US20060058109A1

US20060058109A1 - Iron Byron's teezitup

Info

Publication number: US20060058109A1
Application number: US10/767,305
Authority: US
Inventors: Byron Randall Wilson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-09-14
Filing date: 2004-09-14
Publication date: 2006-03-16

Abstract

This pocket size small light hinged golf ball pick up and tee placement device clips on to the grip of most any golf club. It is disclosed here to allow a golfer to repeatedly pick up golf balls and place them on the tee at the driving range or out on the golf course. The fold up open ring ball-holder is shaped with two down facing semilunar curved prongs that easily slides under and around the golf ball to be picked up off any surface and place it on the tee. The tee chamber firmly holds the tee within a tapered conical released platform that conforms to the taper of the flange of the tee which is kept from wobbling by a second semicircular notched platform below that closely fits around the shaft of the tee. The tee can then be firmly placed into the ground at any desired depth. The grip chamber holds the grip of the golf club with a close fitting socket at the end with two flexible flat flanged prongs farther up the grip.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention
This invention incorporates the golfer with the ability to pick up a golf ball off most any surface and place it on a tee, and also to insert a golf tee into the ground at any desired depth and then place a golf ball on that particular tee, all without bending over. This device folds up and easily fits into most pants pocket for all day use and storage. Its' design allows the golfer to take it out of his pocket and slide it onto the grip of most any size golf club and perform the tasks of teeing the ball up without bending over. When the tee is still left standing after the shot has been executed, the tee can be retrieved out of the ground by sliding the device over it and picking it up.
Golfers with limited mobility, or those who want to avoid back problems have found that this device most conveniently picks the ball up and places it on the rubber tee at the driving range. This device allows obese and arthritic or impaired golfers to avoid the pain from bending over to stick the tee into the ground and then place the ball on the tee.
2. Description of Prior Art
Many inventions have been described to allow the golfer to position the tee into the ground to elevate the ball above the grass so it can be cleanly hit by the golf club, all without bending over. Some of these devices can retrieve the tee after the shot. Most of these devices involve a mechanism that places the ball and the tee into the device which is mounted to a dowel shaft or handle so the user doesn't have to bend over to use it. Some have levers with connecting rods to the mechanism to activate the placement process.
The following devices are comparatively large and semi-complicated with multiple moving parts or long shafts. These are described by U.S. Pat. No. 3,671,037 to Murdock Jun. 20, 1972, U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,250 to Henthorn Dec. 22, 1987, U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,947 to Kopfie Aug. 27, 1990 U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,646 to Tobias Nov. 13, 1990 U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,357 to Wolf Jan. 14, 1992 U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,744 to Vogrin Nov. 24, 1992 U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,279 to Ahner Feb. 27, 1996 U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,432 Jul. 30, 1996 U.S. Pat. No 5,632,696 to Nichols et al. May, 27, 1997 U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,498 to Cretella Jul. 8, 1997 U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,303 to Berkowitz et al. Jan. 13, 1998 U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,117 to Erickson Jun. 2, 1998 U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,737 to Park Jun. 22, 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,091 to Corriveau Jul. 27, 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,227 to Peterson Dec. 21, 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,821 to Palmer Apr. 25, 2000 U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,497 B1 to Brandt et al. Jul. 3, 2001
It is noted that the device U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,533 to Dahlmann Jun. 30, 1998: A. Does not have a shaft or handle and it attaches to the grip of the golf club, however it is unable to pick up a golf ball and place it on a free standing tee. B. Also, its' size and shape are not conducive to fit in the pants pocket of the golfer. C, It is further noted that it does not have a secondary platform to stabilize the tee during insertion.
In addition to the above disadvantages of that particular device, it is very awkward when the golfer wears it on the belt while riding in a golf cart with a playing partner sitting so close by. It must constantly be removed to prevent bruising and constantly re-attached to the belt to use each time. The other tee up devices with shafts or handles that don't stick upright into the ground have to be returned to the golf bag each time after tee insertion before the ball is hit. This is an aggravating waste of precious time. To lay these devices on the ground by the tee off area is self defeating.
Tee insertion and ball placement devices prior to and subsequently from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,535 Dahlmann Jun. 30, 1998 device do not attach to the golf club grip. The use of the golf club and its shaft as the handle for insertion is desired, as it is time saving and more efficient. The other teeing devices all require the user to manually release the tee and ball by manipulation of a connecting rod built into or onto a long pole or shaft handle.

