GOLF CLUB, ESPECIALLY PUTTER

Abstract

A golf club, especially a putter has a preferably a straight shaft and an elongation, connected in a first angle and a substantially elongated club head, at which golf club the second angle between the elongation axis of the shaft and the elongation axis of the club head called lie, and the third angle between the elongation axis of the shaft elongation and the vertical plane of the club head called loft, are settable, whereas the shaft elongation us releasably connectable to the club head by an elongated connect element, called hosel, with an elongation axis. which when connected to the shaft elongation preferably coincides to the longation axis of the shaft elongation, whereas the club head is provided with a channel, running at right angle to its longitudinal axis, wherein first and second chosen direction elements are able to be introduced, at the outsides formed to be supported by the walls of the channel, in its insides so designed with recesses, that these so embrace the portion of the connection element, that projects downwards in the channel, that the chosen angles lie and loft, corresponding to the chosen direction elements, are settable, when the connection element is fixed to the club head.

Description

This invention relates to a golf club, especially putter, preferably with a straight shaft and an elongation, connected in a first angle and a substantially elongated club head, at which golf club the second angle between the elongation axis of the shaft and the elongation axis of the club head called lie, and the third angle between the elongation axis of the shaft elongation and the vertical plane of the club head called loft, are settable, whereas the shaft elongation us releasably connectable to the club head by an elongated connect element, called hosel, with an elongation axis. which when connected to the shaft elongation preferably coincides to the longation axis of the shaft elongation, whereas the club head is provided with a channel, running at right angle to its longitudinal axis, wherein first and second chosen direction elements are able to be introduced, at the outsides formed to be supported by the walls of the channel, in its insides so designed with recesses, that these so embrace the portion of the connection element, that projects downwards in the channel, that the chosen angles lie and loft, corresponding to the chosen direction elements, are settable, when the connection element is faxed to the club head.

Such clubs, for which the lie and loft may be changed according to the wish of the player are known in several designs. Among these, a Japanese may be mentioned, disclosed in JP 2001 046557 A. In this, a connection element leads downwards into the inner of a club head, and the end of the connection element may be fastened by screwing in an inclined plate in one of five holes. the possibilities of a personal choice of lie and loft seem to be rather limited, and if you would like to replace the plate with five holes, this seems to be a rather complicated procedure. Even U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,425 B1 should be mentioned. Here however, the connection elements (here noted 24,25) are designed with partly conical outer mantle (in combined position), which means, that the club head will not be firmly anchored around the hostel (16). As mentioned, there are many suggestions for the designing of golf clubs with adjustable angles for lie and loft, but none has proved to be so advantageous, that it has won any large market.

There is thus a need for a golf club of the art mentioned introductorily, admitting personal choices of lie and loft, still with a simple and reliable design.

According to the invention, such a golf club is primarily characterized in that the connection elements in combined position show an outer substantially rectangular cross section. With this design the direction elements may be adapted according to any person's requirements, and it is quite easy to shift the direction elements within e g a family or group. In one favorable embodiment of the golf club according to the invention, the direction elements embrace the portion of the connection element, that projects downwards into the channel symmetrically. In this way the direction elements will embrace the lower portion of the connection elements along large surfaces and thus give a safe connection between shaft and club head.

The golf club according to the invention shall now be described more closely, reference being made to the enclosed schematic figures, whereas

FIG. 1 shows a perspectivic exploded view of the most important details of the golf club according to the invention (with the shaft only in part)

FIG. 2 shows a perspectivic exploded view of the most important details in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows the definition of the lie angle,

FIG. 4 shows the definition of the loft angle, whilst

FIGS. 5a and 5B show perspectivic views of two cooperating direction elements.

In the FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown one embodiment of a golf club according to the invention. A shaft is denoted by 1 and a relatively short shaft elongation 3, connected thereto at an angle 2, A club head 4 with the typical design for a putter is via a connection element 10, among golf playing people called hosel, is connected to the shaft elongation 3. A screw 17, screwed into the lower portion of the connection element 10 with the screw head supporting at offsets 22 and 23 in the closed direction elements 13 and 14 in the club head fastens the club head to 4 to the shaft elongation 3 through the channel 12 vertically through the club head 4 and thus to the shaft 1. The connection element 10 is designed with an upper portion 18, with a cylindric portion with a gear rim cross section which corresponds to correspondingly designed inside at the downwards open shaft elongation 3. Thus the club head 4 may be mounted in a desired way in relationship to the shaft elongation. Before the club is mounted through the vertical, rectangular channel 12 of the club head, in the way just described, two cooperating direction elements 12,14 (FIGS. 5A and 5B) are chosen, with the desired lie and loft angles cfr, FIGS. 3 and 4. Here the angle 5 between the and the longitudinal axis 6 of the shaft 1 and the longitudinal axis 7 of the club head equals the lie angle, and the angle 8 between the longitudinal axis 9 of the shaft elongation 3 and the vertical plane of the club head 4 equals the loft angle.

The connection element 10 is formed with a half- spheric ring 19, that corresponds to a recess 20 at the upper side of the club head, when screwed together. The direction elements 13 and 14 are provided with recesses 15 and 16, corresponding to each other, symmetrically embracing the portion 21 of the connection element, that projects downwards in the channel 12. The direction elements 13,14 show, when put together an outer, substantially rectangular cross section, as is also the case for the channel 12.

Claims

1. Golf club, especially putter, preferably with a straight shaft (1) and an elongation (3), connected in a first angle (2) and a substantially elongated club head (4) at which golf club the second angle (5) between the elongation axis (6) of the shaft and the elongation, axis (7) of the club head called lie, and the third angle (8) between the elongation axis (9) of the shaft elongation (3) and the vertical plane of the club head (4) called loft, are settable, whereas the shaft elongation (3) is releasably connectable to the club head (4) by an elongated connect element (10), called hosel, with an elongation axis (11) which when connected to the shaft elongation (3) preferably coincides to the elongation axis (9) of the shaft elongation (3), whereas the club head (4) is provided with a channel (12), running at right angle to its longitudinal axis (7), wherein first and second chosen direction elements (13,14) are able to be introduced, at the outsides formed to be supported by the walls of the channel (12), in its insides so designed with recesses (15,16) that these so embrace the portion (21) of the connection element (10), that projects downwards in the channel (12), that the chosen angles lie and loft, corresponding to the chosen direction elements (13,14), are settable, when the connection element (10) is fixed to the club head (4)

characterised In,

that the direction elements (13,14) when comnied embrace the connection element (10) show an outer substantially rectangular cross section.

2. Golf club according to claim 1,

characterised In,

that the direction elements (13,14) embrace the portion (21) of the connection element(10) projecting downwards into the channel (12) symmetrically.