WO2006043887A1

WO2006043887A1 - Golf club, in particular a putter

Info

Publication number: WO2006043887A1
Application number: PCT/SE2005/001558
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hans HEDSTRÖM; Roine Ekarv
Original assignee: Hedstroem Hans; Roine Ekarv
Priority date: 2004-10-21
Filing date: 2005-10-19
Publication date: 2006-04-27
Also published as: SE0402555L; SE527228C2; SE0402555D0

Abstract

Golf club, in particular putter, comprising an elongated shaft (10), which in its first end has a club head (11) and which in the area of its opposite end has a grip (20), which in a plane perpendicular to the length axis of the shaft (10) has an oblong cross section (21), whereby the oblong cross section (21) has a major axis (22), which largely falls within the axial plane of the shaft, and whereby the club head (11) has a hitting face which is mainly parallel to the axial plane, and whereby the grip (20) has an edge (25) towards the first end of the shaft (10), and whereby the edge (25) of the grip forms an angle in the range 90-120 degrees to the length axis of the shaft.

Description

Golf club, in particular<%mtter

The invention relates to a golf club of the type as de¬ scribed in the preamble of claim 1.

WO 9749462 specifies a putter comprising a long shaft which at its first end has a club head and in the area of its op¬ posite end a grip extending along the shaft and which in a plane perpendicular to the length axis of the shaft has an oblong section with the oblong section extending largely in the axial plane of the shaft such that the axial plane is mainly parallel with the hitting face of the club head and the grip has an edge facing the first end of the shaft largely through the axial plane.

Thanks to the flattened cross section of the grip and its direction relative to the club head, the tendency of the player to make a twisting movement when putting, can be re¬ duced.

In the case of the known putter, the grip has a constant cross section from the end of the shaft to the half length of the grip after which the width of the grip narrows in the axial plane towards the lower end of the grip such that one edge of the grip in the axial plane is straight and the other edge narrows down towards the first one. The shaft is shown connecting to the grip at the first edge of the grip.

The normally straight putter shaft and the player forming, at least with one hand, a kind of tube with his hand while grasping the grip, constitutes a difficulty in hitting the ball in the desired direction. The human anatomy is such that the tube shaped part of the closed hand forms an angle of approximately 90 degrees towards the axis of the lower arm when the arm is straight. When putting, the player gen¬ erally attempts to bend the wrist so that the direction of the putter shaft joins the length direction of the lower arm. However, such a movement of the wrist is not favour¬ able in terms of the precision of the putting.

The goal of the invention is therefore to devise a golf club by which the indicated problem is completely or par¬ tially eliminated.

This goal is accomplished by the invention.

The invention is defined in the attached independent patent claim. Various forms of design relating to the invention are presented in the attached unindependent patent claims.

In the following the invention will be described in the form of examples with reference to the attached drawing.

Figure 1 shows a side view of a golf club according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows a section view along line II-II of Figure 1

Figure 3 shows a view along line III-III of Figure 1 and illustrates the little finger side of the hands grasping the grip of the club.

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic view along line IV-IV of

Figure 3. Figure 5, 6, 7 show alternative connection points of the shaft to the grip corresponding to illustration ■ Figure 1.

Figure 8 shows a further type of design of the connection between the shaft and the grip. Figure 1 illustrates a putter with a elongated shaft 10, having at its first end a club head 11, and at its opposite end a grip 20, which in a plane perpendicular to the length axis of the shaft has an oblong section 21, such that the major axis 22 of the oblong section 21 mainly coincides with the axial plane of the shaft while the hitting face of the club head 11 is largely parallel with the major axis 22 and primarily mainly coincides with the same.

In Figure 1 one can observe that the grip has a lower edge 25, which is mainly straight and forms an angle α with the length axis of the shaft 10 which is mainly 90 degrees. The angle α may vary in the range 60-120 degrees. The shaft 10 is shown to have an oblong cross section with the major axis of the cross section of the shaft perpendicular to the major axis 22 of section 21. The edge need not be straight but may be shaped to agree with the gripping line of the fingers when the hand is closed. Consequently the edge may be curved. Thus the angle may be related to the average di¬ rection of the edge when the edge is curved. Further the shaft 10 is shown to connect to the grip 20 at the distance x from the front edge 26 of the grip, which in the case of designs according to Figure 1 and 2, mainly corresponds to the width of a finger. Figure 3 shows the hands of the player from the side of the little finger, grasping the grip 20. One can note the fingers of the left hand stretch¬ ing round the lower edge of the grip 20, whereby the shaft 10 is engaged between the index finger and third finger. The right (other) hand is shown to grip around the left hand such that the shaft is engaged between the index fin¬ ger and the third finger of the right hand as well. However it should be clear that the right hand may hold the shaft 10 or the grip 20 differently, for example it may grasp the upper end part of the shaft. Figure 4 illustrates sche¬ matically that at least the thumb of one of the hands may be placed along the front edge 26 of the grip. From Figure 4 it also becomes clear that the shaft 10 is mainly stretching parallel to the length direction of the lower arm of the user, when the user with straight wrist holds the grip 20 with his fingers around the lower edge 25

Figure 5 and 6 illustrate alternative designs, by which the shaft 10 is engaged between the third finger and the fourth finger, respectively between the fourth finger and the lit¬ tle finger. Figure 7 illustrates the shaft 10 connecting to the front edge of the grip, i.e. in front of the index finger of the hand. In a corresponding manner the shaft 10 may connect to the grip 20 at its rear edge with the little finger placed in front of the shaft.

The grip 20 is shown to have a generally rectangular side view. The main surfaces of the grip 20, of which one is shown in Figure 1, may support either wrist as illustrated in Figure 3. Alternatively, one of the main surfaces of the grip 20 may in a supporting manner touch the inside of the lower arm of the player. The shaft 10 may extend upwards through the grip past the upper end of the grip 20. The length of the grip 20 in the direction of the axis of the shaft is suitably at least 10 cm and primarily at least 25 cm.

Claims

1. A golf club, in particular a putter, comprising an elongated shaft (10), having at its first end a club head (11) and in the area of its opposite end a grip (20) , said grip having an oblong section (21) in a plane perpendicular to the length axis of the shaft (10) , whereby said oblong section (21) has a major axis (22), which substantially lies in an axial plane of said shaft, said club head (11) having a hitting face with a largely straight bottom edge which is mainly parallel to the axial plane, said grip (20) having an edge (25) facing the first end of said shaft (10) characterized in that the average direction of said lower edge being mainly perpendicular to the length axis of said shaft, said lower edge of the grip extending with this di¬ rection at least 1 cm from said shaft from opposite sides of the shaft, so that said shaft may be engaged between two neighbouring fingers of the hand gripping around said lower edge and enabling the hand to be supported against said lower edge in a stable manner, said grip (20) having a flat main surface enabling support of the wrist of the gripping hand.

2. A golf club according to claim 1, characterized in that the grip (20) has a largely constant cross section along the length axis of the shaft.

3. A golf club according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the length of the oblong section (21)^' of the grip decreases towards the free end of the shaft.

4. A golf club according to any of the claim 1-3, char¬ acterized in that the hitting face of the club head is largely parallel to the major axis (22) of the grip.