AU713749B3 - A compact lightweight hand held golf clubs holder - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT A COMPACT LIGHTWEIGHT HAND-HELD GOLF CLUBS HOLDER OR 'CLUBHOLDER' The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: A SMALL, LIGHTWEIGHT HAND HELD GOLF CLUBS HOLDER OR 'CLUBHOLDER' This invention relates to devices for carrying numerous golf clubs by hand.

People who learn to play golf for the first time often borrow golf clubs from a friend or decide to hire clubs from the equipment shop at a golf course to determine whether they like the sport enough to continue playing more regularly and only then do they decide whether or not they shall purchase their own equipment. It is usually cheaper for beginners to hire clubs without a golf bag and so they walk the course carrying loose clubs in their hands. This can be awkward for them because the shafts of the clubs can cross over each other in the player's hands or they become too difficult to hold because of grease and sweat from the player's palm. As the players walk the course they either drop or throw the clubs down to the ground and pick them up again after each stroke. This can be a nuisance for the player. Golf clubs can be damaged or lost as a result and this can be a concern for the golf couse shop managers. There are other players who would also like on occasions the freedom of not using a golf bag when they play golf if only they could conveniently carry golf clubs by hand. These players are Speed Golfers, Purist Golfers and in fact any golfer at some time.

We have identified a need for a small, lightweight hand held golf clubs handle or 'holder' which golfers can use to hold together a selection of numerous golf clubs and to carry these clubs by hand much more easily than carrying numerous loose clubs. Twice as many clubs can be carried by the golfer if two such holders are used, one in each hand. By using one or two of these holders golfers have the option to play without a golf bag or club frame or electric golf cart or even the services of another person. This type of holder can also be used to keep clubs tidily together at all times and to transport clubs anywhere conveniently without a golf bag.

Our idea is a range of small, lightweight holders which are each designed to suit the grip of a human hand. Each of these holders can hold in their outer face, securely but releasably, a maximum of either five, or six or seven golf clubs at once. The golfer may extract any club at any time when it is needed and just as easily replace it into the holder. Golfers can choose to purchase the holder they prefer according to the maximum number of clubs it is designed to hold. Any of these holders assist golfers to carry many clubs in their hand/s anywhere around a golf course and elsewhere.

The device has provision for an optional spike or stand and an optional shoulder strap.

From hereon we shall refer to this type of golf clubs holder or handle as the 'clubholder' 'Clubholders' can be used by: Speed Golfers.

Purist Golfers.

Golf Course Shop managers Any golfer.

We have observed the following problems faced by the people mentioned above: SPEED GOLFERS Speed Golf is a new trend in this sport. In Speed Golf, as its name suggests, a speed golfer attempts to complete a round of golf as quickly as possible by running between each stroke instead of walking. It is a physically demanding challenge which can be experienced competitively between many Speed Golfers or as an individual goal against the clock. Speed Golfers currently need help from a partner who drives a golf cart alongside them as they run the course. The cart carries the Speed Golfer's clubs and the driver must at all times keep as near to the Speed Golfer as is practical.

The need for a second person to drive a cart to carry the clubs is one of the requirements faced by Speed Golfers which can be looked upon as a disadvantage.Currently Speed Golf can not be played alone satisfactorily because a Speed Golfer must have someone to assist at all times to carry a golf bag or to drive a golf cart. Also there are areas of a golf course where a golf ball may land which are not accessible by golf cart. These disadvantages can be overcome by a Speed Golfer if he or she uses one or two clubholders. Speed Golfers who use our clubholders do not need a second person to assist them. When a Speed Golfer uses one or two clubholders he or she can run between shots (strokes) carrying his or her clubs and not need an assistant.

The Speed Golfer can spike or stand the clubholder/s on the ground when taking each shot. He or she can then pick it/them up again and run onto the next stroke. Clubholders enable Speed Golfers to be self-sufficient with a 'go-anywhere' capability.

PURIST GOLFERS Purist Golfers are exceptionally keen golfers who are so passionately enthusiastic about the game that their main focus is on their skills and the course but on very little else. Purist Golfers particularly dislike any inconvenience or distraction and they wish for a minimalist way of playing golf preferably without a golf bag/trolley but taking with them only their clubs. They do not mind keeping the small items in their pockets e.g. golf ball/s, tees, and a rag. This is Purist Golf.

