WO1995035127A2

WO1995035127A2 - Golfing aid

Info

Publication number: WO1995035127A2
Application number: PCT/GB1995/001448
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Fawcett Willis
Original assignee: John Fawcett Willis
Priority date: 1994-06-21
Filing date: 1995-06-20
Publication date: 1995-12-28
Also published as: GB9412402D0; GB2295329A; GB9603570D0; JPH09502378A; WO1995035127A3; AU2745295A; GB2295329B

Abstract

A golfing aid for assisting a player to develop a consistent golf club swing, the aid including sight means mounted so as to be visible whilst the player swings a golf club, the sight means visually indicating to the player movement of the players head during swinging of a golf club.

Description

GOLFING AID

The present invention relates to a golfing aid which assists a golfer to produce a correct golf club swing.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a golfing aid for assisting a player to develop a consistent golf club swing, the aid including sight means mounted so as to be visible whilst the player swings a golf club, the sight means visually indicating to the player movement of the players head during swinging of a golf club.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a golfing aid comprising a support for a golf ball including a seat upon which a golf ball can be seated and sight means laterally displaced from the seat.

The seat may be dish-shaped and located at one end of a spike for penetration into the ground so as to define a support in the form of a golf ball tee. The sight means may comprise an arm extending radially from the seat.

Alternatively the seat may be provided with depending legs, for example three legs, so as to define a support in the form of a golf ball tee which may be supported on any hard surface. Preferably one of said legs is adapted to define said sight means.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the support may be in the form of a mat. The sight means may be in the form of a mirror spaced from a seat on said mat. Alternatively, or in addition, the sight means may comprise one or more markings on said mat which extend laterally from said seat on the mat. The seat on said mat may be defined by a suitable mark or by a raised or recessed formation.

According to another aspect of the invention the golfing aid comprises a body adapted for registry with a golf tee, the body including sight means projecting laterally from the golf tee when the body is in registry therewith.

Preferably, the body has an enlarged portion defining an information carrying surface.

The sight means may be defined by surface markings made on the body and/or the outline shape of a projection formed on the body.

The body may be adapted for registry with the tee by the provision of an aperture through which the tee stem is received. Alternatively, the body may be provided with a recess on one side of the body for reception of the stem of the tee.

Preferably, the body is formed in one piece from a suitable material such as plastics.

The body may be of sheet form which is formed from a suitable sheet material, eg. plastics sheet, plastics laminated card or card.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of practicing a golf swing, the method comprising locating sight means at a position relative to a player such that the sight means are visible to the player as the player swings the golf club, swinging the golf club whilst visually watching the sight means and adjusting the head of the player in response to the sight means in order to maintain the players head at a fixed position. Preferably, a weight is attached to the golf club to provide guide assistance to the swing of the club.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of hitting a golf ball mounted on a tee, the method including placing a golfing aid as defined above in registry with the golf tee with the sight means aligned generally at right angles to the direction of the intended swing of the golf club, aligning a sight mark on the golf ball with the sight means and swinging the golf club to hit the ball whilst visually maintaining the sight mark and sighting means in registry.

Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a golf ball mounted on a golf tee and a golf aid according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in Figure 1 ; Figure 3 is a plan view of a golfing aid according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a golfing aid according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a schematic side view of a golfing aid according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 is a plan view of the embodiment shown in Figure 5; Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view of a golfing aid according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 is a schematic perspective view of a golfing aid according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention shown in use; Figure 9 is a schematic perspective view of the embodiment of Figure 8 shown in a folded condition;

Figure 10 is a schematic perspective view of a further embodiment according to the invention.

Referring initially to Figure 1 , there is shown a conventional golf tee 10 inserted into the ground 1 1. A golf ball 14 is seated upon the dished seat 24 of the golf tee 10 in readiness to be hit by a golf club.

A golfing aid 20 according to the present invention is shown located upon the surface of the ground 1 1 and in registry with the stem 12 of the golf tee.

The golfing aid 20 includes a body 21 preferably of sheet-like form, the sheet may be plastics, plastics laminated card or card. The body 21 includes an aperture 22 through which the stem 12 of the golf tee passes. The aperture 22 may be of a larger diameter than the stem 12 or alternatively may be of a smaller or the same diameter as the stem in order to provide a press fit.

The body 21 carries a sight means 25 which as indicated in Figure 2 is preferably in the form of a linear indicator 26. In the embodiment of Figure 2 the indicator 26 may be a surface decoration, eg. created by printing, or a ridge or recess/opening formed in the body 21.

The body 21 preferably also includes a surface area 28 on which information may be carried, such as for example, advertising literature, company logo's etc. The information may be directly printed onto the surface of body 21 or be carried on an adhesively applied label. The sight means 25 is preferably linear and is arranged to be substantially radially aligned with the aperture 22.

The sight means 25 may be formed by a projection 29 formed on the body 21. Two examples are illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. In Figure 3 the body 21 is in the shape of a bottle and in Figure 4 the body 21 is in the shape of a key.

It will be appreciated that the outer periphery of the body 21 and projection 29 may assume many different shapes.

