US20090023509A1

US20090023509A1 - Golf practice course structure

Info

Publication number: US20090023509A1
Application number: US12/218,640
Authority: US
Inventors: Wy Sung Park
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-07-18
Filing date: 2008-07-17
Publication date: 2009-01-22
Also published as: KR20070001090U; KR200448607Y1; JP3136917U; CN201249008Y

Abstract

In a golf practice course structure including a golf round simulation unit equipped with a simulation system including a player's tee area, a golf ball sensor, a controller and a display, and a putting green unit configured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on a real golf course, the golf round simulation unit includes an opening part at a front side thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so that the player can check flight of the golf ball by naked eye after hitting the golf ball. The display is installed at a predetermined position other than the front side, for the player to conveniently check, and the putting green unit includes flat parts and hill parts properly combined 3-dimensionally, a plurality of cups, and a locating coordinate for checking of respective positions of the flat parts, the hill parts and the cups.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a structure of a golf practice course, and more particularly to a golf practice course structure capable of being installed even in a small space while enhancing putting touch and reality of a golf game, by comprising a golf round simulation system having an opened front side, and one actual putting green that can be achieved in variable forms simultaneously.
In general, a golf course including totally 18 holes occupies such a great area and requires considerable operating expenses and facilities. Accordingly, it costs a lot and requires much time to make use of the golf course. Therefore, a player usually utilizes an indoor or outdoor driving range to practice tee-shot, iron shot, putting and so on at relatively low cost and short time before actually going out to the golf course.
However, the driving range is insufficient to offer the player with a perfectly similar circumstance as the real golf course. Especially, the player hardly obtains a desired practicing effect from the driving range due to a spatial restriction.
In order to overcome the restriction, golf exercising facilities have been suggested as disclosed in KR Patent Registration No. 10-0647498 (published on Nov. 23, 2006).
According to the golf exercising facilities of the prior art, whereas a conventional simulation system is used as it is for a practicing round, various putting greens constructed in actual forms are provided so that a player can actually practice putting with the putting greens. Therefore, reality during the practice can be improved using a relatively small space.
Nevertheless, the above facilities are still inefficient in terms of space utilization because a great space is required to actually install the various types of putting greens. In addition, the facilities are not proper for application to existing indoor and outdoor driving ranges.
Especially, in a case where the practicing round is performed using the conventional simulation system, because a golf ball directly collides with a screen disposed at a front side with respect to an advancing direction of the golf ball hit by tee-shot or iron-shot, it is impossible to check a flying course of the golf ball directly by naked eyes. Furthermore, since characteristics of the hit golf ball cannot be recognized, reality or putting touch of the practice is seriously deteriorated. That is, shortages and limits of the conventional simulation system of the indoor driving range are still not overcome.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure of a golf practice course enabling a player to check a flight course of the hit golf ball by his or her naked eyes, by providing an opening part at a front side of a golf round simulation unit (hereinafter also called a “round unit”) where advancing of the hit golf ball is performed while compositely using a conventional golf round simulation system that includes a tee-shot area and an iron-shot area, such that the player is able to feel better reality and putting touch by directly checking the characteristics of the golf ball being hit.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a structure of a golf practice course equipped with a putting green unit at a position continued from the opening part disposed at the front side with respect to an advancing direction of the hit golf ball in the round unit such that an on-green state in the simulation system can be finished by an actual putting, thereby improving the reality, and structuring the putting green unit to comprise flat parts and hill parts which are 3-dimensionally combined, and a plurality of cups. In addition, by providing a locating coordinate for checking positions of the flat parts, the hill parts and the cups, characteristics of various types of putting green units can be obtained with one putting green unit. In addition, since reality of the golf course comprising at least 18 holes can be achieved, the space can be efficiently utilized and both golf practice and game can be achieved.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a golf practice course structure comprising a round unit equipped with a simulation system including a player's tee area, a golf ball sensor, a controller and a display, and a putting green unit configured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on a real golf course, wherein the round unit comprises an opening part at a front side thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so that the player can check a flying course of the golf ball by naked eyes after hitting the golf ball, the display is installed at a predetermined position other than the front side, for the player to conveniently check, and the putting green unit comprises flat parts and hill parts properly combined 3-dimensionally, a plurality of cups, and a locating coordinate for checking of respective positions of the flat parts, the hill parts and the cups.
In addition, the putting green unit is disposed at a position continued from the opening part formed at the front side to which the hit golf ball advances in the round unit.
