|
(11) | EP 0 142 243 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (54) | Practice or toy golf equipment |
| (57) Practice or toy golf equipment in which a golf-ball (3/62) (normal or practice) secured
to one end of a length of elastic (34/64) of the type comprising an inner elastic
core (51) covered by woven material (52) of man-made synthetic fibre. The equipment
may also include a base (1) to which is resiliently secured a tee (2),the length of
elastic (34/64) then being threaded through guides (77) fixed to the base. |
[0001] This invention relates to practice golf equipment and, in some versions, to toy golf equipment.
[0002] Practice golf equipments are known which are of the type comprising a conventional-weight golf ball secured to one end of a non-elastic cord the other end of which is pegged to the ground. With these equipments, to restrain the ball, the cord is loosely secured near its mid-point to a length of elastic which is arranged at right-angles to the direction of the cord and is also pegged at each end to the ground. However these equipments suffer several disadvantages.
[0003] Firstly, because the golf ball will have acquired very considerable momentum by the time that it has taken up the slack on the cord from the position in which it is played until the cord tightens-up on the elastic, the elastic has to be of very considerable weight to absorb this momentum. Moreover, should the elastic or the cord break or become detached from the elastic at the point of time of the slack being taken up, the thus-freed golf ball would constitute a dangerous hazard. Also, because of the great lengths of cord and elastic necessitated in these arrangements, the equipment cannot safely be used in confined or crowded areas. Further, again because of the lengths of the cord and the elastic necessarily used and by virtue of the absence of any control of the cord once the ball has been struck, the point of return of the ball becomes very haphazard and considerable time needs be spent retrieving the ball for replay. Finally, because of the strength of the elastic, the golf ball tends to be returned with some considerable force with possible consequential risk to the player and any spectators.
[0004] In spite of all of these disadvantages, this equipment has been on the market for very many years in the absence of an equally-simple but less disadvantageous equipment.
[0005] There is also on the market (and has been for very many years) elastic cord of the type comprising an inner elastic core covered by a woven material of man-made synthetic fibre. Such elastic will hereinafter be referred to as "of the type described." Elastic of the type described is of very light weight and, at first sight, it would not be thought to be strong enough to absorb the momentum of a fully-struck golf ball. Most surprisingly, however, it has been found that it will. It is conjectured that this is so because, as the elastic core stretches the momentum of the golf ball is gradually absorbed in part and, by the time that the material covering has extended to its maximum permissible, the energy of the golf ball has been reduced sufficiently that it can be arrested in its flight without having sufficient residual energy to break the fibres of the material covering to the elastic core. It has also been surprisingly found that the golf ball is returned by elastic of the type described relatively gently with consequential minimisation of danger. This is probably because the design of the elastic is such that the elastic core is by no means fully stretched at the extemity of stretching of elastic of the type described and the elastic core is of relatively light weight, the elastic of the type described does not impart such energy to the ball on its return flight.
[0006] Using elastic of the type described also permits of overcoming the problem with the known equipment of the return position of the ball being haphazard. By using the elastic of the type described and in contradistinction to the manner of laying out the known equipment, equipment according to the present invention is layed out with the golf ball positioned adjacent a U-shaped guide member with the elastic of the type described secured by one end to the golf ball and then passing through the guide member and secured at the other end of the ealstic to a suitable fixing. With this arrangement, it was found that the golf ball after being played, consistently returned to in front of the guide member provided that the member was of such dimensions that the golf ball could not pass through it.
[0007] Also, because with elastic of the type described, its maximum stretch is known and is virtually independent of the force with which the golf ball is played, the equipment can be used with confidence in much more confined circumstances.
[0008] Accordingly, the present invention provides a practice or toy golf equipment comprising a golf ball secured to one end of a length of elastic of the type hereinbefore described and a guide member of U-shaped cross-section of such dimensions that when the member is placed on or secured in the ground, the member provides a channel through which the length of elastic can pass but the golf ball cannot.
