US2098445A

US2098445A - Golf club

Info

Publication number: US2098445A
Application number: US130333A
Authority: US
Inventors: William L Wettlaufer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1937-03-11
Filing date: 1937-03-11
Publication date: 1937-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 1954-11-09

Description

Patented Nov. 9, 1937 s res OFFICE 9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in golf clubs.

One object of the invention is to provide automatically effective aid for the correction of a faulty action in taking the club back in preparation for the down swing and for the promotion of a correct or substantially correct down-swing and follow-through. In this respect the invention is applicable with advantage to all types of golf clubs except putters.

The invention also has features which are particularly applicable to clubs of the driver type, i. e. drivers, brassies, and spoons, and which have to do with the object above described and with the further object of ready and convenient adjustment of the club head weight, as to mass and distribution, with a View toward overcoming such faults as digging, i. e. hitting the ground'or turf in back of the ball before impact with the ball, smothering the ball, i. e. imparting to it an unfavorable down-spin which results in a great impairment of distance, topping the ball, and down-swings of the kind which result in slices or hooks, as the case may be.

The first named object of the invention and the manner in which it is obtained will be more readily understood if, as a preliminary, attention be called briefly to certain requirements of a good swing and to the reason why, in many instances, those requirements are so indifferently met. In the case of the average right handed player the club should be taken back in preparation for the down-swing by the left hand and the left arm this backward movement should be kept fairly well extended and close to the body, the theory being that the perfect are thus made on the backward movement will be automatically repeated during the down-swing. The left wrist, however, is, in many cases, relatively weak and the player unconsciously in taking the club back uses the right arm and wrist and, instead of keeping the left arm straight, bends it at the elbow and thus starts his down-swing with the left arm bent, thereby shortening the arc of the down-swing and otherwise impairing it with a tendency toward some one or more of the common faults above enumerated in connection with the hitting of the ball.

The invention contemplates the use in the club head of a weight which is automaticallyretracted during the back-swing, whereby the left hand and wrist will have less work to do, i. e. will encounter less resistance than with a club head of standard construction, whereas on the down-swing, the said weight will be maintained projected by centrifugal force with a resultant increased pull on the left arm which will tend to keep it straight and will thus promote material improvement in the arc of the down-swing. The said weight is adjustable to modify the weight distribution of the club head to suit the requirements of the individual player who, upon competent analysis of his playing faults, will make such adjustment of the weight as will tend to overcome, minimize or correct those faults, whether of digging, smothering, topping, slicing or hooking.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of the head of a club of the driver type in which the features of the invention are incorporated, the weight being shown in the position it assumes during the backswing.

Figure 2 is a similar View of the club head, the weight in this case being shown in the position it assumes during the down-swing.

Figure 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of the same figure.

The club head 5, as illustrated, is in a form which is standard forclubs of the driver type and is adapted to be mounted upon the lower end of a suitable shaft in conventional manner, A recess 5 is formed in the head 5, the sole plate 1 of the head providing a closure member for the said recess. A segmental plate 8 is arranged in the recess 5, the said plate providing a weighting means and being mounted for free pivotal movement upon a pin 9 which is carried by the sole plate 1. The weight of the plate 8 is augmented by an element 3. The latter is formed or provided with a stud l I which extends through and which is adjustable in a V-shaped slot I! which is formed in the plate 8, the said stud carrying a nut is which may betightened to secure the element 58 in the desired position.

During the back-swing of the club the club head is pointed upward. The plate 8, therefore, moves by gravity to a position adjacent the heel of the club head as shown in Figure 1. In this position the Weight of the club head offers less resistance to the left hand and wrist than is offered by a standard club head of comparable aggregate weight. When the back-swing is fully completed the left arm should be fully extended toward the right, close to the body, and the club should be fully extended across the shoulders of the player and toward the left with the club head pointing downward, the left wrist being cocked. It will be apparent, therefore, that as the back-swing is completed the plate 8 will move by gravity toward the toe of the club head as i1- lustrated in Figure 2, such movement being limited by a screw I4 which is carried by the said plate and which engages the front wall of the recess 6. The said screw may be adjusted axially so that the plate 8 will be held at a. predetermined position in the recess 6 during the downswing while the element In is adjustable toward and away from the toe of the club head and toward and away from the striking face to vary the distribution of the weight of the weighting means. During the down-swing the plate 8, owing to centrifugal force, remains in its extended position, the concentration of weight at the toe of the club head exerting a pull on the left arm which tends to maintain that arm straight throughout the down-swing, thereby promoting the proper arc and follow-through and preventing or minimizing that bending of the left arm which tends to shorten the arc and impair the swing.

