Golf Club

Abstract

A golf club is provided having a hollow shaft, a grip at one end of the shaft, and a hollow club head providing a striking face at an opposite end of the shaft. A hermetically-sealed, hollow, vacuum chamber in which air and other gases have been evacuated and in which an amount of a fluent weight medium is contained is provided within the golf club and extends continuously within the shaft and club head, such that, during a backswing of the golf club, the fluent weight medium is displaceable from a distal end of the vacuum chamber within the club head to a proximal end of the vacuum chamber within the shaft and during a downswing of the golf club, the fluent weight medium is displaceable from the proximal end of the vacuum chamber within the shaft to the distal end of the vacuum chamber within the club head.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 USC § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/638,559, filed Mar. 5, 2018.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a golf club, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a driver or like golf club for striking a golf ball.

In playing golf, a golf ball is struck with a face of a club head at the end of shaft of a golf club. For example, in driving a golf ball off a tee or the ground, the golf club is brought rearwardly and upwardly during a backswing and is then accelerated during a downswing to strike the golf ball.

The distance to which a golf ball travels can be impacted by both the speed of the club head striking the golf ball and by the mass or weight of the club head striking the golf ball. Accordingly, attempts to reduce the weight of a club head enables greater and quicker acceleration of the golf swing but necessarily also reduces the mass or weight of the club head striking the ball, and attempts to increase the weight of the club head necessarily reduces the ability to accelerate the club head at the initial stage of the downswing.

SUMMARY

A golf club is provided having a hollow shaft, a grip at one end of the shaft, and a hollow club head providing a striking face at an opposite end of the shaft. A hermetically-sealed, hollow, vacuum chamber in which air and other gases have been evacuated and in which an amount of a fluent weight medium is contained is provided within the golf club. The vacuum chamber extends continuously within the shaft and club head, such that, during a backswing of the golf club, the fluent weight medium is displaceable from a distal end of the vacuum chamber within the club head to a proximal end of the vacuum chamber within the shaft (via gravity) and, during a downswing of the golf club, the fluent weight medium is displaceable from the proximal end of the vacuum chamber within the shaft to the distal end of the vacuum chamber within the club head (via centrifugal force).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club (with a rear of a hollow club head removed) according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the interior of a hollow club head according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken vertically through the hollow club head according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken horizontally through the hollow club head according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 5A to 5H is a set of views demonstrating a typical golf swing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to an embodiment, a golf club has a fluent weight medium, such as liquid mercury or like material, contained within a hermetically-sealed, hollow, vacuum chamber extending continuously through at least a portion of the length of the shaft and into the club head such that the location of the fluent weight medium may be displaced within the golf club from the club head to the shaft and from the shaft to the club head during a golf swing. This displacement provides a lightweight club head at the top of a backswing so as not to compromise the ability of the golfer to begin to accelerate the club head during the initiation of a downswing, yet also provides a club head with more mass/weight at the point of impact. The result is that greater force is applied to a golf ball and thereby an increase in the flight distance of the golf ball may be achieved.

As shown in FIGS. 1-4, a golf club 10 has a shaft 12 with a grip 14 located at one end thereof and a club head 16 with a striking face 18 at an opposite end thereof. For purposes of making the golf club of a relatively light weight, each of the shaft 12 and the club head 16 is hollow. According to an embodiment, a vacuum chamber is defined within at least parts of the hollow shaft 12 and hollow club head 16. For instance, the vacuum chamber may extend only a part of the full length of the shaft 12 and may only occupy part of the space within the hollow club head 16.

The vacuum chamber is hollow and continuous between proximal and distal ends thereof. The proximal end of the vacuum chamber is located in the shaft 12 at about a mid-length of the shaft, at a location within twelve inches of the grip 14, or adjacent or within the grip 14. The distal end 22 of the vacuum chamber terminates in a conduit 24 having a closed-end 26 secured within the hollow club head 16. A best shown in Ms. 2 and 4, the conduit 24 is secured or welded directly to a rear side 28 of the striking face 18 of the club head 16, and as best shown in FIG. 3, the conduit 24 extends horizontally within the club head 16 at about a mid-height of the striking face 18 where a golf ball is most likely to be struck by the club head 16 when properly struck.

Within the hollow club head 16, the fluent weight medium is displaceable only within the conduit 24 and is restricted from being displaceable within a remaining hollow section 32 of the club head 16. Of course, the conduit 24 connects to the part of the vacuum chamber extending within the shaft 12 such that the fluent weight medium may be displaced or moved within the vacuum chamber within the shaft 12 or within the club head 16. See FIG. 3.

Air and other gases are evacuated from the vacuum chamber and only an amount of a fluent weight medium is contained within the vacuum chamber. The amount of the fluent weight medium is much smaller than the overall evacuated area defined within the vacuum chamber; thus, the fluent weight medium is able to flow or be displaced or moved from one end of the vacuum chamber to the other end. Accordingly, during a golf swing, the fluent weight medium is displaceable along a length of said vacuum chamber from the distal end 22 of the vacuum chamber 20 within the club head 16 to a proximal end of vacuum chamber within the shaft 12 (to reduce the weight of the club head 16) and from the proximal end of vacuum chamber within the shaft 12 to the distal end 22 of the vacuum chamber within the club head 16 (to add weight/mass to the club head 16).

