System And Method For Protecting Against Wet Weather Golf Conditions

Abstract

A combined towel and golf club protection assembly comprises an outer water resistant sleeve closed along opposite sides and along a top side and having an open bottom end. An inner liner formed of a water absorbent material is attached to the sleeve. The sleeve resists water penetration to thereby keep the liner relatively dry. The assembly of sleeve and liner is reversible to position the liner on an outer surface whereby the assembly may function as a towel. A sealable slit shaped opening is formed in the sleeve to create access to a space between the sleeve and the liner. The opening is fitted with a zipper closure and has upper and lower extensions of the sleeve overlapping the zipper to minimize water intrusion. The assembly also includes a pair of aligned holes formed through the top side of the sleeve and liner, each of the holes including a grommet, and a support hook passing through the holes for attaching the assembly to a golf bag.

Description

SPECIFIC DATA RELATED TO THE INVENTION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/956,998 filed Aug. 21, 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to golf equipment, and more particularly, to a system and method for protecting against wet weather golf conditions using a dual purpose combined towel and protection assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

While playing golf in wet weather conditions, various challenges are presented to the golfer in order to achieve a moderate level of successful performance. In addition to the obvious discomfort of physically experiencing wet weather conditions, the golfer must accommodate each shot to the high wind and rain. Additionally, wet weather conditions pose a particular challenge in maintaining a dry grip between the golfer's hands and the golf club grip, an essential factor in maintaining successful play in these wet weather conditions. For example, the grip of each golf club may become wet, either due to rain falling into an open bag, or by laying the golf club and grip across a wet ground surface, thereby permitting the golf club grip to collect water. However, even if the golf club grip is kept dry, the golfer's hands may become wet, which routinely eliminates the possibility of maintaining a dry grip with the golf club.

In the majority of public golf, two players normally share a powered golf cart with their clubs strapped to the cart. Quite often, there is a significant distance between the location of one player's golf ball and the other player's ball. In order to speed the pace of play, one player often will choose to walk to his ball away from the cart. At other times, the course may prohibit carts from being driven into certain areas, such as around a green, thereby requiring that the players walk from the cart to their respective ball locations. In such situations, it is common practice for a golfer to carry extra clubs from his/her golf bag to a distant location from the bag in order to assure that the right club is available for a particular shot. When a particular club has been selected, the other clubs are generally tossed on the grass. If the grass is wet, the club grips become wet. This can then cause a problem the next time that club is used since the wet grip is slippery and can slip in the player's hand.

Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a single system which addresses each scenario in which wet weather conditions pose an adverse effect to the grip between the golfer's hands and the golf club grip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more particular description of the embodiments of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the embodiments of the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a system for protecting against wet weather golf conditions enclosing the top of a golf bag;

FIG. 2 is a partial side view of the system for protecting against wet weather golf conditions in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional plan view of the system for protecting against wet weather golf conditions in FIG. 1 taken along the line 3-3;

FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a system for protecting against wet weather golf conditions enclosing a grip of a golf club laying on the ground of a golf course; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded side plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a system for protecting against wet weather golf conditions coupled to a side portion of a golf bag.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a combined towel and water resistant or repellant shell or sleeve that can be used to protect the golfer's equipment from moisture and also used to wipe or dry the golfer's hands or face or equipment. In the illustrative form, the assembly comprises and outer sleeve like structure that is closed on one end to form an enclosure or shell having an open end. The sleeve is preferably formed of a water resistant woven nylon material. On one surface of the sleeve there is attached a mating layer of a water absorbent material such as Terry cloth or microfiber material with the mating layer forming a liner for the sleeve. The assembly is so constructed that the combined sleeve and liner can be turned inside out so that the liner is on the outside of the assembly and the sleeve in on the inside. In the first arrangement, the assembly can be position over a golf bag to protect clubs from inclement weather or the assembly can be placed around the grips of clubs removed from the golf bag so that the clubs can be laid on wet grass without the grips becoming wet. The assembly is also provided with a hanger to allow it to be attached to a golf bag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In describing particular features of different embodiments of the present invention, number references will be utilized in relation to the figures accompanying the specification. Similar or identical number references in different figures may be utilized to indicate similar or identical components among different embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 for protecting against wet weather golf conditions. Such wet weather golf conditions include, but are not limited to, falling rain, or similar types of precipitation, rain covering the ground during or after a rain shower, morning dew, water sprinklers, or any wet ground condition, regardless of its cause. Thus, any type of precipitation, whether it be present or past precipitation, in addition to any wet ground condition, are considered within the scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention as posing a challenge to golfing conditions and maintaining a dry grip between the golf club grip and the golfer's hands.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1-5, the system 10 includes a combined towel and golf club protection device, sometimes referred to as a towel assembly, 12 comprising an outer water resistant sleeve 16 closed along opposite sides 16a and 16b and a top side 16c and having an open bottom end 16d. An inner liner 14 is attached to an inner surface of the sleeve 16. The liner 14 is formed of a water absorbent material. The sleeve 16 resists water penetration to thereby keep the liner relatively dry. The towel assembly may be turned inside out so that the liner 14 is on the outside and can function as a conventional towel for drying the golfer's hands. The liner or towel 14 is preferably constructed of a fabric material that is absorptive of water, such as a microfiber or terry cloth material, for example. The sleeve 16 is constructed of a water resistant material, such as water resistant nylon or other woven polymer suitable for flexibility, for example. The towel/protection assembly 12 may be secured to the side of a golf bag 28 using a method described in further detail below.

