grip front end side of the sensor casing 53 of the sensor unit 51.

  A disc-shaped cap portion (cap member) 55 is disposed at the grip end end of the grip 4, and the cap portion 55 and the sensor casing 53 are smaller in diameter than the sensor casing 53. A neck portion 56 is provided. The neck portion 56 is disposed in the central hole 4 b of the end cap 4 a of the grip 4. Between the peripheral surface of the neck portion 56 and the edge portion of the central hole 4b, a buffer portion 57 similar to the buffer portion 20 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. Is arranged. In addition, a pair of protrusions 58 for preventing rotation similar to those of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 are formed on one end face of the cap portion 55, specifically, the end face on the side in contact with the grip end. Has been. Each convex portion 58 has a cylindrical shape, and is formed on the end surface of the cap portion 55 at a position facing each other with the neck portion 56 interposed therebetween.

  The configurations of the sensor unit 51 and the battery unit 52 in the present embodiment are the same as the sensor unit 11 and the battery unit 12 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 except for the size and shape of each casing. Detailed description is omitted. In the present embodiment, not only the battery unit 52 but also the sensor unit 51 is disposed in the grip, so that the height of the protrusion at the grip end end is kept lower than in the embodiment shown in FIGS. be able to. As a result, the uncomfortable feeling felt when the golfer grips the golf club can be almost eliminated. Further, since the sensor unit 51 does not hit the golfer's arm when swinging, there is no possibility that the position of the sensor unit 51 is shifted or damaged.

  Next, an example of swing measurement using the golf club of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of measuring a swing using the golf club of the present invention. In this method, as shown in FIG. 7, a golfer who wants to fit a golf club actually makes a swing, and the swing specific to the golfer is measured from the swing. For this measurement, a sensor unit 13 provided at the grip end of the grip is used. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the golfer G is right-handed and is in an address state immediately before starting a swing for hitting the ball B set at a predetermined position.

  The sensor in the sensor unit 13 is wireless, and the measured data is transmitted wirelessly to a wireless reception device (not shown) built in the computer C as a data analysis device. As the wireless communication, for example, Bluetooth (Bluetooth (Bluetooth is a registered trademark)) standard and technology can be used. The wireless reception device that receives a signal from the sensor unit 13 includes a wireless antenna, a wireless interface, a CPU, and a network interface.

  A computer C as a data analysis apparatus includes an input unit 43 including a keyboard 41 and a mouse 42 and a display unit 44. Although not shown, the computer C includes a hard disk, a memory, a CPU, and a network interface.

  The data transmitted from the sensor unit 13 is received by the wireless interface via the wireless antenna on the wireless receiving device side. The received data is processed by the CPU of the computer C.

  Data sent to the computer C is recorded in a memory resource such as a hard disk. The hard disk stores programs and data necessary for data processing and the like. This program causes the CPU to execute necessary data processing. The CPU can execute various arithmetic processes, and the calculation results are output by the display unit 44 or a printing device (not shown).

[Other variations]
It should be noted that the embodiment disclosed this time is merely an example in all respects and is not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the meanings described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

In the embodiment described above, the sensor casing has a short cylindrical shape, but may have other shapes such as a prismatic shape.
In addition, the casing of the battery part may have other shapes such as a prismatic shape other than an elongated rectangular parallelepiped shape (embodiment of FIG. 3) and a cylindrical shape (embodiment of FIG. 6).
Further, the number of rotation prevention convex portions is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Golf club 2 Head 3 Shaft 4 Grip 4a End cap 4b Center hole 4c Recess 10 Sensor body 11 Sensor part 12 Battery part 13 Sensor casing 14 Casing 16 Connection part 17 Contact part 17a Contact surface 18 Neck part 19 Transition part 20 Buffer Part 21 convex part 51 sensor part 52 battery part

Claims (12)

A golf club in which a head is provided at the tip of a shaft and a grip is provided at the rear end of the shaft,
The grip is provided with a sensor body used for golf swing behavior analysis,
The sensor body includes a sensor unit that houses at least one of an angular velocity sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a magnetic sensor, and a battery unit that houses a battery.
The golf club, wherein the battery portion is disposed in a grip. The sensor unit is disposed at a grip end of the grip,
A connecting portion is provided in the grip between the sensor portion and the battery portion. The connecting portion includes an abutting portion that abuts on an inner peripheral surface of a shaft inserted into the grip, and an abutting portion. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein the golf club is located closer to the grip end than the contact portion and includes a neck portion having a smaller diameter than the contact portion.   The golf club according to claim 2, wherein a length of the connecting portion along a shaft axial direction is 7 to 30 mm.   The neck portion is disposed in the central hole of the end cap of the grip, and a buffer portion is provided between the peripheral surface of the neck portion and the edge portion of the central hole to alleviate the impact caused by the hit ball. The golf club according to claim 2 or 3.   The golf club according to claim 4, wherein the buffer portion is made of a material having a Shore A hardness of 40 ° or more and 60 ° or less.   The sensor part includes a sensor casing having a substantially short cylindrical shape, and a convex part fitted into a concave part formed in an end cap of the grip is integrally formed with the sensor casing on one end surface of the sensor casing. The golf club according to claim 2, wherein the golf club is formed.   The golf club according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of the convex portions are formed around the neck portion.   The golf club according to claim 6 or 7, wherein a height of the sensor casing is 30 mm or less.   The golf club according to claim 1, wherein the sensor body has a weight of 13 g or less.   The golf club according to claim 1, wherein the total weight of the grip and the sensor body is 50 g or less.   The golf club according to claim 1, wherein the sensor unit further includes a temperature sensor.   The golf club according to claim 6, wherein an outer diameter of the sensor casing is smaller than a diameter of the grip end end.

Images