In the embodiment of Figure 4, the aperture 22 is replaced by a recess 22a formed in one side of the body 21. The recess 22a is adapted to receive the stem and so locate the body 12 in registry with the golf tee with the sight means 25 extending generally radially with respect to the stem 12. The provision of the recess 22a instead of aperture 22 enables the body to be placed in position after inserting the tee into the ground. If desired, ground penetrating spikes (not shown) may be provided on the underside of the body 21 to hold it in position on the ground.

The recess 22a may be provided in addition to, or as an alternative to the aperture 22, in the embodiments of Figures 1 , 2 and 3.

It will be appreciated that the body 21 may be a plastics moulding.

In use, the golfing aid is located on the ground so that the sight means 25 points in a direction generally perpendicular to the intended swing of the golf club. Preferably, the sight means is located so as to point away from the golf player. The ball is located on the tee with a sight mark 30, such as writing on the ball, is aligned with the sight means 25 when viewed from above.

The golf player then swings the golf club whilst maintaining the viewed alignment in order to hit the ball.

Alternative embodiments are illustrated in Figures 5 to 7 wherein the sight means 25 are formed integrally with the golf tee 10. Parts in Figures 5 to 7 corresponding to those in Figures 1 to 3 have been designated by the same reference numerals. In Figures 5 and 6 the sight means 25 is in the form of a projection 12a extending from the upper region of the tee 10. Preferably the tee 10 is moulded in one piece from a suitable plastics material.

In the embodiment of Figure 7, the tee 10 comprises a seat 24 which is defined by an annulus 20 from which depend three ground engaging legs 21. The sight means 25 is preferably defined by one of the legs 21. The adaption of the leg may take the form of providing a surface marking on the leg and/or shaping the outer profile of the leg. In the embodiment illustrated the leg 21 used as the sight means is made of elongate form of similar width to the sight mark 30 on the ball 14.

As an alternative, the annulus 20 may be provided with a sight means 25 in the form of a projection 20a (as shown in broken lines) similar to projection 12a in the embodiment of Figure 5.

A further alternative embodiment is illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. In this embodiment, the support for the golf ball is defined by a mat 60.

Preferably the mat 60 is mounted on a rigid frame 62. The mat 60 preferably includes a first portion 63 for practising driver swings and a second portion 64 for practising iron swings.

Sight means 25 may be in the form of a line (not shown) marked on the surface of the mat 60 for registry with the sight mark 30 on the golf ball.

As an additional or alternative sight means, a mirror 70 is preferably mounted on the frame 62. The mirror 62 may be adjustably mounted so that it may move along the frame member 62a and is mounted so as to be angularly adjustable. Preferably the mirror is adapted so that a player can register the position of his eyes 200 (Figure 10) in the mirror. This can be achieved by markings on the mirror and/or by the periphery of the mirror ie. the size of the mirror.

In this way, a player may position himself so that he can see the reflection of his eyes in the mirror and then practice his swing whilst maintaining eye contact in the mirror without movement of his eyes across the mirror. In this way he holds his head steady and develops a consistent swing. Preferably, during this exercise, a weight is placed on the golf club head to provide guide assistance to the swing.

Preferably the frame 62 is formed in two hingeably connected framework parts, the first framework part 62b carrying the mat 60 and the second framework part 62c preferably carrying an additional mat 71 upon which the player stands. This has the advantage of positively locating the frame 62 during use.

An alternative embodiment 100 is illustrated in Figure 10 wherein the mirror 70 is free-standing and is provided with a support 76 to enable it to be mounted on the ground. In the illustrated embodiment, the support 76 is in the form of a pair of legs 77 shaped to define spikes to enable the legs to be inserted into the ground. The legs 77 are pivotally attached to opposite ends of an elongate support 78 upon which mirror 70 is mounted. The angular position of the legs 77 may be adjustably fixed by screwheads 79 which are screw threadedly received in each respective end of the support 76.

It will be appreciated that instead of adapting the legs 77 to define spikes, the legs 77 may be attached to a ground engaging frame or pad to enable the mirror to be stood either on hard or soft ground.

Claims

1. A golfing aid for assisting a player to develop a consistent golf club swing, the aid including sight means mounted so as to be visible whilst the player swings a golf club, the sight means visually indicating to the player movement of the players head during swinging of a golf club.

2. A golfing aid according to claim 1 wherein the sight means comprises a mirror, the mirror being adapted to provide a reflected image to register the position of the players head relative to the mirror such that the player can detect movement of his head by watching movement of the reflected image.

3. A golfing aid according to claim 2 wherein the mirror is adaptedf to provide a reflected image of the players eyes in order to register the position of the players head.

4. A golfing aid according to claim 1 including a support for a golf ball including a seat upon which a golf ball can be seated, the sight means comprising a sight marker laterally displaced from the seat and a sight mark located on the ball which can be visually aligned with said sight marker.

5. A golfing aid according to claim 4 wherein the seat is dish-shaped and is located at one end of a spike for penetration iinto the ground so as to define a support in the form of a golf ball tee.

6. A golfing aid according to claim 5 wherein the sight means are formed on a separate body adapted for registry with the stem.

7. A golfing aid according to claim 6 wherein the body is provided with an aperture or recess to enable the position of the body to be registered with the golf tee.

8. An golfing aid according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the body is of sheet-like form.