Golf putter having improved marking

Abstract

A putter is precision machined to form a concave horizontal face from the heel to toe of the hitting face. The curvature of the concave horizontal face may range from an arc of a five circle to an arc of a one-feet radius circle with the center point at the center of the hole. Thus the putter has a curvature of the horizontal or striking face ranging from the reciprocal of five feet to the reciprocal of one foot. Also provided in accordance with the present invention is a marking on the club head of the putter, the marking serving to assist with both aiming and centering. The marking is an arc of a concentric circle of the golf ball in front of the putter face and has a radius of curvature which is a function of the radius from the center point of a golf ball abutting the striking face. The marking may be used on putters having regular, non-concave striking faces.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a reissue of 09 / 520,159, filed on Mar. 7, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,610, which is a continuation-in-part of 09 / 114,523, filed on Jul. 13, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,452.<?insert-end id="INS-S-00001" ?>FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to an improved design of a golf putter. More particularly, it relates to a putter having an improved marking enabling a golfer to more accurately line up the putt.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Putting is very important in the game of golf. On a par-72 course, one-half (36) strokes are allotted for putting. Moreover, it does not take great strength or physical ability to be a good putter. For a golfer, one stroke on a green counts just as much as any other stroke in the course.[0004]There are two kinds of putts—long putts and short putts. A long putt may be defined as any putting requiring more than five feet to reach the cup. If the ball lies within about fi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved golf putter which automatically compensates for misaligned and mis-struck putts in a short putting situation. A typical putter consists of a putter head about four to five inches long with a predetermined weight distribution and a total weight ranging between fifteen and eighteen ounces. The putting face of a putter is horizontally flat and has two to four degrees of loft. There are many putter designs in the market each claiming why it is superior to others. However, for the short putting situation; the most important attribute of a putter has to be how tolerant making up the infinitesimal and almost invisible error in positioning the face angle and the clubhead path a player makes when the player aims and strokes a ball. If there is a putter with a face shaped such a way that the ball is always aimed toward the center of the hole, probability of making the hole increases significantly even when a player makes a small error in aiming the ball toward the hole. Additionally, putter markings are usually taken for granted, consisting of one or several straight lines. A putter with an enhanced marking would assist the golfer with both centering and aiming the putt.

[0007]It is desirable to have an alignment on the top of the surface of a putter to aid a player to aim the ball as precisely as possible. The alignment marker will consist of a line perpendicular to the putter face located precisely at the center of gravity of the club head, and a curved horizontal face marker which is an arc of a concentric circle of a golf ball placed abutting or one quarter of an inch in front of the hitting face of the putter. With the horizontal face marker being a concentric circle of the golf ball, the distance between the ball and face marker will be symmetrical and equal along the entire arc of the marker when the ball is aligned properly. However. if the ball is misaligned, the distance between the ball and the marker will be different between the toe-end and the heel-end of the marker, enabling the player to make an adjustment easily. With the alignment marker enabling a player to align the ball more accurately and the concave putter further compensating any misalignment, the improved putter of present invention will enable a player to putt more accurately than a conventional putter.

[0009]The curvature of the concave horizontal face may range from an arc of a five to a one-foot radius circle with the center point at the center of the hole. The curvature is defined as the reciprocal of the radius of a circle. Also provided in accordance with the present invention is a marking on the club head, the marking serving to assist with both aiming and centering.

[0011]Additionally, for right-handed golfers with conventional putters, balls stroked on the inside the sight line toward the heel will travel left of the intended line to the hole. Previous tests show that an average golfer almost always impacts on the toe side of the sight line making the ball to travel right of the intended line to the hole. This is so because the player never looks down at the putter head and ball from directly above, but slightly to the heel side of the sight line. The amount of the offset is very small and almost invisible; but, a small misalignment will result in a missed putt. Since a curved sight line marker enables a golfer to more accurately line up the a putt, the concave putter will compensate the small misalignment and make the ball drop into the hole by automatically aiming the ball toward the center of the hole.

Problems solved by technology

Consequently, it tends to destroy a player's confidence and may affect his concentration for the rest of the game.

Nevertheless, a putt is missed because the face of the putter is not truly perpendicular to the direction of the hole, and the ball is off the center of gravity.

Since hand and eye coordination of a human being is much less precise than a machine, a mistake will occur and a missed putt is the result.

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