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

Accordingly here are several objects and advantages to my invention of the “Teezitup”
(A.) The fifteen to twenty degree down angle of the prongs of the semicircular, curved in simi-lunar shaped ball holder allows the device to easily be inserted under and arround the ball on most any kind of surface from grass to plastic to carpet. These different surfaces are encountered on the golf course and various driving ranges. This provides the golfer the ability to pick the ball up without bending over and place it on a driving range tee or a regular playing tee.
(B.) The fold up hinge mechanism of the ball holder is necessary to allow the golfer to keep the device in his pants pocket.
(C.) The entire design of the device has rounded smooth surfaces everywhere to prevent fabric penetration or wear, while it is being transported within the pants or shirt pocket by the golfer.
(D.) The second platform in the tee chamber, that holds the golf tee shaft, prevents an undesirable wobble of the tee during insertion as the ball won't stay placed on the tee of an off angled (non-perpendicular) inserted tee. This eliminates repeated tee insertion attempts.
(E.) This device has a grip chamber designed to provide a non movable articulation of the golf club grip to the device when in use.
(F.) This device provides the golfer with ease and convience of attaching and unattatching itself on and off the various size golf club grips with a flexible two pronged flat flanged grip clamp. The outward facing flange on this grip clamp allows the golfers thumb and forefinger to easily slide the device off the grip for removal after he places the ball on the tee.
(G.) The socket part of the grip chamber snugly fits to the end of the grip of the golf club and prevents undesirable wobble or unwanted movement when in use.
(H.) The flat smooth rounded surface design of the flange of the grip clamp minimizes abrasion of the grip providing normal longevity of the grip itself
Further Objects and Advantages will be more apparent from a studious observation of the ensuing drawings and descriptions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a three dimensional isometric illustration of the angled frontal view of a specific illustrative embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an actual size of the side view of the specific illustrative embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an actual size of the specific illustrative embodiment from a direct front view.
FIG. 4 is an actual size direct back view of the specific illustrative embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an actual size specific illustrative embodiment viewed from the back just be fore deployment of the tee into the ground and placement of the ball on top of it.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS



	10. Grip Clamp	12. Main body of device
	14. Tee Chamber	16. Ball holder
	18. Hinge mechanism	20. Flange of grip clamp
	22. Offset bracket of	24. support bracket
	grip clamp

	26. Rounded point of	28. Lateral side grip clamp
	ball holder

	30. Curved arched support	32. Upper tee cap platform
	bracket

	34. Conical notched tee	36. Tee shaft support notch
	platform

	38. Folded up position of	40. 120′ arch of ball holder
	ball holder

	42 Grip clamp gap	44. Grip end socket
	46. Upper front of tee	48. Bottom of tee chamber
	chamber

	50. No-stick protrusions	52. Tapered curved prong
	54. Top of grip clamp	56. Top of grip end socket
	58. Upper tee chamber	60. Middle tee chamber
	62. Bottom tee chamber	64. Back of ball holder
	66. Shaft of golf club	68. Grip of golf club
	70. Ball holder	72. Ground (earth)
	74. Golf tee	76. Golf ball

