Games using tangible projectile – Golf – Club or club support
Utility Patent
1999-03-15
2001-01-02
Passaniti, Sebastiano (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Golf
Club or club support
C473S314000, C473S409000, C073S065030
Utility Patent
active
06168535
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to putter type golf club heads and in particular to a golf putter having a superior balancing system.
In making a putter type golf club head, a putter that is truly balanced has long been recognized as desirable. Designs of clubs over the years have focused on various structures to provide more accurate golf shots with better control that have enhanced feel and playability. It is important to consider when making a balanced prototype golf club, that golfers have a wide variety of anatomical differences and dynamics in the way they swing a golf club, including the stroke that is made with a putter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,979, to Bernhardt, discloses an apparatus for revealing the true balance of a putter dynamically as it is being swung. The putter is installed in a holder, drawn back and released. An unbalanced putter will turn in the holder revealing the unbalance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,332, also to Bernhardt, provides a golf club with an improved balance by designing or selecting a particular shape and style of putter head and adding a putter shaft with a straight handle and an acute angle at the point where the shaft enters the club head. This enables the center of gravity to be accurately determined while the shaft is attached to the club head with a slow setting adhesive. Adjustments to compensate for rotation are made until a true balance is achieved. However, both Bernhart patents improperly assume that the putting strike is a pure pendulum motion whereas the actual putting motion is closer to a rhombus. As such, since Bernhardt's basic assumption regarding the path of a putting stroke is incorrect, the balancing technique disclosed in his patents yields undesirable and inaccurate results. A need, therefore, exists for a balancing technique which is reliable, simple and accurate. The present invention provides such a technique.
The present invention relates to a method for making a putter with an improved balance. The method of the present invention takes into consideration the human dynamics which alter a pure arcuate motion by maintaining the putter head at a fairly constant distance from the ground during both back swing and follow through. An ideal putting stroke by a golfer is one where the wrists are not breaking, the putter head is going straight back and straight through, and the putter head is moved parallel to the ground for a total length of between 1½ and 2 feet. This occurs because at a point when the shoulder pivot movement would normally be upward, there is a compensation movement by the shoulder vertical distance downward keeping the putter head close to the ground. The resulting swing movement is a rhombus and the path of a fixed point on the rhombus is a parabola rather than an arc, the portion of the parabola just behind and just in front of the ball being a nearly straight line whereby the club head is equidistant from the ground surface on the back swing and on the follow through during the execution of a putting stroke.
A putter assembled in accordance with the present invention includes a putter head, shaft and grip. The putter head typically weighs about 300-390 grams and the shaft and grip weighs about 100-160 grams. The center of gravity of the entire putter golf club is located on the shaft but close to the putter head. The exact center of gravity location may be determined by known mathematical formulas. Referring to the Bernhardt U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,866,979 and 5,228,332, which are incorporated herein by reference, a putter of the present invention is placed in a mechanical apparatus which is designed to swing the putter in a parabolic path. The amount of rotation is noted and the shaft is adjusted until a perfect balance is achieved. Because of the rhomboid movement of an actual putting stroke, rather than an arcuate movement, the toe of the putter may assume any position between plus and minus 45 degrees and still maintain balance unlike Bernhardt which must position the toe perfectly upright with no variation in the upright angle to achieve perfect balance.
An object of the present invention is the provision of a method of making a golf putter with a true balance.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a method of making a golf putter which is dynamically balanced in accordance with a rhomboid motion.
These and other object of the invention will become apparent from the following drawings and description.
The accompanying drawing incorporated in and forming a part of the specification, illustrates several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description search to explain the principles of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1703199 (1929-02-01), McClure
patent: 3625517 (1971-12-01), Durnack
patent: 3954265 (1976-05-01), Taylor
patent: 4073492 (1978-02-01), Taylor
patent: 4866979 (1989-09-01), Bernhardt
patent: 5228332 (1993-07-01), Bernhardt
patent: 5864960 (1999-02-01), Denicolo
Aquilino, Welsh & Flaxman
Passaniti Sebastiano
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