Some golfers are unaware that they are Purist Golfers until they are made aware of the criteria which defines them.

Purist Golfers feel held back if they must use a golf bag or trolley. They see these items of equipment as inconveniences because: the weight of a golf bag holding a full set of fourteen golf clubs on one shoulder can be a twisting strain on the player's back muscles which can certainly affect their golf swing.

a golf bag which is fitted to a manually pulled trolley (buggy) causes players to have to twist their back muscles as they pull the trolley along a route which suits only the trolley. This route is often less direct than the Purist Golfer wants to take. Purists Golfers prefer the most direct route and unless they engage the services of a caddy person there is no more direct a way for them to play than when they use one or two clubholders.

Purist Golfers appreciate being free from the constraints of pulling a trolley, the extra delay of using a trolley is extra frustration which will affect their game.By using one or two clubholders the Purist Golfer can focus solely on each stroke with the minimum of distraction, his or her clubs are at hand at all times and any route can be taken for walking or running. The clubholders enable the Purist Golfer to choose any number of clubs up to the maximum permitted by the rules of golf which is 14 clubs per individual. The clubs can be arranged into preferred groups per clubholder.The Purist Golfer may take less clubs if the golf course is easier. Two clubholders designed to carry five clubs each will give the Purist Golfer a three-quarter set of ten clubs which can be ample choice of clubs for many courses.

GOLF COURSE SHOP MANAGERS Golfcourse shop Managers hire out to members of.the public a range of golf clubs to encourage beginners to take up the sport. These beginners usually prefer to minimise their expenditure and choose to hire golf clubs without a golf bag. These players carry many clubs loose in their hands which can be awkward for them because the shafts of the clubs cross over each other. The players drop or throw the clubs to the ground before they take a shot (stroke) and they gather them up again as they move on and, when repeated many times, this can be a nuisance for the player.

There are also others problems; clubs can be damaged when they are thrown down to the ground as a group and often golf clubs can be left behind on the course by careless players. All of which are a nuisance to the shop Managers. These problems can be overcome if players are encouraged or instructed by the shop Managers to use one or two clubholders and because clubholders are easy to use the players are likely to agree to use them. The clubholders with or without the optional shoulder strap shall make it easier for all players to carry many clubs together conveniently. Players can use the optional spike or stand to be able to stand the clubs on the ground whilst shots are taken. In this way the use of the clubholder can help prevent clubs being damaged or lost.

ALL GOLFERS Any golfer who wants to use one or two clubholders on the golf course or keep golf clubs in his or her car at all times (without losing the space in the boot or cabin which would normally be lost to a golf bag) can do so by keeping their clubs together inside their clubholders. Each clubholder can hold any number of clubs up to either five, six or seven clubs in a neat bundle. This bundle uses up very little space (no more space than if the clubs were just gathered together) and can be stored easily in the car boot, on the rear seat, on the rear parcel shelf behind the rear seat headrests or in the rear or front footwells or on a car roof rack. For those golfers who do not have a car but who travel by bus, coach, train or bicycle the clubholder is particularly useful and convenient.

DESCRIPTION

This specification is intended to describe and protect the concept of a range of clubholders which are designed to carry up to five, six or seven golf clubs each. For illustratrative purposes this specification shows diagrams of a five-clubs clubholder.

The clubholder is essentially a short comfortably sized handle which fits neatly in one's hand. It has longitudinally arranged horseshoe shaped recesses (or otherwise shaped) on its outer surface into Which the user can manually press the shafts of golf clubs. There is an area on the shaft of all golf clubs where the club is horizontally balanced and it is at this point along the club shaft that the clubholder holds the club. Also, most golf clubs have areas of constant diameter along their shafts and this is generally the area where clubholders hold each shaft. Some graphite shafts do have a slight taper but the clubholder can hold these too because it is sufficiently plastic to hold either tapered shafts or across theareas of change in diameter of steel shafts.