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The entire device is referred to generally as reference numeral 12. The four main parts of this device are referenced as the tee chamber 14, the ball holder 16, the grip socket 44, and the grip clamp 10. The preferred embodiment of this device is illustrated in FIG. 1. The method of operation of this devise starts with its folded up 38 in its' storage location, in the pants pocket. When it is removed from the pocket, it is attached to the grip of the golf club by inserting the but end of the grip into the grip chamber 44. This device is then firmly attached to the golf club grip by sliding the rest of the grip between the grip clamp 42. It is then snuggly attach to the golf club by the Flexibility of the prongs of the grip clamp 10, and the elasticity of the rubber grip. The offset of the grip clamp 22 facilitates perpendicular alignment of the golf club shaft in reference to the base of the grip end socket 44. This allows for the tee insertion into the ground to be perpendicular also. A foreword angle tilt (towards the direction of ball flight) of the tee, can be accomplished by leaning the golf club shaft foreword when inserting the tee into the ground. This may be desired to minimize friction of the surface of the golf ball and the leading edge of the tee.
The design of the tee chambers are critical to maintaining stability of the tee during insertion. A single platform tee holder allows an uncontrollable wobble or movement that will insert the tee at an unwanted angle. This device has a flat upper surface 32 to evenly press the tee in, parallel to the golf club shaft, and perpendicular to the surface of the ground. The conical notched platform 34 snuggly suspends the tee in position before insertion. The tee shaft support notch 36, which is the bottom platform of the tee chamber, snuggly keeps the tee from moving around during insertion. The desired depth of the tee is simply accomplished by how far one pushes the tee into the ground.
Tee insertion may not have to occur when the golfer wants to practice on certain driving ranges. In this situation, the golfer is provided with a variety of golf balls in a bin, astro turf carpet, and a perminately fixed rubber tee to place the balls on. This device then fulfills the need to pick the balls up out of the bin and place them on the rubber tee many times in a row during the practice session. The down angled curved tapered shape of the two prongs of the ball holder 16 allows the golfer the ability to simply slide the prongs under and around the balls and easily pick them up for placement on the tee. Before the golfer hits the range ball, he simply leans the device on the golf club shaft against a bracket or his golf bag. Thus the device can be easily reached for and retrieved over and over again without bending over or walking very far.
The design and shape of the tips of the ball holder 26 is curved upwards similar to the runners of a snow sled. This minimizes snagging when the device is slid under a ball on a rough surface with various obstructions (thick grass). Furthermore these tips 26 must be rounded and smooth for safety concerns when stored in the pocket.
The fold up hinge 18 is off set from the main body of the device 12 and 14 to allow the ball holder 16 to fold up and be at rest with the prongs 26 concealed within the safety of the grip chamber44. This is accomplished with an ached range of motion of about 120′. In this particular fold up position, the ball holder 16 is held away from damaging collision type encounters. The structure of the hinge mechanism 18 is a double ball and socket type of permanently fixed hinge.
When the golf ball is in the ball holder 16 see FIG. 5, having been placed there by hand or from picking it up, it stays there during tee insertion. Once the free standing tee is in the desired position, the ball is then suspended directly above it. At that time the device is lowered until the ball 76 separates from the ball holder 16. The two smooth bumped protrusions 50 on the back of the ball holder prevents the ball from sticking within the ring of the ball holder. The prongs 26 of the ball holder are lowered down towards the ground and then slid backward away from the ball and tee.
At this point the device must be removed from the grip of the club and is done so by pushing the thumb and forefinger against the flair of the grip clamp 20. The ball holder is folded up and the device is placed into the pocket until needed again and the golfer hits the golf ball off the tee.

Claims

1. What I claim as my invention is a pocket sized, hinged, fold up device called the teezitup, which firmly clamps on to various size golf club grips:

2. What I claim as my invention is a pocket size hinged, fold up device called the teezitup which picks up a golf ball off any surface and places it on a variety of different size and shaped golf tees.

3. What I claim as my invention is a pocket sized, hinged, fold up device called the teezitup, which has two stabilizing platforms to firmly position the golf tee as it is inserted into the ground.

4. What I claim as my invention is a pocket sized, hinged, fold up device called the teezitup, which allows the golfer the ability to tee the ball up without bending over.