US20050233837A1

US20050233837A1 - Golf tee holder

Info

Publication number: US20050233837A1
Application number: US10/826,896
Authority: US
Inventors: Man-Young Jung
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-04-16
Filing date: 2004-04-16
Publication date: 2005-10-20

Abstract

The golf tee holder comprises a holder base having a plurality of legs that extend outwardly and horizontally from the center of the said base. At least one of the said legs extends fore of the said base. At least one other of the said legs extends from the left side of said base, and at least one other of said legs extends from the right side of said base. The said base further forms an opening in the center for snugly receiving a golf tee.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Golf tees comprise a ball support formed as an indent and a stem. The stem is partially inserted into the ground and provides the ball on the support at a raised position for the golfer to swing onto the ball. When the golfer swings the golf club and hits the ball, such impact may also connect to the tee. The impact is enormous enough to either drag the tee to fly with the golf ball at the same time, or break the tee when the impact occurs. Thus, used tees litter the teebox. Since the tees fly unexpectedly from their original locations, the golfers either do not bother to pick up the used tees, or do not have time to look for them.
Also, for inexperienced golfers the stance is always hard to adjust. From the tee shot square to the teebox, the ball position is about two feet away from the golfer's standing position. What the golfer can see from his/her standing position is slightly different from the ball's location. An experienced golf has to adjust feet position to point toward the desired direction. However, it takes considerable practice time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration showing one golfer standing on the tee box aiming at the golf ball locating on the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the preferred embodiment of present invention.
FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the preferred embodiment of present invention, showing the present invention holding a golf tee.
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the second embodiment of present invention.
FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the second embodiment of present invention.
FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the second embodiment of present invention, showing the present invention holding a golf tee.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a golf tee holder comprising plurality of legs extending toward different directions.
One advantage of the present invention is the holder holds the tee safe and secure, allowing the user to collect the tees easily after his/her tee shots. If the tee is not broken, the user will be able to reuse such on the next opening; if the tee is broken, the present invention will also save the user's time to locate the broken tee in order to maintain the teebox in the golf course with due courtesy.
Another advantage of the present invention is the pointing legs design. Such design provides the user visual help in adjusting his/her feet position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention shown in FIG. 2 comprises a golf tee holder 150 that can be made of plastic. The golf tee holder preferably comprises four legs extended outwardly, which are right leg 210, rear leg 220, left leg 230 and front leg 240. The golf tee holder also forms an opening 250 to allow the golf tee to be fit snugly through the opening as said holder holds the tee in a secure and safe position. Preferably the size of the opening is slightly larger than the dimension of the tee stem.
Referring to FIG. 1, when the present invention is used and placed on the ground, the front leg 240 is preferably placed in the line toward the object direction the golfer tries to send the ball. The rear leg 220, after placing the front leg 240 toward the object direction, helps to extend the imaginary line more vividly to make the golfer's feet line parallel. The left leg 230 is preferably placed toward the golfer's left foot, indicating the accurate ball position for the golfer. The right leg 210 extends the vertical visual line form the golfer to the golf ball.
When a golfer swings his/her driver, the striking face 130 of the driver provides an impact towards the golf ball, sending the ball away to desired direction. Such impact transmits from the ball to the tee holding the ball, as well as the tee holder holding the tee. Or in some cases poor swing also allows the club striking face to connect onto the tee directly. The present invention, the tee holder, will divide such direct or indirect impact, spreading the impact into plural directions, and further holds the tee and retains the tee from being moved from its original location. Also, because the legs extending the holder, when the impact occurs, the front leg 240 will be forced to lean forward until it contacts against the ground. The contact to the ground therefore reduces such impact from the tee, and aids the tee holder to hold the tee.
Referring to FIG. 3, the golf tee holder is made horizontally flat viewed from the side. The legs extend outwardly from the core of the holder instead of downwardly or upwardly. The present invention is preferably made thin, but not too thin as the thickness of the tee holder must be thick enough to hold off the tee after the impact received from swings, without being broken by such impact.
Since the present invention simply provides an aid holding the tee instead of replacing the tee, the possible interference to the golfer is reduced to minimum. Users are allowed to use his/her own tee in their routine and regular way. Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the opening 250 in the center of present invention allows the user to slip the tee holder on the tee 160, and position the tee holder in a desired height without interfering the original ball height on the raised position. The height of the holder is adjustable. Users may position the holder lower to be closer to the ground and allow less connection to the tee when the impact occurs; or users may position the holder higher to be further from the ground and allow more connection to the tee when the impact occurs.
The size of the opening 250 is preferably slightly larger than the diameter of the tee stem as long as a tee 160 may be slipped into said opening. The larger size opening allows less interference to the tee but also creates less holding connection when the impact occurs. The smaller size opening, on the other hand, creates more holding connection when the impact occurs, but allows more interference to the tee.
The horizontally flat exterior of the present invention also reduces and minimizes the possible interference to the golfer when the golfer drives the ball. Since the legs extend outwardly instead of upwardly or downwardly, users may always choose to place the present invention closely connecting to the ground. Although the holding connection is less, the interference to the swings is reduced to minimum as desired. As an alternate embodiment, the tee can be formed integrally with the holder allow single piece construction.
Referring to FIG. 5 through FIG. 7, the present invention can also be implemented to different embodiments. Three extending legs can be implemented instead of four legs in the preferred embodiment. Three extending legs are front leg 410, left leg 420 and right leg 430 extending outwardly from the opening 440. Referring to FIG. 6, same as described above in preferred embodiment, the front leg 510 is preferably placed in the line toward the object direction the golfer tries to send the ball. The left leg 520 is preferably placed toward the golfer's left foot, indicating the accurate ball position for the golfer. The right leg 210 extends the vertical visual line form the golfer to the golf ball.

