Golf Club Shaft Fitting Using Angular Velocity Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current golf club shaft fitting methods struggle with accurately determining twist rigidity, leading to subjective and inaccurate selection of shafts that match a golfer's swing, affecting flight distance, directionality, and ease of swinging.
Innovation Solution
A method involving sensors attached to the golf club grip to measure angular velocities about three axes, calculating index values from these measurements, and selecting a shaft based on pre-established relationships between these values and the shaft's torque or twist rigidity, ensuring objective and precise matching of the shaft to the golfer's swing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sensor data integration method from Patent Literature 1 is used to calculate displacement from acceleration and angular velocity, then swing characteristics can be measured, but error accumulation occurs during integration leading to poor calculation accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the angular velocity measurement function and directly applies it to shaft torque determination, eliminating the problematic integration process from acceleration to velocity to displacement. By directly measuring angular velocity about the shaft axis and using it to determine shaft torque characteristics, the patent avoids the error accumulation inherent in multi-step integration while still achieving the goal of characterizing swing dynamics for shaft selection.
2Ease of operation
If empirical methods based on head speed and swing tempo are used to determine shaft torque, then fitting can be performed, but the results are subjective and vary between fitters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the subjective human judgment system with an objective sensor-based measurement system. Instead of relying on fitters' experience and intuition about head speed and swing tempo, the system directly measures angular velocity about the shaft axis using sensors and objectively determines shaft torque characteristics. This substitution eliminates person-to-person variation while maintaining ease of operation through automated measurement and determination processes.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional fitting techniques focusing on flexural rigidity are used, then shaft selection can be performed, but twist rigidity which greatly influences directionality and ease of swinging is not adequately addressed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the shaft performance characteristics into distinct measurable components: flexural rigidity (bending properties) and twist rigidity (torque properties). By using sensors to specifically measure angular velocity about the shaft axis, the patent independently characterizes twist rigidity without being confounded by flexural rigidity effects. This segmentation allows for precise determination of twist rigidity characteristics and enables selective optimization of this previously neglected parameter for improved directionality and ease of swinging.
Data Source
AI summary
A fitting method, of a shaft of a golf club, for selecting a shaft having a torque matching a golfer based on a swing of the golfer. The method includes the steps of obtaining measurement values from a sensor attached to a grip of the golf club and capable of measuring angular velocities about three axes when a golf ball is hit by the golf club; obtaining a predetermined index value for the angular velocities quantified from the measurement values; and selecting a shaft matching the golfer from among multiple shafts whose torques have been measured in advance, based on a relationship established through test-hitting performed in advance between the index value and a torque of a shaft.