[0009] If to be used for playing on grass, the guide member may be a hoop wherein the golf ball is secured to the length of elastic through a swivel connector which permits the golf ball to rotate relative to the elastic about an axis extending in the direction of the length of the elastic.
[0010] Alternatively, there may be provided a base which may of itself provide the guide member or may have secured to one or more staples which provide the guide member.
[0011] Another of the problems of the known equipment arises when the equipment is being used to play off a tee. with the known equipment, a conventional golf tee is used. Hence, when the ball is played, the tee is frequently struck and, being a conventional tee, may be lost or, at best, time has to be spent searching for and/or replacing it. To obviate this disadvantage, when the equipment of the present invention includes a base, it may have mounted on its top surface a tee which is resiliently secured to the base. The tee may be resiliently secured to the base by a second length of elastic, the second length of elastic being stretched and being secured at one end to the tee and at the other to the base. The second length of elastic may extend through an axial bore in the tee and through a hole in the base. The tee may sit in a depression in the top surface of the base or the top surface of the base may have therein a groove which extends rearwardly of the base from its front edge to the hole in the base where it emerges on the top surface of the base and the front edge of the base is rounded where it meets the top surface in the region of the groove.
[0012] Practice golf balls are, of themselves, also well known. These balls are of the overall dimensions of a conventional golf ball but are either hollow and formed of synthetic plastic material or are about 35% of the weight of a normal golf ball. They are, therefore, of considerably less weight than a conventional golf ball and, by virtue of the much reduced potential hazard which they constitute, are particularly suitable for use with equipment of the present invention. If the equipment is to constitute a toy, they clearly have advantages. Ilence, when the term "golf ball" is used in this Specification, it is to be understood that the term includes such practice golf balls. One particular known form of such practice golf balls is particularly advantageous. This is the type having over its surface a plurality of holes. With practice golf balls of this particular type, the ball may be secured to the first-mentioned length of elastic by a connector which has a resiliently-deformable head which can be pushed through one of the holes in the ball and thereafter regain its shape to trap the head inside the ball. The connector may be formed of resilient material and may be generally disc-shaped but with diametrically-opposed cut-outs which provide the head and also provide a tail, the tail having therein a hole through which said one end of the first-mentioned length of elastic is tied to the connector.
[0013] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:-
Fig. 1 shows elastic of the type described,
Fig. 2 shows schematically the simplest form of the equipment,
Fig. 3 is a schematic drawing of the general arrangement of another form of the equipment,
Fig. 4 is a detail drawing (on an enlarged scale) of the mounting of the tee on the base, and
Fig. 5 shows (also on an enlarged scale) the ball and the method of securing the elastic to it,
Fig. 6 shows an alternative from of the base.
[0014] Referring, firstly, to Fig. 1, the elastic of the type described comprises an elastic core 51 covered by a woven material 52 of synthetic man-made material such as rayon. Such elastic has the characteristic that whilst it can be stretched it can be to a length of only about 1½ to 2½ times its original unstretched length at which point the elastic core 51 has not reached the full extent of its stretchability. Hence, elastic of the type described seldom breaks for the elastic core is prevented by the material covering from reaching its breaking point.
[0015] In its simplest form, the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 2. As shown, it is assumed that a stroke is being played with an iron club 61 without a tee. For such practice a golf ball 62 is used which is of conventional weight and size but which has securely embedded in it a staple 63 to which is tied one end of a length of elastic 64 of the type described and as shown in Fig. 1. The other end of the elastic 64 is tied to a peg 65 securely pushed into the ground. The elastic here used is about 1.5mm in diameter.
[0016] Pushed into the ground so as to straddle the elastic 64 is a U-shaped hoop 66 the dependent legs 67 of which hold the hoop 66 firmly secured in the ground. The hoop 66 has been pushed into the ground a distance such that the elastic 64 can freely pass through the hoop whilst the ball 62 cannot so pass through the hoop by virtue of the centre part 68 being too close to the ground.
