Games using tangible projectile – Golf – Practice swingable implement or indicator associated with...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-30
2004-06-22
Passaniti, Sebastiano (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Golf
Practice swingable implement or indicator associated with...
C473S252000, C473S340000, C473S349000, C473S313000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06752723
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a golf club, more particularly to a putter, and most particularly to a putter head and its attachment to the rest of the putter, that assists a golfer to meet the requirements and challenges of accurate putting.
2. Description of the Related Art
A golfer wants to sink the ball into the hole in as few shots as possible. A golfer's goal, when putting, is typically to sink the ball with a single, and preferably straight, putt. Most golf clubs are used to drive the ball from the tee to the green. The putter is then used to stroke the ball into the hole in the green. In golf, the putter is the club where accuracy is more important than range, and its use accounts for some 40 percent of score, which is twice as much as the second most often used club, the driver. Good putting involves a complex mixture of static and dynamic aspects of human-factor, visualization, and structural/kinesthetic elements. A flaw of prior inventions in this field is that each addressed only a portion of what accurate putting requires.
DEFINITIONS
‘Shaft’ ‘head’ and ‘putter’ use the definitions stated by the USGA, Appendix II.
A putter includes a shaft with a gripping handle end and a head end. A putter head is fixedly attached to the head end of the shaft.
The ‘striking direction’ is a line parallel to the ground and identical to the initial straight line of the intended shot.
The ‘break point’ is the point along the striking direction where either the ball goes in the hole, or the ground will force a change in the vector so ball will go in the hole, or at least come as close to the hole as is possible. After the putt reaches the break point, if it does not go in, the changes in the putt's vector depend upon the external conditions, especially curvature, of the surface over which it travels.
The ‘strike vector’ is that sub-part of the striking direction that extends from the golf ball to the break point; and its length is a critical as its direction.
The ‘X-Y’ plane is a two-dimensional plane where the X axis is parallel to the striking direction at the moment of impact between the putter and the golf ball and extends from the back to the front of the putter head, and the Y axis is perpendicular to the striking direction and extends from the left to the right of the putter head.
The ‘ground plane’ is a two-dimensional plane with X and Y axes parallel to the ground where the X axis is parallel with, and the Y axis is perpendicular to, the striking direction. Generally, the X-Y and ground planes will be identical when putting.
The ‘strike plane’ is a two-dimensional plane with Y and Z axes that is perpendicular to the ground plane and to the striking direction.
The ‘loft plane’ is a two-dimensional plane with X and Z axes that is perpendicular to the ground plane and parallel to the striking direction.
The ‘striking face’ is the portion of the putter head that is designed to strike the golf ball. (Putters, under USGA rules, may have two strike faces, but only one may be operative for any given putt.) There may be both a theoretical striking face and an actual striking face; the former is perfectly parallel with the striking plane throughout the striking face and matches the golfer's visualization of the putter, while the actual striking face will have a ‘strike line’ (a line on the striking face at the furthest forward point on the X axis, which extends along the Y axis) which is parallel with the striking plane, but otherwise be inclined from the theoretical striking face (i.e. deviate from a 90° perpendicular to the ground plane), even though the degree of inclination may be imperceptible to the putter and not part of his visualization when putting.
The ‘rotational axis of the putter’ is the line extending from the putter shaft through the putter head. The shape of the parts actually connecting the shaft and the head may deviate from this line; it is the line of effect for rotation in the X-Y plane.
The ‘rotational center of balance’ is the point in the putter head where an equal torque in the X-Y plane will rotate the putter equally clockwise or counterclockwise.
The ‘rotational striking center of balance’ is the point in the strike plane on the line through the putter head that divides the mass of the putter head equally along the Y axis.
“Rotationally balanced” means that a putter, when laid across the palm of the hand in such fashion that it does not tip down and with the strike face oriented parallel to the ground, remains in that position until disturbed, and will rotate clockwise and counterclockwise around the shaft (and thus, during a putt, in the ground plane) an equal degree for an equal amount of torque in the X-Y plane applied to either head or shaft.
‘Stroke alignment’ is alignment of the putter head with the striking direction such that the theoretical striking face matches the strike plane and is centered on the striking direction.
‘Stroke triangulation’ is accurately measuring the strike vector, i.e. how far the putt will travel before reaching the break point (and as is desired in most cases, going into the hole).
‘Stroke power estimation’ is deducing the power necessary yet only sufficient to cause the ball to traverse the strike vector, no more and no less.
‘Strike alignment’ is precision in the initial strike as to both alignment and power, such that the (dynamic) performance matches the (prior, static) visualization.
‘Stroking alignment’ is continued alignment of the motion of the center of the striking face along the striking direction during the follow-through.
Together, stroke alignment, stroke triangulation, stroke power estimation, strike alignment, and stroking alignment, determine a putt's accuracy.
The ‘sweet spot’ means that area on a putter head's striking face which should come into contact with a golf ball to give the optimal strike alignment and maximize kinesthetic feedback to the golfer (the latter also being known as ‘the best handling feeling’).
Successful Putting Requirements
The first and usually first-considered requirement in putting is that the golfer visualize the striking direction accurately. The best putt made, which was ill-aimed, is flawed. Even when conditions dictate that the ball, to go into the hole, must ‘break’ from a straight line and follow the path dictated by those conditions [e.g. curving with the slope(s) of the green], the initial portion of virtually all strokes will be a straight shot along the strike vector.
Stroke alignment, which must precede each putt, requires a golfer to visualize a line from the center of the putter head that (1) is perpendicular to the theoretical striking face of the putter (a flat surface), (2) passes through the center of the golf ball (a spherical surface), and (3) passes through the break point (or hole). The design of a putter, particularly of a putter's head, can greatly affect a putter's ability to meet these requirements and challenges for accurate putting. Other patent applications for putter heads have used visual markings as the means for providing sighting aids to assist a golfer; most failed to consider, let alone use, the visualization properties of the putter head as a whole, and the rest only partially used the head's structure and design.
Second and third, and subtler, requirements for any putt, that involve more expertise and skill, are that the golfer first correctly estimate the length of the strike vector, that is, the travel distance the putt must move along the striking direction to reach but not overshoot the break point, and then determine the correct power to put into that stroke. Stroke triangulation and stroke power estimation have been generally ignored by the prior art. Yet while inexperienced and moderately competent putters struggle with stroke alignment, more experienced and professional putters become far more concerned with stroke triangulation and stroke power estimation. Accurately estimating the distance between the ball and the break point involves tw
Cole George S.
Passaniti Sebastiano
LandOfFree
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