Golf Training Devices
Golf training devices for practicing driving a ball while providing a visual indication of the orientation of the face of the golf club and location on the face of the club when impact with the ball occurs. The information may be recorded and which can be later analyzed by playback to effectively reproduce the swing of the player. The club uses a row of flashing light sources parallel to the face of the head of the club which creates a line visible to the user to see the orientation of the club and location of the impact of the club with a ball. Various aspects and uses of the club are disclosed.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/375,727 filed Aug. 20, 2010 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/381,365 filed Sep. 9, 2010.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of golf training devices.
2. Prior Art
In the game of golf, play for each hole begins by each player teeing off from the teeing ground or starting place for the hole, defined by two tee markers. In a typical tee shot, a player will want to drive the ball as far as possible, while at the same time, control the trajectory of the ball so that the ball lands and ultimately comes to a stop at the best position for the second shot or stroke. Driving the ball with both power and control takes a lot of practice, and even then the desired results are not always achieved, even by professional players.
The present invention provides a practice club for practicing driving a ball from a tee, while providing a visual indication of the orientation of the face of the golf club when impact with the ball occurs, and may be used for recording information which can be analyzed by playback to effectively reproduce the swing of the player. Such a training aid may be used when actually hitting a ball on a tee, such as in normal play or on a driving range, or alternatively, may be used in a relatively confined area, such as a person's yard, for practice swings when there is no ball present, preferably using an image of a ball laying on the ground for reasons that shall subsequently become apparent.
Also buried in the club head 22 are two three axis accelerometers or G sensors, specifically in region 32 and in region 34. In addition, there is a third three axis G sensor in the club shaft 24, generally approximately in the region 36 of the shaft adjacent or in the grip region. These three axis accelerometers in one embodiment are small solid state three axis accelerometers oriented so that the x axes are parallel, the y axes are parallel and the Z axes are parallel in all three G sensors. By way of example, the Z axes might all be parallel to the shaft 24, the y axes might all be parallel to the face of the club. Also mounted in the hand grip region 26 in some convenient location not interfering with the user's grip on the hand grip region 26 is a reset switch, strobe rate switch and brightness switch as shown in
One of the functions of the microprocessor is to repetitively simultaneously pulse or strobe all LEDs during the swing of the golf club. This is illustrated in
In
Referring back to
Data collection for a swing could be initiated various ways, such as by way of example, the sensing of a sudden high acceleration or by constantly taking data and discarding all data except just before a sudden acceleration started and all data after a time period at least equal to the duration of even a relatively slow swing. Of course data collection could be initiated by a user activated reset switch, though this is not preferred, as one of the features of the present invention is its simplicity, ease of use, natural sensation and lack of distraction when teeing off (actual or simulated), together with the versatility of the training aid and usefulness thereof.
The memory associated with the microprocessor preferably includes nonvolatile memory such as flash memory so that data will be maintained even when the ON/OFF switch is turned off. Thus the ON/OFF switch is simply used to conserve battery power when the training aid is not being used. The reset switch, on the other hand, is used to start recording data at the initial position until the swing is completed. This information could be recorded on a one time basis until the reset switch is again actuated. The rate at which the LEDs flash during a swing could be updated by microprocessor using information from one or more past swings. If this was done, then the strobe switch could be eliminated, as the pulse rate would automatically effectively reset after the first swing. In that regard, a manual adjustment could be provided for the LED pulse rate, normally in terms of distance between pulses during the golf club motion, though again the “one size fits all” type approach keeps the training device simple and easy to use, and avoids distraction from a normal teeing off swing. If desired, instead of the strobe rate switch of
Now referring to
Now referring to
To maintain the interest of kids, the sound may be used in various ways. By way of example, some sound may be generated each time the club is moved, such as a Star Wars type of sound. Also, a sound may be generated and reproduced through the speaker on impact of the club head with a ball, which sounds may be randomly selected or selected based on where the club head hits the ball, and can include attention getting fun sounds like a pow, a smashing sound, a groan and ouch.