[0017] The equipment is set up in the manner shown in Fig. 2 with the golf ball 62 adjacent the hoop 66.
[0019] It is surprising that, no matter how hard the ball 62 be struck with the club 61, the ball 62 will be restrained by the elastic 64 despite its very light weight and size. Further, because the maximum stretch of the elastic 64 will be only about 1½ to 2½ times the unstretched length of the elastic 64, the maximum travel of the ball is known with certainty. Again, it has been found that, as compared to the length of cord used on the previously-known equipment, the length needed of elastic 64 is relatively short. Indeed, lengths of elastic 64 of only about 1 metre need be used. It follows, therefore, that this equipment can be used in an area providing a distance of, at the maximum, only about 3zmetres from the peg 65 to the maximum flight position of the ball 62.
[0020] It has been found, also, that the combination of using elastic of the type described with the hoop 66 ensures that the ball 62 consistently returns to the immediate vicinity of the front side of the hoop 66. Indeed, the ball 62 will frequently come to rest against the front side of the hoop 66. Hence, the ball 62 is readily recoverable for replay.
[0021] For play with heavier-weight clubs, it may be desirable to affix to the end of the elastic of the type described between it and the golf ball (particularly if it is a conventional golf ball), a further length of plain elastic not covered with woven material. This length need be only relatively short but of heavier weight than the elastic of the type described. Although incorporation of this further length of elastic will permit the ball to travel further if played sufficiently strongly, the maximum travel of the ball is still much reduced as compared with the known equipment and will still be returned to adjacent the tee much more consistently than with the known equipment.
[0022] Turning now to Fig. 3, the equipment here is more comprehensive and includes a base 1, a tee 2 and a practice golf ball 3.
[0023] The base 1 comprises a planar top member 11 which is substantially rigid albeit slightly resilient being made of a hard rubber. The top member 11 has a front edge 12, a rear edge 13 and side edges 14 and 15. The front edge 14 is rounded at 16 where it meets the top surface 17 and has extending rearwardly therefrom a groove 18 in that of surface 17. This groove 18 terminates at its opposite end at a hole 19 (see Fig. 4) which passes through the top member 11 from the top surface 17 thereof. At the rear edge 13 of the top member is a slot 20 extending forwardly from the edge 13. Depending one from each of the side edges 14 and 15 are side members 21 and 22 which, in this case, extend the full length of the base 11. The side members 21 and 22 together with the top member 11 define between them a U-shaped cross-section channel 23.
[0024] The tee 2 is generally bobbin-shaped having a cup-shaped top surface 30 and a flat bottom surface 31 conforming to the flat surface of the region 32 of the surface 17 of the top member 11 surrounding the hole 19 in that top member 11. Extending through the tee 2 between the top and bottom surfaces 30 and 31 is a bore 33 (See Fig. 4). The tee 2 is resiliently located on the base 1 by a first length 34 of stretched elastic. This length 34 is knotted at 35 (Fig. 4) at one end (the knot being too large to pass through the bore 33 in the tee 2), passes through the bore 33, lies in the channel 23 under the top member 11, and is secured to the top member 11 of the base 1 by being stretched into the slot 20 in the top member 11 of the base 1. This length 34 is prevented from being pulled out of the slot 20 by being knotted at 36 at its end remote from the knot 35 which lies in the cup-shaped top surface 30 of the tee 2.
[0025] The ball 3 (as seen more clearly in Fig. 3) is a commercially-available practice golf ball. The ball is hollow and is formed of synthetic plastic material. As with one version of these balls, the ball 3 has in its surface a plurality of holes 40. Secured to the ball 3 by a connector 41 is a second length of elastic 42. The connector 41 is formed of a fairly hard rubber and is generally disc-shaped with diametrically opposed cut-outs 43 which provide for the connector 41 a head 44, a neck 45 and a tail 46 having therethrough a hole 47. The connector 41 being made of rubber, its head 44 is deformable so that it can be passed through one of the holes 40 in the ball 3. After being so passed and then being released, the head 44 will recover its shape so that it is trapped inside the ball 3 and the connector 41-is.thereby secured to the ball 3 with the neck 45 of the connector lying on the hole 40 through which the head 44 of the connector 41 has been passed. The second length 42 of elastic which is of the type described is tied by one end 50 through the hole 47 to the connector 41 and the other end (not shown) is suitably fixedly secured.
