Golf Putting Alignment Aid for Dominant Eye and Parallax Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golfers face challenges in consistently aligning their dominant eye over the ball to ensure accurate putting, particularly on slopes, due to environmental factors and parallax issues affecting the perception of the required impact direction.
Innovation Solution
An alignment device comprising a base with alignment indicia and extensions that help position the dominant eye, putter, and golf ball in alignment with the target line, minimizing the effects of environmental factors and parallax.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the golfer relies on visual perception to align the putter with the target line, then the golfer can setup without additional devices, but parallax errors occur causing misalignment between perceived and actual impact direction
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment device serves as an intermediary tool between the golfer's visual perception and the actual putter alignment. It provides physical reference elements (alignment indicia, extensions) that mediate the alignment process, allowing the golfer to objectively verify and achieve correct eye position and putter orientation while eliminating parallax errors that would otherwise occur from improper setup
Solution Approach 2:
The device replaces the unreliable human visual-perception-mechanism with a mechanical alignment system. Instead of relying on the golfer's eyes and brain to judge alignment (which is subject to parallax), the mechanical alignment indicia and extensions provide objective, geometry-based reference that directly indicates correct alignment, substituting the flawed perceptual system with a reliable mechanical reference system
2Measurement precision
If the golfer positions the dominant eye perpendicular to the ball on sloped greens, then alignment accuracy improves, but it becomes difficult to maintain consistent eye position due to varying slopes
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment device is designed with universal applicability across all slope conditions. The base sits on the putting surface and automatically adapts to the slope, while the alignment extensions and indicia provide consistent reference geometry regardless of the underlying slope. This allows the same device to serve multiple functions across different green conditions without requiring adjustment or modification
Solution Approach 2:
The device accommodates varying slope parameters by allowing the base to conform to the putting surface angle. The alignment references are positioned and oriented relative to the base rather than to a fixed horizontal plane, so the entire alignment system rotates and adapts with the slope. This parameter adaptation maintains the perpendicular eye-position relationship across all slope conditions
3Measurement precision
If environmental factors such as green slope and surface speed are considered, then the complexity of setup increases, but alignment accuracy under varying conditions improves
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment device is segmented into distinct functional components: a base that interfaces with the putting surface, alignment extensions that provide reference geometry, and alignment indicia that indicate correct positioning. This segmentation allows each component to handle a specific aspect of the alignment task, making the overall system manageable and easy to use despite the complexity of adapting to various slope conditions
Data Source
AI summary
An alignment device for golf to be used as a practice aid for aligning a dominant eye of a user, a putter and a golf ball with a target line to a hole on a putting green, comprising a base comprising at least one alignment indicia and at least one alignment extension extending from the base, wherein the at least one alignment indicia of the base and the at least one alignment extension are configured to align the dominant eye of the user, the putter and the golf ball with the target line to the hole on the putting green.