Thus the present invention has a number of aspects, which aspects may be practiced alone or in various combinations or sub-combinations, as desired. While certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed and described herein for purposes of illustration and not for purposes of limitation, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A golf club comprising;
- a golf club head;
- a shaft coupled to the golf club head; and
- a gripping area coupled to the shaft;
- light emitting regions on the golf club head disposed at least in part in a line parallel to a face of the golf club head;
- the golf club having circuitry to cause the light emitting regions to flash at a predetermined rate during a swing of the golf club.
2. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the light emitting regions on the golf club head disposed at least in part in a line parallel to a face of the golf club head are configured to provide a visual indication of the center of the light emitting regions.
3. The golf club of claim 2 wherein the visual indication of the center of the light emitting regions is provided by at least one light emitting region of a different color from the remainder of the light emitting regions.
4. The golf club of claim 2 wherein the visual indication of the center of the light emitting regions is provided by at least one light emitting region that is not in a line defined by other light emitting regions.
5. The golf club of claim 2 wherein the visual indication of the center of the light emitting regions is at a center of the face of the golf club head.
6. The golf club of claim 2 wherein the visual indication of the center of the light emitting regions is outboard of a center of the head representing the best spot for making contact with the golf ball for the greatest distance.
7. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the light emitting regions are light emitting diodes.
8. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the light emitting regions are illuminated by a fiber optic line to the light emitting regions, the fiber optic line being illuminated by a light source at the gripping area.
9. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the light emitting regions and the circuitry to cause the light emitting regions to flash at a predetermined rate during a swing of the golf club are a permanent part of the golf club.
10. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the light emitting regions and the circuitry to cause the light emitting regions to flash at a predetermined rate during a swing of the golf club are attachments to the golf club.
11. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the circuitry to cause the light emitting regions to flash at a predetermined rate during a swing of the golf club includes circuitry to adjust the rate of the flashing.
12. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the circuitry to cause the light emitting regions to flash at a predetermined rate during a swing of the golf club includes circuitry to adjust the brightness of the flashing.
13. The golf club of claim 1 further comprised of two, three axis accelerometers located in spaced apart regions of the golf club head.
14. The golf club of claim 13 wherein the circuitry integrates the output of the three axis accelerometers to obtain and display a velocity of the golf club head during a golf club swing.
15. The golf club of claim 14 wherein the circuitry includes circuitry to adjust the rate of flashing based on at least one prior swing of the golf club.
16. The golf club of claim 13 wherein a signal responsive to the difference in the integral of the output of the three axis accelerometers at impact with a ball is displayed as an indication of wrist action of a user of the golf club.
17. The golf club of claim 13 further comprised of a speaker wherein the circuitry and speaker generate a noise responsive to movement of the golf club.
18. The golf club of claim 13 further comprised of a speaker wherein the circuitry and speaker generate a noise responsive to the difference in acceleration sensed by the two, three axis accelerometers to provide an audible indication of the location of the impact of the golf club head with a ball.
19. The golf club of claim 13 wherein the display comprises an LCD display.
20. The golf club of claim 13 wherein the display comprises a row of light emitting diodes.
21. The golf club of claim 13 further comprising a third three axis accelerometer being located adjacent the gripping area, and wherein the circuitry includes a memory, each axis of the three, three axis accelerometers being parallel to each other, the memory storing outputs of the three, three axis accelerometers during a swing of the golf club for later recreation of the swing.
22. The golf club of claim 21 wherein the golf club includes apparatus for downloading information stored in the memory for recreation of a swing of the golf club.
23. The golf club of claim 22 wherein the apparatus for downloading information stored in the memory comprises a USB connection.
24. The golf club of claim 22 wherein the apparatus for downloading information stored in the memory comprises a wireless connection.
25. The golf club of claim 13 wherein the three, three axis accelerometers are solid state accelerometers.
26. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the golf club head is a golf club driver head.
27. The golf club of claim 1 wherein the duty cycle of the flashing is in the range of 5% to 15%.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 10, 2011
Publication Date: Feb 23, 2012
Inventor: Ki Y. Nam (Newport Beach, CA)
Application Number: 13/206,831
International Classification: A63B 69/36 (20060101);