[0026] In this case, the elastic of the type described here used is the so-called shirring elastic which is only 0.5 mm in diameter.
The equipment is used as follows:-
[0027] After the end (not shown) of the second length 42 of shirring elastic has been suitably fixedly secured, the ball 3 and this length 42 of elastic is laid on a straight line on the ground.
[0028] The base 1 with the tee 2 mounted in its position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is then laid on the ground bridging the length 42 of elastic just behind the ball 3. The ball 3 is then placed on the cup-shaped upper surface 30 of the tee 2 and the equipment is now ready for the player to play a golf-stroke at the ball 3.
[0029] It will be found that, after hitting the ball 3, the length 42 of elastic will return the ball 3 very close to the front of the base 1. Also, if the tee 2 is hit, the first length 34 of elastic will, in the worst case, retain the tee 2 on the base 1 with the bottom face 31 of the tee 2 resiliently engaged with the front edge 12 of base 1, or, more frequently, will actually return the tee 2 to its original position ready for the next stroke.
[0030] It has been found that, provided the tee 2 is mounted as shown in the drawings towards the front end of the base 1, there is no need for the base 1 to be secured to the ground as must the parts of the known equipmnet. Hence, the equipment of the present invention can be used on a hard surface (a concrete driveway or a pathway) or can be used indoors on a floor.
[0031] The unstretched length of the second length 42 of elastic, can be chosen to ensure that the ball 3 when struck does not hit objects in front of the base 1. By virtue of the low mass of the ball 3 only a relatively short length is necessary for the second length 42 of elastic and only a light-weight-elastic (such as the shirring elastic) is necessary. Hence, a returning ball can do little, if any, damage. Moreover, by virtue of the nature of the ball 3, should the ball inadvertently break free of its anchorage or the second length 42 of the elastic break, the ball 3 is likely to do negligible damage.
[0032] When the equipment is used on grass, it may be desirable for the base 1, to be provided with a bottom member which extends between the lower ends of the side members 14 and 15 so that the second length 42 of elastic does not become entangled with the grass.
[0033] The base 1 may, as an alternative to the construction shown in the drawings be a one-piece moulding of synthetic plastic material.
[0034] Fig. 6 shows an alternative form of base 1. Here the base is board-shaped with its top surface 71 having therein, extending from the front edge 72 of the base 1, a depression-73 in which sits the tee 2. The tee 2 is resiliently secured to the base 1 in much the same manner as the tee 2 in the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 to 5, by a length of stretched elastic 74 which is knotted at each end, passes through the tee 2, a hole 75 in the base 1, beneath the base 1 and up through a slot 76.
[0035] The tee 2 behaves, if struck by the club, much as does the tee 2 in the embodiment of Figs. 3 to 5. Particularly, whilst it may be displaced upon being struck, the elastic 74 will ensure its return to its position as shown in Fig. 6.
[0036] In this embodiment, as the base 1 does not of itself provide the U-shaped channel for guidance of the elastic 42 (not shown in Fig. 6 but see Figs. 3 to 5) connected to the practice golf ball, such guidance is provided by a pair of U-shaped staples 77 which are moulded into one side edge of the base 1. The dimensions of these staples 77 are such that the shirring elastic 42 (see Figs. 3 to 5) will freely pass through them whilst the golf ball will not do so.
[0037] The base 1 shown in Fig. 6 is a direct alternative to the base 1 shown in Figs. 3 and 4 so further description of the use of equipment including a base 1 as shown in Fig. 6 will not be necessary.