The towel assembly 12 is formed in the shape of a closed end sleeve or hood so as to form an enclosure that may be placed over the open end of a golf bag 28 whereby the exposed ends of golf clubs in the bag are protected from adverse weather conditions. In this use, an opening 33 defined by open 16d of the assembly 12, preferably with the water resistant sleeve on the outside, is placed over the end of the bag 28 covering the clubs. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the water resistant material covering the outer surface 16 is utilized to protect a golfer's golf clubs 26 in a golf bag 28. The assembly 12 may be secured to the opening 32 using various fastening mechanisms, such as retractable buttons, drawstrings with a retractable opening, and any other fastening mechanism, as appreciated by one of skill in the art. However, the heads of the golf clubs 26 protruding from the golf bag 28 may simply be inserted into the opening 33 of the assembly 12, without any additional fastening device to secure the assembly 12 to the golf bag 28.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the combined towel and water resistant assembly may be turned inside out as needed in order to provide an exposed towel surface to dry a wet golf club grip 22 or a wet hand grip in the above discussed wet weather golf conditions. For example, the golfer's hands may become wet or the golfer's glove may become wet in the wet weather conditions. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4, a golf club 26 including a golf grip 22 may be left on a wet ground 30 of a golf course, which may have been caused by a rain shower or a water sprinkler or overnight dew, for example. As shown in FIG. 4, the golf club grip 22 is inserted into the opening 33 of the assembly 12, such that the water resistant material of sleeve 16 protects the golf club grip 22 from the wet weather golf conditions. Further, the microfiber material of the inner liner 14 can wick droplets that may be spattered on the grip and thereby assist in achieving a dry grip on the club. Although FIG. 4 illustrates a single golf grip 22 positioned within the opening 33, more than one golf club grip may be so positioned to protect the golf club grips from the wet weather conditions (i.e., the enclosure 12 and opening 33 may be sized to accommodate more than one golf club grip). As shown in FIG. 2, the assembly 12 also includes a closable slit 44 formed in the sleeve 16. The slit may be closed using a zipper that is sewn into the mating edges of the slit or the edges may be provided with hook and loop fasteners, such as those fasteners branded under the mark VELCRO. In the illustrative embodiment, a zipper, indicated schematically at 46, is used to close the slit 44. A pair of overlying flaps 48 and 50, defined by the slit 44 and the thread lines 52 and 54, extend over the slit when the zipper is in a closed position so as to resist water intrusion into the space between the sleeve 16 and liner 14. The liner 14 is accordingly only attached to the sleeve 16 around the peripherally sewn edges of the sleeve so that a closed space is defined between the sleeve 16 and liner 14. The closed space may be used to store valuables or gloves in order to protect them from rain or wet grass.

As illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 5, the assembly 12 further includes a fastener support 34, such as a carabiner or conventional spring latching shower curtain hook, for example, which is passed through a pair of openings 17 in a top portion 15 of the enclosure 12. Each of the openings through the combination of liner and sleeve are reinforced using a grommet 56. Support 34 could be other types of loops well known in the art for releasably coupling a golf towel to a golf bag. The fastener support 34 is configured to secure the assembly 12 to an outside surface of a golf bag, and includes a retractable opening 40 to open in order to attach the loop 34 onto a D-ring or similar attachment feature 42 used on conventional golf club bags. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the assembly 12 may be secured to the outside surface of the golf bag 28 using the loop 34 when there is no need for the enclosure 12 (i.e., a lack of wet weather conditions). However, the assembly 12 may be secured to the outside surface of the golf bag 28 during the wet weather conditions. In the exemplary embodiment discussed above in which the assembly 12 is turned inside-out and used as a towel device, the loop 34 may be fed through the plurality of openings 17 such that it is positioned in a similar position prior to turning the assembly 12 inside-out, and may be similarly utilized to secure the towel assembly 12 to an outside surface of the golf bag 28, as discussed above for the assembly 12 prior to being turned inside out.

This written description uses examples to disclose embodiments of the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the embodiments of the invention. The patentable scope of the embodiments of the invention may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A combined towel and golf club protection assembly comprising:

an outer water resistant sleeve closed along opposite sides and a top side and having an open bottom end;

an inner liner attached to said sleeve, said liner being formed of a water absorbent material, said sleeve resisting water penetration to thereby keep said liner relatively dry; and

said assembly being reversible to position said liner on an outer surface whereby said liner may be utilized as a towel.

2. The assembly of claim 1 and including a sealable opening formed in said sleeve to create access to a space between said sleeve and said liner.

3. The assembly of claim 2 wherein said opening is a slit fitted with a zipper closure.

4. The assembly of claim 3 and including upper and lower extensions of said sleeve overlapping said zipper closure.

5. The assembly of claim 1 and including a pair of aligned holes formed through the top side of the sleeve and liner, each of the holes including a grommet, and a support hook passing through the holes for attaching the assembly to a golf bag.

6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein the support hook comprises a

7. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said sleeve comprises a lightweight nylon material.

8. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said liner comprises a microfiber material.