The arrangement of clubs in the clubholder is of a neat parallel bundle which is balanced when held horizontally.The clubs are held firmly inside the recesses by the shape, strength and the texture of the recesses and are arranged sufficiently apart from each other as to avoid dislodgement of other clubs yet which are still close enough to each other to be confortable to hold in one's hand.

When a golfer needs to use a particular golf club for his or her next stroke, he or she, whilst holding the clubholder (with clubs) in one hand, can withdraw the required golf club from the clubholder with their other hand. This is possible because the clubholder is made of a material which flexes sufficiently near the openings of the recesses as to allow the removal of the club only when it is deliberately pulled out of the recess.

The remaining clubs stay inside the holder because they have not been pulled out by the user and they remain firmly gripped by the clubholder. Similarly after use the club can be pressed back into the same recess and held there as firmly as before.

The clubholder also has provision for an optional ground spike or stand so that the user may stand it on the ground. The clubholder also has provision for an optional shoulder strap if the user wishes to minimise loads on his or her hand/s.

Note: This specification is intended to cover all possible alternative arrangements and cross sectional designs and stand designs which would achieve the desired function but this specification shall not illustrate those alternatives. The design shown is one possible way and does not preclude all others. For example an alternative design can be of two shorter lengths of this cross section which are fitted to a stand with a gap between each other at the position where the user's hand would be. If this alternative were made the user's hand would be touching only the bundled shafts of the golf clubs which would be more slippery to hold.

To assist with understanding the invention reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which show one example of the invention, In the drawings; Figure 1 shows one example of a clubholder capable of carrying five golf clubs at one time in either hand.

Figure 2 shows a side elevation of the clubholder.

Figure 3 shows one possible cross section of a clubholder capable of carrying five golf clubs.

Clubholders which are designed to carry a maximum of either six or seven golf clubs shall have six or seven recesses respectively.

Figure 4, 5 and 6 show the clubholder with the shoulder strap in use.

Figure 7 shows the clubholder standing on the ground as it would when the optional stand is fitted. If the optional spike is used the clubs would be set vertically.

Referring to Figure 1 the shape of the bundled clubs in the clubholder should be a shape and overall size which is comfortable for the user to hold.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 it can be seen that the clubholder is of a general handle-like shape 1 of any suitable resilient material made by any suitable manufacturing technique which has longitudinal recesses 2 of horseshoe shape section (or otherwise shaped) positioned around but within the cross sectional perimeter of the handle and which are formed for the full length of, or part of, the handle.

It is into these recesses that the shafts of the golf clubs 7 are pressed by hand, one club per recess. The distance between each recess is sufficient to allow the neat bundling of the golf clubs to suit a user's hand but there is sufficient clearance between all of the clubs' heads that no club forces another club out of the clubholder.

The shape, texture and strength of the material which forms these recesses is such that there is sufficient frictional grip around the shaft of each golf club to prevent each club from falling out of or inadvertently sliding within a recess. However the nature of the material used for the recesses is one which allows deliberate manual rotational rearrangement of the club heads into a neat nested bundle as illustrated in Figure 1.

The material of the open edges 3 of the horseshoe shape of the recesses in such that it has a molecular memory and shall always return to its static design shape when the recess is empty and when it contains a club shaft. This material is also capable of sufficient flexure as to allow convenient deliberate manual removal or insertion of the club shaft but is sufficiently strong as to prevent accidental removal either through impact against another object or by other shafts when they are inserted or withdrawn. The material also allows repeated use in all temperature conditions without wear, failure or loss of function. The area 4 is a combined full-length cavity of any suitable cross-sectional shape which suits the chosen manufacturing technique and this cavity allows for the fitment of the optional removable shoulder strap 6 and the optional removable spike or stand Referring to Figures 4, 5 and 6 the clubholder has provision by any means of an optional shoulder-strap 6 which may be used with the club heads downwards vertically (Fig. or with the club heads vertically upwards (Fig. 5) or with the club shafts hanging horizontally balanced (Fig. 6).

Referring to Figure 7. When a golfer has withdrawn a club for a shot (stroke) he or she may spike or stand the clubholder (whilst holding the remaining clubs) on the ground with the optional stand 1,7 VT9 EDITORIAL NOTE NUMBER 18629/99 The abstract appears on Page 7, which has been placed after the claims.