Golf Club Including Detachable Golf Ball Retriever

This invention relates to a golf ball retriever and more particularly to a retriever adapted to be releasably attached to the butt end of a golf club.

Conventional golf ball retrievers normally comprise an extensable handle having a scoop attached to the end thereof for retrieving and retaining a golf ball therein. The retriever is collapsible to be normally placed in a golf bag along with the golf clubs. Such retrievers are expensive to manufacture, somewhat cumbersome to use and take up valuable space in the golf bag.

Applicant's experience indicates that most golf balls retrieved from a water hazard require a retriever no longer than approximately three feet for golf ball retrieval purposes. Other lost balls normally cannot be seen or are so far out in the hazard that retrieval is impossible.

This invention is directed to an improved and economical golf ball retriever that can be attached to a golf club expeditiously to form an extension thereof for golf ball retrieving purposes.

The golf ball retriever of this invention comprises scoop means for retrieving and retaining at least one golf ball therein and attachment means for releasably attaching the scoop means to a butt end of a golf club.

In the preferred retriever embodiment, the attachment means comprises a bent wire-like extension inserted through a hole formed axially through the butt end of a grip secured on a hollow shaft of the golf club. The extension is held in place by its frictional engagement within the shaft.

Applicant has built and tested an experimental prototype of his golf retriever, substantially as shown in the drawing, with excellent results.

Other advantages and objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan sectional view illustrating the butt end of a golf club having a golf ball retriever embodiment of this invention attached thereto; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

FIG. 1 partially illustrates a golf club comprising a standard hollow shaft 10 having a grip 11 secured on an end thereof. The shaft is rigid and is normally composed of stainless steel, aluminum, a composite graphite material, or the like. Grip 11 is composed of a standard grip material, such as a cloth-reinforced elastomeric (e.g., rubber) material as is well known in the golf arts.

This invention is directed to a golf ball retriever 12 adapted for releasable attachment to the butt end of the golf club. The retriever may comprise a scoop 13 suitably configured to retrieve and retain at least one golf ball therein. In the embodiment illustrated, the scoop is generally formed as a conical helical spring of circular cross-section, fabricated from a single piece of wire spring steel. Alternatively, the wire could have a rectangular cross-section.

Retriever 12 further comprises attachment means 14 for releasably attaching scoop 13 to the golf club by inserting a wire extension 15 thereof through a standard hole 16 pre-formed axially and centrally through the butt end of grip 11. Extension 15 is formed integrally with scoop 13 and from the same piece of wire forming it. The wire may be formed from a standard spring steel material, such as SAE 1060, 1074 or 1095, having an outside diameter preferably selected from the approximate range of from 0.0625 to 0.125 in.

It is preferred that the diameter of the wire be slightly greater than the normal unstretched diameter of standard hole 16 (approximating 0.093 in.) so that the portion of wire extension 15 surrounded by elastomeric portions of grip 11, defining hole 16, will aid in frictionally holding the retriever in place. As shown in FIG. 2, when extension 15 is inserted through holes 16 and into the confines of a bore 17 defined in hollow shaft 10, the curved extension will be compressed from its relaxed phantom line condition 15' to its flexed solid line position 15. Thus, an intermediate portion of the extension will frictionally engage an inner wall of shaft 10 at a bearing contact 18 whereas an end of the extension will frictionally engage in opposite sidewall portion of the shaft at a bearing contact 19.

The tensile, torsional, hardness and related physical properties of the spring steel wire composing extension 15 and its configuration are suitably precalculated to provide the desired flexing and binding effect of the extension to frictionally hold it in place, but yet permit its relaxation (spring-back) and removal through hole 16. Thus, the frictional engagement of the extension with the shaft at longitudinally spaced bearing contacts 18 and 19 and the frictional holding of the extension by the elastomeric grip at hole 16 (which deforms, as shown in FIG. 2) will firmly hold the retriever in place on the shaft of the club for golf ball retrieving purposes.

In most retrieval applications, the player will select his driver for attachment of retriever 12 thereto since the driver has a longer shaft than the other clubs in his bag. A standard washer 20 can be soldered or otherwise suitably secured to extension 15 to provide stop means delimiting the extent of insertion of the extension into the shaft. The stop means will thus precisely position bearing points 18 and 19 within the shaft.

If so desired, an end 21 of the extension may be slightly curved (reverse bent) and flattened to increase the frictional bearing surface thereof and to prevent scarring of the inner wall of shaft 10. In addition, a thin plastic coating may be applied to the retriever by a conventional dipping or spraying process. Such coating will prevent rusting or erosion of the wire retriever and will also deter scarring of the inner wall of shaft 10.

A standard shaft 10 has an outside diameter closely approximating 0.5 in. and a wall thickness of 0.062 in. or less. A standard grip 11 has the following approximate dimensions: Length of 10.25 in.; tapered-down outside diameter of from 1.0 into 0.625 in; inside diameter of 0.5 in.; and a tapered down wall thickness of from 0.25 in. (including the wall thickness at hole 16) to 0.062 in.; and hole 16 of 0.093 in.

The above-referenced experimental prototype generally conformed to the retriever shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The retriever was used with the above-described type of standard club-grip and successfully functioned to recover numerous golf ball hit astray into water hazards by applicant. Dimensional parameters of the prototypes were approximately as follows: Overall length (6.0 in.); length of scoop 13 (3.0 in.); length of extension 15 (3.0 in.); diameter of largest upper coil of scoop 13 (3.0 in.); vertical height of scoop 13 as shown in FIG. 2 (1.5 in.); number of coils (2); diameter of spring steel wire composing retriever 12 (0.093 in.); and curvature of relaxed arcuate extension 15 as depicted at 15' in FIG. 2 (about 1.75 in. average radius).