Golf Club

This invention relates to sporting equipment and more particularly to an improved golf club.

The present invention is directed to an improved golf club and particularly toward achieving greater accuracy in putting. In nearly 400 years, there has been virtually no improvement in the way a golf ball is engaged by the club in putting the ball toward the hole. When an ordinary putter begins to move the ball, especially on a short putt, the contact between the ball and the putter causes the ball to skid as it travels across the ground. I have found that frictional contact between the ball and the putter blade has a tendency to cause the ball to move erratically, i.e., to jump, skip or hop during the first portion of the stroke. There are actually three phenomena that are involved in the problem of achieving putting accuracy. On somewhat longer shots in which the ball is struck harder, the impact causes the ball to fly forward initially without rotating and then to skid across the ground, resulting in erratic movement. Finally, during the last portion of the stroke as the ball starts rotating, the angular momentum of the ball becomes important in maintaining rectilinear movement of the ball along a straight line toward the cup. However, in an ordinary putter, friction between the ball and the face of the putter leads to the skidding action already described, contributing to erratic movement of the ball, e.g., jumping or skipping which I have found tends to lessen the accuracy of the shot.

In view of these and other deficiencies of the prior art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved golf club that will enable shots, especially putting shots, to be accomplished more accurately by preventing the ball from skidding against the face of the club or across the ground.

Another object of the invention is to find a way to assist the ball in beginning to rotate more quickly owing to the friction between itself and the ground to thereby more quickly develop enough angular momentum to help the ball move more accurately on a straight line toward the cup.

An additional object is to provide an improved golf club especially well suited as a putter which is rugged in construction, economical to produce, and yet reliable in its ability to allow the ball to roll freely while in contact with the club.

These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

The invention provides a golf club with a clubhead upon which a rotary ball-engaging member is supported for rotation. The rotary member has a movable surface that contacts the ball. The movable surface of the rotary member is exposed at the front of the club where it can strike the golf ball and is free to rotate upon a horizontal axis while in contact with the golf ball to facilitate rotation of the ball as the club moves the ball across the ground.

The rotational member is typically a roller mounted for rotation on a horizontal axis and located on the clubhead in a position for engaging the side of the ball when the ball is struck.

In its preferred form, the clubhead has a front face that is directed toward the ball with the rotary member, e.g., a roller mounted on the clubhead as a part of the front face of the club so as to be exposed where it can contact the ball and is free to rotate while in contact with the ball.

Typically, the clubhead has a pair of horizontally spaced apart supporting walls with an opening between them to accommodate the roller and bearings to support the roller for rotation about a horizontal axis extending between the supporting walls with the roller located at an elevation where it will strike the side of the ball but out of contact with the ground to thereby prevent frictional engagement with the ground so that the roller is free to rotate in a direction opposite that which would be imparted to the roller if it were to contact the ground.

FIG. 1 is a rear elevational view of a golf club embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the clubhead on a larger scale than in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective exploded view of the clubhead;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the clubhead;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 6--6 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is an end elevational view taken on line 7--7 of FIG. 4.

The improved golf club 10 according to the present invention has a clubhead 12 which comprises a clubhead body or housing 14 including a pair of generally upright aligned and horizontally spaced apart face members 14a, 14b which form the front and rear portions of the face of the club 10 and integrally connected upright horizontally spaced apart parallel supporting walls 14c, 14d with an upright rear wall 14e between them and an integral bottom wall 14f which projects rearwardly a short distance from the front face members 14a, 14b and the rear wall 14e. As shown in FIG. 5, the clubhead 12 also includes a bottom surface 14g which is preferably not flat but instead is arcuate as shown such that its front and rear edges are slightly elevated to reduce unintended ground contact during a stroke.

Between the upright walls 14c-14e is an opening or recess 18 which is open at the front, top and bottom for receiving a rotary member in the form of a cylinder or roller 16 having a rotatable outer surface positioned at the proper height on the clubhead 12 for engaging a golf ball 17 (FIG. 5) when a stroke is made. As can be best seen in FIG. 5, the surface of the roller 16 is tangent to the front wall or face members 14a, 14b of the club 10 so that as each stroke is made, the roller 16 will engage the ball 17 (FIG. 5). The roller 16 is typically about one inch in diameter and is held within the clubhead 12 so that its lower edge is about one-eighth inch above the bottom surface 14g of the clubhead 12 to prevent the roller 16 from touching the ground.

The club 10 includes a standard club shaft 20 having an angled lower extension or neck 22 provided with a socket 24 at its upper end for receiving the club shaft 20. The neck 22 is recessed within a socket 26 in the top of the clubhead 12. Rigid connections are established within the sockets 24 and 26, e.g., with a press fit or adhesive.

The roller 16 is provided with a central bore 16a, the bore diameter allowing clearance for receiving a roller-supporting shaft 40 and is provided at each end with a bored socket 16c (only one of which is shown in FIG. 3) for receiving a ball bearing 43 and 45 (FIG. 3). At the center of the roller 16 is a circumferentially extending circular marking or groove 16b to aid the user in aiming the shot. The inner race of each ball bearing 43, 45 is press-fitted onto portions 40a at each end of the shaft 40, and each outer race is press-fitted into one of the sockets 16c of the roller 16. The shaft 40 is provided at each end with diametrically opposed flat surfaces as shown in FIG. 5 which are firmly held in two similar T-shaped recesses 30 in the walls 14c and 14d (only one of which is shown in FIGS. 3 and 6) by means of T-shaped keepers 50 that fit into the recesses 30 and include lateral flanges 50b, 50c bored for receiving fasteners such as screws which are screwed into threaded sockets 30a, 30b in walls 14c and 14d, one of which is shown in FIG. 6. Consequently, the shaft 40 is fixed while the roller 16 is free to rotate on a horizontal axis about its own center in a counterclockwise direction as seen in FIG. 5 while in contact with the ball 17 which, because of its engagement with the ground, rotates freely in a clockwise direction as seen in the figure. In this way the rotation of the roller 16 facilitates rotation of the ball 17 as the ball is moved across the ground and prevents the ball 17 from hopping, skipping or jumping. In addition, the freedom of the ball 17 to rotate, quickly establishes an angular momentum in the ball which helps the ball move in a straight line across the ground toward the cup.

The clubhead can be made from metal, e.g., brass, aluminum or steel.

The invention thus makes it possible to achieve more accurate putting in three ways. First, it reduces or eliminates frictional engagement between the ball and the forward face of the putter, i.e., it prevents the ball from skidding across the front face of the clubhead. Second, it enables the ball to roll more freely while in contact with the ground. Third, free rotation of the ball enables the ball to more quickly develop rotational momentum which in turn helps the ball to move toward the cup along a straight line, thereby enhancing putting accuracy. In addition, the invention makes possible point contact between the clubhead and the ball to further contribute to more accurate putting.

Many variations of the present invention within the scope of the appended claims will be apparent to those skilled in the art once the principles described herein are understood.