The average weight of a standard club head of the driver type, including the lead weight in the back of the club head, is seven ounces or slightly more. The elimination of such lead weight, as provided for by the present invention, in connection with the recessing of the club head, reduces the weight of the club head to about four ounces. The plate 8 and associated parts which are arranged in the recess 6 increase the aggregate weight of the club head to whatever value may be desired, according to the physical characteristics of the player. It is the weight represented by the said plate and associated parts which is shiftable from heel to toe and toe to heel in the manner above explained. It will be appreciated, therefore, that the shifting of said weight very materially lessens the work which is required of the left hand and wrist during the back-swing, as compared with the standard club head and very materially increases the pull on the left arm during the down-swing.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a sector-like plate in said recess and means for pivotally mounting said plate so that it is movable during a backswing of the club to concentrate its weight in the vicinity of the heel of the club head and is movable during a down-swing of the said club to concentrate its weight in the vicinity of the toe of said club head, said means being connected to said plate in the vicinity of the point toward which the radially extending sides of said plate converge.

2. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a sector-like plate in said recess and means for pivotally mounting said plate so that it moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during the greater part of a back-swing and moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head as the latter approaches the limit of said back-swing, said plate being held in said last named position by centrifugal force and gravity during the down-swing of said club, said means being connected to said plate in the vicinity of the point toward which the radially extending sides of said plate converge.

3. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a weighting element in said recess, means for pivotally mounting said element so that it moves by gravity during a back-swing of the club to concentrate its weight in the vicinity of the heel of the club head and moves during a down-swing of the said club to concentrate its weight in the vicinity of the toe of said club head and means which is adjustable to predetermine the point at which said element is arrested in its movement to said lastnamed position.

4. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess and a sole plate which fits over the open end of said recess, a plate in said recess and means for pivotally mounting said plate upon said sole plate so that it moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during a back-swing and moves by centrifugal force and gravity to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head during a down-swing, said means being connected to said plate in the vicinity of the point toward which the radially extending sides of said plate converge.

5. Ina golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess and a sole plate which fits over the open end of said recess, a plate in said recess, means for pivotally mounting said plate upon said sole plate so that it moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during a back-swing and moves .to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head during a down-swing and means which is adjustable to predetermine the point at which said element is arrested in its movement to said last named position.

6. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a plate in said recess for providing a weighting means, means for pivotally mounting said plate so that it moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during a back-swing and moves by centrifugal force to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head during a down-swing and an auxiliary weight which is mounted for adjustment on said plate.

'7. In a. golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a plate in said recess, means for pivotally mounting said plate so that it moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during a back-swing and moves by centrifugal force to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head during a down-swing, said plate being formed to provide a slot and an auxiliary weight carried by said plate and adjustable along said slot.

8. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a plate in said recess, means for pivotally mounting said plate so that it moves by gravity to a position. in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during a back-swing and moves by centrifugal force to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head during a down-swing, said plate being formed to provide a slot, an auxiliary weight carried by said plate and adjustable along said slot and an adjustable element carried by said plate which is adapted to engage a wall of said recess to arrest said element at a predetermined point in its movement to said last named position.

9. In a golf club of the driver type, a club head having an internal recess, a plate in said recess, means for pivotally mounting said plate so that it moves by gravity to a position in the vicinity of the heel of the club head during a back-swing and moves by centrifugal force to a position in the vicinity of the toe of said club head during a down-swing, an auxiliary weight which is mounted for adjustment on said plate and means which is adjustable to predetermine the point at which said element is arrested in its movement to said last named position.

WILLIAM L. WE'I'ILAUFER.