As described above, according to a golf practice course structure of the present invention, a player can check a flight course of the hit golf ball by naked eyes since an opening part is provided at a front side of a round unit including a tee-shot area and an iron-shot area, and accordingly the player is able to feel better reality and putting touch by directly checking the characteristics of the golf ball. In addition, by disposing a putting green unit in the vicinity of the opening part to be continued from the opening part, the player can finish the game by an actual putting, thereby feeling an improved reality. Furthermore, by structuring the putting green unit to 3-dimensionally comprise a plurality of cups and a locating coordinate, various types of courses can be achieved with the one putting green, thereby improving space utilization. Also, golf practice and game can be both performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view briefly showing a structure of a golf practice course according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view extractively showing main parts of a putting green unit applied to the golf practice course of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view briefly showing a golf practice course structure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a golf practice course structure according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3. The golf practice course structure comprises a round unit 1 equipped with a simulation system including a player's tee area 10, a golf ball sensor 12, a controller 14 and a display 16, and a putting green unit 3 disposed adjoining the round unit 1 and structured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on a real golf course.
The round unit 1 is provided with an opening part 20 (FIG. 3) at a front side thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so that the player can check a flying course of the golf ball by naked eyes after hitting the golf ball. Meanwhile, the display 16 is installed at a predetermined position other than the front side, for the player to conveniently check.
For instance, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the display 16 may be installed at a front of the round unit 1 so that the player at the tee area 10 and other players waiting in player seats 18 to easily view the display 16.
In the putting green unit 3, flat parts 30 and hill parts 32 are properly combined in a 3-dimensionally structure and a plurality of cups 34 are additionally provided. In addition, the putting green unit 3 is provided with a locating coordinate 36 for checking of respective positions of the flat parts 30, the hill parts 32 and the cups 34.
Although the putting green units 3 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 have the hill parts 32 symmetrically arranged with respect to the flat part 30 disposed in the middle, this is only by way of example for a convenient explanation. That is, the golf practice course according to the present invention may actually comprise various configurations of the putting green units being 3-dimensionally arranged. In addition, the cups 34 are disposed at one or more proper positions such that the putting can be performed in variable directions from a putting position 38 according to surface states of the positions.
The putting starting position 38 may be designated at a specific position as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. Otherwise, the player may perform putting after designating a position to start the putting through the locating coordinate 36.
Additionally, the locating coordinate 36 may separately comprise a lateral coordinate 36 a and a longitudinal coordinate 36 b each having measuring scales as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, according to another embodiment as shown in FIG. 3, indicator lamps may be buried in a ground of the putting green unit 3, being arranged along the lateral coordinate 36 a. In this case, positions on the lateral coordinate 36 a can be easily checked even at night. Thus, the locating coordinate 36 may be configured in various ways depending on the circumstances. Furthermore, another sensor 40 is dedicatedly mounted to a front end of the putting green unit 3. Therefore, when the golf ball being putted flies beyond the range of the putting green unit 3, the sensor 40 detects this and measures a distance and a direction of the golf ball and converts the distance and direction to a position on the locating coordinate 36. Accordingly, the putting can be continued.
Also, it is preferred that the above-structured putting green unit 3 is disposed at a position continued from the opening part 20, that is, adjoining the opening part 20 with respect to the advancing direction of the golf ball in the round unit 1, such that the rounding and the putting can be successively performed and accordingly, the golf game can be continued without suspension or interruption.
Non-described references numerals 22, 24, 26 and 28 refer to a tee-off spot, a golf ball supplier, a golf bag hanger, and an aisle, respectively.
Hereinafter, the operation of the golf practice course structure according to the embodiments of the present invention will be described.
At the beginning of a round, the player gets in the tee area 10 in the round unit 1 and puts the golf ball on the tee-off spot 22 to hit the golf ball. The hit golf ball passes through the opening part 20 and advances in the open direction in various ball flights such as a slice, a hook, a fade shot, a draw shot and so on. The player can see the golf ball flying directly by his or her naked eyes and check characteristics of the hit golf ball.
Next, the hitting performed by the player is reproductively embodied by the simulation system simultaneously, so that a flying distance and flight of the golf ball are calculated. Accordingly, a landing position of the golf ball is displayed through the display 16 for checking by the player.
While rounds are proceeded with by respective players in the same manner as in general rounds of golf, right before the putting, the player or a caddie moves and puts the golf ball in person to an actual position in the putting green unit 3 in accordance with the position of the golf ball finally displayed through the display 16 using the locating coordinate 36. Next, the player actually performs putting toward a desired cup 34.
The number of strokes until the golf ball reaches the putting green unit 3 is calculated by the simulation system. The number of strokes within the putting green unit 3 may be dedicatedly input by the player or the caddie to be calculated. A round of golf game is closed by passing through all courses in the above manner.

Claims

1. A golf practice course structure comprising a golf round simulation unit equipped with a simulation system comprising a player's tee area, a golf ball sensor, a controller and a display, and a putting green unit configured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on a real golf course,

wherein the golf round simulation unit comprises an opening part at a front side thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so that the player can check flight of the golf ball by naked eye after hitting the golf ball,

the display is installed at a predetermined position other than the front side, for the player to conveniently check, and

the putting green unit comprises flat parts and hill parts properly combined 3-dimensionally, a plurality of cups, and a locating coordinate for checking of respective positions of the flat parts, the hill parts and the cups.

2. The golf practice course structure according to claim 1, wherein the putting green unit is disposed at a position continued from the opening part formed as the front side to which the hit golf ball advances in the golf round simulation unit.