Golf putter with compensation for stroking errors

Abstract

The putter disclosed herein has an aiming mark at an oblique angle that compensates for a player's misalignment of the putter with the aimline or for putter twisting during the stroke. The face has friction and energy transfer characteristics that correct for errors in club face orientation or for directional errors in stroking the putter. The putter can be configured with a weight distribution that causes the compensations to vary with stroking force. The aiming mark, the face characteristics and the weight distribution compensations may be combined in different proportions depending on a player's stroking errors.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention generally relates to golf clubs and specifically to clubs for putting a golf ball into a hole. [0002] Putting is a major component of scoring in the game of golf, often comprising about 40% of the strokes used. Putting is a precise activity with a very low error required for holing most putts. The degree of achieving high accuracy will vary with the skill level of the player. Many players have repeated difficulty aiming the putter in the intended direction and / or in stroking the putter on the intended aimline, resulting in misalignment and missed putts. [0003] When the putter face is misaligned with the stroke path, the strike force is not normal to the ball and does not pass through its center. This condition could be due either to twisting of the putter face or from misalignment of the stroke path with the aimline. This misaligned condition results in the ball traveling off the aimline. The actual path of ball travel is determined ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] Stroking off the aimline results in misalignment of the stroking force with the aimline and misdirection of the ball when struck. Stroking off the aimline is also a directional perception problem and can be player muscle related as well as sight related. This stroking error can be the result of taking a misaligned stance or of a habitual stroking pattern that feels correct but is not. In either case, the putter stroke path is off the intended aimline resulting in putts that are off the intended aimline. The amount that putts deviate from the intended aimline is a function of the friction and energy transfer characteristics of the putter face. This is explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,959. Low friction, high energy transfer face construction tends to influence the ball direction toward a normal to the putter face when struck. This compensates and reduces the effect of stroking off the aimline, improving the directional accuracy of the putt.

[0008] There are players that twist the putter involuntarily prior to striking the ball, causing the ball direction to be off the intended aimline. This condition is muscle control related and frequently happens only on short putts. However, it can occur on long putts and the degree can be variable. The amount that putts deviate from the intended line is a function of the friction and energy transfer characteristics of the putter face. This is explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,959. High friction, low energy transfer face construction tends to influence the ball direction toward the stroke path when struck. This compensates for and reduces the effect of twisting the putter, improving the directional accuracy of the putt.

[0009] For a particular player, long putts may have a different degree of error than short putts, requiring a different degree of compensation. This may be accommodated with a putter head weight distribution that changes the effect on ball direction with the stroke force. By offsetting the center of gravity of the putter head transversely so that it is not in line with the ball strike point, the putter will tend to twist when the ball is struck. The ball strike force and the inertia force create a twisting couple that is proportional to the strike force. This twisting couple may be combined with the face friction / energy transfer compensation or with an oblique aiming mark, in either a clockwise or counterclockwise manner. The total effect is to have compensation for off-line stroking or for putter twist that varies with strike force.

[0010] It is therefore an objective to provide an improved putter that compensates for stroking errors by the player using the putter. A further objective of this putter is for it to be easily used by people of various skill levels and enhance their ability to reduce the number of putts required to hole a golf ball. It is also an objective of this putter to conform to “The Rules of Golf” as published by the United States Golf Association. These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Problems solved by technology

Misalignment of the putter with the aimline during setup is the result of the player's perception of direction being inaccurate.

This is due to having insufficient perspective of the aimline as the player's eyes are either in front of the ball or insufficiently behind the ball.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,959, moving the putter grip location (and therefore the player's eyes) substantially behind the putter face is helpful in gaining perspective, but is not sufficient for all players.

Stroking off the aimline results in misalignment of the stroking force with the aimline and misdirection of the ball when struck.

Stroking off the aimline is also a directional perception problem and can be player muscle related as well as sight related.

This stroking error can be the result of taking a misaligned stance or of a habitual stroking pattern that feels correct but is not.

High friction, low energy transfer face construction tends to influence the ball direction toward the stroke path when struck.

Images