CALL OUT LIST OF THE ELEMENTS

Preferred Embodiment

110 Golfer
120 Golf Club
130 Striking Face
140 Golf Ball
150 Golf Tee Holder
160 Tee Stem
210 Right Leg
220 Rear Leg
230 Left Leg
240 Front Leg
250 Opening
310 Right Leg
320 Rear Leg
330 Left Leg
340 Front Leg

Second Embodiment

410 Front Leg
420 Left Leg
430 Right Leg
440 Opening
510 Front Leg
520 Left Leg
530 Right Leg

Claims

1. A golf tee holder consisting of: a holder base having a plurality of legs extending outwardly and horizontally from the center of said base, one leg extending fore of said base, one leg extending left side of said base, and one leg extending right side of said base, wherein said base further forms an opening in the center for snugly receiving a golf tee.

2. The golf tee holder of claim 1, wherein one pair of said legs extend outwardly in opposing directions in 180 degrees orientation.

3. The golf tee holder in claim 1, wherein at least one leg extends fore of said base, at least one said legs extending aft of said base, at least one said legs extending left side of said base, and at least one said legs extending right side of said base.

4. The golf tee holder in claim 1, wherein the diameter of said opening size is larger than 0.8 cm.

5. The golf tee holder in claim 1, wherein said holder base is formed of plastic.

6. A tee holding member consisting of: a holder base having three integrally formed leg members extending outwardly and horizontally from the center of said holder base, one said leg extending fore of said base, one said leg extending left side of said base, and one said leg extending right side of said base, wherein said base further forms a circular opening for receiving a tee.

7. The tee holding member in claim 6, wherein each of said legs extends horizontally and outwardly from said holder base.

8. The tee holding member in claim 6, wherein at least one pair of said legs extend outwardly toward opposing directions.

9. The tee holding member in claim 6, wherein at least one leg extends fore of said base, at least one said legs extending aft of said base, at least one said legs extending left side of said base, and at least one said legs extending right side of said base.

10. The tee holding member in claim 6, wherein two pair of said legs extend outwardly toward opposing directions respectively forming a cross shape.

11. The tee holding member in claim 6, wherein the diameter of said opening size is larger than 0.8 cm.

12. The tee holding member in claim 6, wherein said holder base is formed of plastic.