[0038] The base 1 shown in Fig. 6 may be formed in its bottom face 78 with dimples or with an imitation grass finish. With such a base 1, it can be used in its position as shown in Fig. 6 for practising playing off the tee or, after removal of the tee 2 and elastic 74 and reversal of the base 1, for practising playing off the ground. If desired, in any of the embodiments above described, the elastic of the type described may be connected to the golf ball via a swivel connector so that the flight of the ball is not affected by the restraint of the elastic.
1. Practice or toy golf equipment comprising a golf ball (3/62) secured to one end
of a length of elastic (34/64) of the type hereinbefore described and a guide member
(1/66/77) of U-shaped cross-section of such dimensions that when the member (1/66/77)
is placed on or secured in the ground, the member provides a channel through which
the length of elastic (34/64) can pass but the golf ball (3/62) cannot.
2. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the golf ball (3/62) is secured to the
length of elastic (34/64) through a swivel connector which permits the golf ball (3/62)
to rotate relative to the elastic (42/64) about an axis extending in the direction
of the length of the elastic (34/64).
3. Equipment as claimed in either Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the guide member is
a hoop (66) having dependent legs (67) which can be pushed into the ground to secure
the member (66) thereto.
4. Equipment as claimed in either Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the guide member is
a staple (77) secured to a base (1).
5. Equipment as claimed in either Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the guide member (1)
is constituted by the top (11) and dependent side members (21) of a base (1).
6. Equipment as claimed in either Claim 4 or Claim 5, wherein mounted on the top surface
(11) of the base (1) is a tee (2) which is resiliently secured to the base (1).
7. Equipment as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the tee (2) is resiliently secured to
the base (1) by a second length of elastic (18), the second length of elastic (34)
being stretched and being secured at one end (35) to the tee (2) and at the other
(36) to the base (1).
8. Equipment as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the second length of elastic (34) extends
through an axial bore in the tee (2) and through a hole (19) in the base (1).
9. Equipment as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the tee (2) sits in a depression (73)
in the top surface (11) of the base (1).
10. Equipment as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the top surface (11) of the base (1)
has therein a groove (18) which extends rearwardly of the base (1) from its front
edge (12) to the hole (19) in the base (1) where it emerges on the top surface (11)
of the base (1) and the front edge (12) of the base is rounded where it meets the
top surface (11) in the region of the groove (18).
11. Equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 8 to 10, wherein the second length of
elastic (34) extends rearwardly of the base (1) from the hole (19) therein underneath
the top surface (11) and is secured in a slot (20) extending forwardly of the base
(1) from the rear end (13) thereof.
12. Equipment as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the base (1) is board-shaped having one
major face (78) dimpled.
13. Equipment as claimed in Claim 12 and as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 11 when
dependent on Claim 4, wherein the other major face is generally planar and it is this
face which constitutes the top surface (71) of the base (1).
14. Equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 4 to 13, wherein the base (1) is formed
of a substantially rigid but slightly resilient material.
15. Equipment as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the base (1) is a one-piece moulding
of synthetic plastic material.
16. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the golf ball
(3/62) is a practice golf ball.
17. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1 or any one of Claims 3 to 16 when dependent thereon,
wherein the practice golf ball (3) is of the type having over its surface a plurality
of holes (40) and the golf ball (3) is secured to the first-mentioned length of elastic
(42) by a connector (41) which has a resiliently-deformable head (44) which can be
pushed through one of the holes (40) in the ball (3) and thereafter regain its shape
to trap the head (44) inside the ball.
18. Equipment as claimed in Claim 17, wherein the connector (-41) is wholly formed
of resilient material.
19. Equipment as claimed in Claim 18, wherein the connector (41) is generally disc-shaped
but with diametrically-opposed cut-outs (43) which provide the head (44) and also
provide a tail (46), the tail (46) having therein a hole (47) through which said one
end (50) of the first-mentioned length of elastic (42) is tied to the connector(41).