US20120052974A1

US20120052974A1 - Chipping assistant device

Info

Publication number: US20120052974A1
Application number: US13/134,730
Authority: US
Inventors: Edwin E. Fellows; Robert Martzloff
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-06-19
Filing date: 2011-06-15
Publication date: 2012-03-01

Abstract

The Chipping Assistant was designed as a visual aid for use with most irons. The invention is a black, ¼″ thick wafer-like disc approximately 1.25″ in diameter which attaches to the face of the club with pressure sensitive two-sided tape which serves as a visual aid for golfers to hit the sweet spot and assist in golfer's keeping their head down and eye on the ball to connect with the ball and reduce mis-hits with most irons.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This subject non-provisional patent application claims the benefit of application No. 61/397,911 filed Jun. 19, 2010

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCES TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For many years, golf has been a highly competitive sport. The game is played by large numbers of individuals around the world at varying degrees of level of skill. All serious golfers are constantly training themselves to play the game better and are concerned with all aspects of the game. There are several important aspects to playing the game of golf an individual must develop to be successful at the sport. The subject invention refers to hand-eye coordination and the skill of the golfer keeping their head down and eye on the ball, specifically when hitting irons.
Various devices have been developed in the prior art. Typically, such devices employ sensors to sense movement of the head, or devices which transmit either by color or electronics, the perceived path a ball would travel based on the spot the ball made contact with the club.
A technique in a prior art device; U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,029, uses decals secured to the head of a golf club and a practice mat having luminescent material disposed thereon either in a form of a decal or imprinted thereon.
Another prior art technique is comprised of adhesive labels, U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,370, which are adapted to be placed on the golf club and which include symbols and/or indicia representing the proper foot placement, club head orientation, aiming area, target, weight placement and club head impact point.
Other devices sense movement of the participant's head, with an element fixedly ¹held in a box container attached to the golfer's hat by a clip utilized to sense vertical and horizontal motion in a vertical plane running through the golfer's body, head, shoulders and arms. ¹Patent Number not noted
Another device; U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,366, uses a battery-powered transmitter secured to the head of a conventional golf club. First and second pairs of antennas are mounted on a cradle. The cradle is mounted under a platform which receives the golfer and the golf tee. The antennas are mounted for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the nominal flight path so that a plane defined by point equidistant from the two antennas may be inclined from the vertical antennas measuring the absolute value of maximum velocities reached.
Another device; U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,844, includes a stroke arm, means for rigidly attaching a putter or chipping iron to the stroke arm and means for moving the stroke arm. The actuated stroke arm moves the putter or chipping iron from an initial position through a predetermined stroke distance so as to teach a golfer gripping the putter or chipping iron how to properly pout or chip a golf ball by developing muscle memory for the proper stroke.
These devices do not provide the mechanism by which to give the golfer a visual aid for hand-eye coordination to effectively spotlight a point of contact on the iron, which allows the brain to communicate what the eye sees, with the movement of the body; the swing, to connect the desired point of the iron the golfer sees to the ball; also known as hitting the sweet-spot of the club face.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a device which attaches to the iron club face directly, where the eye can make contact, especially where a golfer can use his own equipment and not require bulky apparatus and lengthy setup, and does not add any weight to the club to affect the golfer's natural swing. Such a device is highly desirable where it is compact, low in cost and easy to operate.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To further the improvement in the art of the golf swing, the subject invention serves as a visual aid for hand-eye coordination to develop the skill of keeping the head down and eye on the ball to connect with the sweet spot on the face of the club to obtain the desired chip shot.
The Chipping Assistant was design as a visual aid for use with most irons. The Chipping Assistant is a thin; ¼″ thick, wafer shaped disc, flat on the top and bottom with a predetermined bevel on all sides. When the Chipping Assistant is positioned on the face of the iron with the provided removable, pressure sensitive tape, the Chipping Assistant provides a visual aid. The Chipping Assistant becomes the primary visual aid for the golf ball's sweet spot on the wedged face. The determined bevel edge of the Chipping Assistant gives the golfer an instant indication that the sweet spot was missed based on the direction the ball travels; either off to the left or off to the right. The Chipping Assistant is of a black color to make it easy to see, becomes the primary visual aid to assist the golfer with keeping golfer's head down and eye on the ball. The Chipping Assist fits a golfer's own equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

For further understanding of the nature and object of the present invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of the invention drawn in plan view. The view depicts the top of the invention that is the striking surface of the invention. The dotted lines show the outline of the iron golf club that the invention would be placed and is not depicted as part of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the invention showing the ¼″ thickness. The view depicts the striking surface on the left with the right side attached to the iron club face.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference is made to FIG. 1 showing the size of the invention as it is positioned on a club face that is designed to be securely attached to the iron with pressure sensitive two-sided tape to be used over and over until the golfer chooses to remove it, unlike prior inventions that attach luminescent or other material to the club face which is designed to rub off after striking the ball.
Reference is made to FIG. 2 showing the beveled edges of the invention with the back attached to the face of the club. When the golfer swings and the Chipping Assistant strikes a ball, the direction the ball goes; either leftward, rightward, downward or upward, gives the golfer an instant indication that he missed the sweet spot and by which direction he missed the sweet spot. Missing the sweet spot is often caused by not keeping the head down and eye on the ball. As shown in FIG. 2, the invention is a visual aid to give focus to the sweet spot and serve a mechanism of focus to keep the golfer's head down.
The Chipping Assistant is manufactured from lightweight ABS material which does not add any weight to the club face to interrupt the golfer's normal swing. An embodiment of the invention is its size; approximately 1.25″ in diameter on the back and approximately 1.19″ on the top. The size of the striking top is approximately the same size as the diameter of a golf ball.

Claims

Having described my invention I now claim:

1. A device that attaches to the club face of most irons, to give the golfer a visual aid for hand-eye coordination to effectively spot focus a point of contact on the iron, which the brain can communicate the movement of the body; the swing, with the desired point the golfer sees and wishes to strike; the sweet-spot comprising of:

a. A thin ¼″ thick wafer-like disc

b. A thin ¼″ thick wafer-like disc having determined beveled edges on all sides

c. A thin ¼″ thick wafer-like disc having determined beveled edges on all sides which is black in color

d. A thin ¼″ thick wafer-like disc having determined beveled edges on all sides

which is black in color and attaches to the club face with sensitive two-sided tape

2. A device that attaches to the club face of most irons according to claim 1 made of ABS which does not add additional weight to the club to affect a golfer's natural swing form.

3. A device that attaches to the club face of most irons according to claim 2 which is of similar diameter to the size of a standard golf ball to be a visual aid to keep the golfer's head down and eye on the ball.

4. A device that attaches to the club face of most irons according to claim 3 which is black making is highly visible on most clubs which are metal-type color to serve as a visual aid.