The part of the vacuum chamber extending within the shaft 12 may have a constant pre-determined inner diameter along a full length thereof. In turn, the conduit 24 within the club head 16 may have a constant inner diameter along a full length thereof. The inner diameter of the conduit 24 may be substantially the same size as or slightly greater than the pre-determined inner diameter of the vacuum chamber 20 extending within the shaft 12. This arrangement ensures that the fluent weight material is able to readily and quickly flow from the club head 16 to the proximal end of the vacuum chamber in the shaft 12 during a backswing at the top of the backswing. The vacuum chamber may also be lined with an anti-friction lining to further ensure the quick displacement of the fluent weight medium in the vacuum chamber.

Referring to the set of images in FIGS. 5A to 5H, at a set-up point of a golf swing (see position in FIG. 5A), the fluent weight medium in the golf club is acted upon by gravity to be fully located in the part of the vacuum chamber extending entirely within the club head 16. When the player starts to swing the golf club upwardly during a backswing, the fluent weight medium receives the action of gravity to move from the raised club head 16 to a part of the vacuum chamber within the shaft 12 (see positions in FIGS. 5B, 5C and 5D). When the golf club is swung back to a top position (i.e., see the position in FIG. 1D), the fluent weight material resides in the proximal end of the vacuum chamber located in the shaft 12 nearest the grip 14. Thereafter, when the player starts to swing the golf club downwardly, the fluent weight medium is acted upon by centrifugal force to start moving within the vacuum chamber from the shaft 12 (such as near the grip 14) to the club head 16 (see the position in FIG. 1E).

At a point of impact of the club head 16 with a golf ball 30, the fluent weight medium is located entirely within the club head 16 to add weight/mass to the club head 16. Accordingly, at the point of impact, forces corresponding to mass/weight of the club head 16 (including the fluent mass medium) and acceleration of the club head 16 (which may be increased due to the lighter club head 16 when the fluent mass medium initially resides in the shaft 12 instead of the club head 16) are transmitted to the golf ball 30 through the striking face 18 of the club head 16. Thus, the fluent weight medium displaced within the vacuum chamber within the golf club permits a greater driving force to be applied to the golf ball 30 such that the flight distance of the golf ball may be increased.

The fluent weight medium contained in the vacuum chamber may be any material which can be moved/displaced along the full length of the vacuum chamber. Thus, the medium may be a solid or liquid or mixtures thereof that are able to readily flow within the vacuum chamber between the proximal and distal ends thereof. For purposes of example, the medium may be liquid mercury or like substance. Alternatively, metal beads or the like such as iron or the like may be used. A mixture of a solid and liquid may also be used.

According to an example, the hollow club head 16 may be made of a lightweight metal or composite material and may weight only about 6 ounces. The fluent weight medium may be 2 to 3 ounces of liquid mercury which is able to be entirely received within the conduit of the vacuum chamber extending entirely within the club head 16. Thus, a ratio of a weight of the mercury to the weight of the club head 16 may be 1:3 to 1:2. Other ratios of the weight of the mercury to the weight of the club head may be utilized such as within ranges of 1:3 to 2:3, 2:3 to 1:1, or 1:3 to 1:1. In the example in which 3 ounces of mercury is utilized, the weight of the club head increases 150% between when the initiation of movement of the club head 16 during a downswing occurs and when the club head 16 strikes the golf ball. This permits greater acceleration at the point of starting a downswing and greater mass/weight of the club head at the point of striking the golf ball such that greater striking force may be generated and applied to the golf ball and a longer flight distance of the golf ball may be the result.

While the invention has been explained with reference to the specific embodiments of the invention, the present invention is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A golf club, comprising:

a hollow shaft, a grip at one end of said shaft, and a hollow club head providing a striking face at an opposite end of said shaft;

a hermetically-sealed, hollow, vacuum chamber in which air and other gases have been evacuated and in which an amount of a fluent weight medium is contained is defined within said shaft and club head such that, during a golf swing, said fluent weight medium is displaceable along a length of said vacuum chamber from a proximal end of said vacuum chamber within said shaft to a distal end of said vacuum chamber within said club head.

2. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said fluent weight medium is a liquid.

3. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said fluent weight medium is liquid mercury.

4. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said fluent weight medium is 2 to 3 ounces of liquid mercury.

5. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of a weight of said amount of said fluent weight medium within said vacuum chamber to a weight of said hollow club head is within a range of 1:3 to 1:1.

6. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of a weight of said amount of said fluent weight medium within said vacuum chamber to a weight of said hollow club head is within a range of 2:3 to 1:1.

7. The golf club according to claim 5, wherein the entire amount of said fluent weight medium within said vacuum chamber is displaceable entirely within said club head.

8. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said distal end of said vacuum chamber is formed by a close-ended conduit extending within said hollow club head directly behind said striking face of said club head such that said fluent weight medium is displaceable only within said conduit within said hollow club head and is restricted from being displaceable within a remaining hollow section of the club head.

9. The golf club according to claim 8, wherein said conduit is welded to a rear side of said striking face.

10. The golf club according to claim 8, wherein said conduit extends at a mid-height of said striking face.

11. The golf club according to claim 10, wherein said vacuum chamber extending within said shaft has a constant pre-determined inner diameter along a full length thereof and wherein said conduit within said club head has a constant inner diameter along a full length thereof such that the inner diameter of said conduit is substantially the same size as or slightly greater than said pre-determined inner diameter of said vacuum chamber extending within said shaft.

12. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said vacuum chamber extends at least half the full length of said shaft.

13. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said vacuum chamber extends to a portion of said shaft within twelve inches of said grip.

14. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said vacuum chamber extends to a portion of said shaft adjacent said grip.

15. The golf club according to claim 1, wherein said vacuum chamber is lined with an anti-friction lining.