US2808267A - Golf practice, arm restraint - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 1, 1957 R. L. HEAToN 2,808,267

GOLF: PRACTICE, VARM RESTRAINT United States Patent 2,808,267 GOLF PRACTICE, ARM REs'rRAlNT Robert L. Heaton, Oak Park, Ill.

Application April 11, 1955, Serial No. 500,433 2 claims. (c1. 273-189) This invention relates to golfing equipment and particularly to equipment for improving the golfers execution of a conventional golf stroke. f

In the usual golf stroke there are of course many details of execution or performance that are considered by golfers to be important in attaining maximum control and accuracy in the golf shot. One such feature or element that requires extreme care is the speed and extent of the back swing involved in a golf stroke, it being found that excessive speed or excessive length in the back swing is detrimental to the attainment of the desired perfection in the resulting shot. It is therefore the primary objectY of the present invention to enable the back swing portion of a golf stroke to be corrected and controlled, and an object related to the foregoing is to enable this to be accomplished by means of a simple and effective character.

More specifically it is an object of this invention to atord a harness that may be worn by a golfer which will so effect the movements of one of his arms that the back swing action will be eifectually controlled as to both speed and extent, and a related object is to afford such a harness that is simple and inexpensive and which may be incorporated on or in a conventional T-shirt or the like.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent as the disclosure is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a back view of a golfer wearing a T-shirt embodying the golfers harness of the present invention;

Fig. 42 is a view similar to Fig. l and showingthe golfer with his arms positioned at the upper end of their back swing movement;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged back view of the T-shirt shown in Fig. l;

Figs. 4 and 4B are fragmentary plan views showing one of the elastic bands of the harness attached to the garment by diiferent types of sewing;

Fig. 4A is a cross-sectional View on the line 4A-4A of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing an alternative form of the harness made a separate unit.

For purposes of disclosure the invention is herein illustrated in Figs. l to 4 as embodied in a golfers harness 10 that is fastened to and forms a part of a short-sleeved T-shirt 11 which when worn by a golfer serves to properly position and relate the harness to the golfers body and arms. Under the present invention the speed and extent of the back swing is controlled by the application through the harness 10 of a resilient force that yieldingly restrains the arm that moves upwardly and laterally across the golfers chest in the course of a back swing. In the specification and claims, this arm will be designated the forward arm and the other arm will be designated the rearward arm. Thus the left arm is the forward arm and is restrained in a right hand golf stroke while the right arm is the forward arm and must be restrained in the course of a left hand golf stroke. As herein shown, the

2,808,267 Patented Oct. 1, 1957 ice V2 harness 10 is constructed for use by right Ahanded golfers, and will be so described hereinafter, but it is clear that the same structure may be afforded in a reversed relation for use by left handed golfers.

As shown particularly in Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings, the harness 10, in its right hand embodiment, comprises an elongated stretchable member 12 formed from a material such as woven elastic and so disposed that it may extend generally horizontally across the upper portion of the users back from a lirst point adjacent the rearward or right armpit to a second point on the inside rear face of the users forward or left arm, and means are alforded in association with the elastic member 12 for anchoring the member at the respective points to the body and the left arm of the user. The anchoring means at the Iirst such point comprises an anchoring band 14 which may encircle the users right arm at the shoulder, and this band 14 is preferably made from an elastic material such as that from which the member 12 is made, and the adjacent end of the band 14 and the member 12 are iirmly secured together as by stitching at 14S. At its other end the stretchable member 12r has an anchoring means in the formvof an elastic anchoring band 16 secured rmly to the adjacent end of the member 12 as by stitching at 16S.

The anchoring band 16 is sized to have a relatively snug t on the users left upper arm, thus to enable the anchoring band 16 to be located on the upper arm in downwardly spaced relation with respect to the shoulder. The length of the stretchable member 12 is such that the left arm of the user may be moved freely so long as the left arm remains relatively close to its normal depending position, or in other words, the member 12 is of such a length that it is unstretched or untensioned under such normal circumstances.

The location of the anchoring band 16 is such, however, that when the left arm of the userl is moved forwardly and upwardly, and to some extent laterally across the chest of the user, the member 12 is stretched, and thus the member 12 exerts a progressively increasing yielding restraining force on the golfers left arm as the back swing motion takes place. This yielding restraining action has been found in use to be particularly effective in causing the golfer to properly limit the speed and extent of the back swing of a golf stroke, and this result has been achieved with both novice and experienced golfers.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4 the harness 10 is formed from a single length of woven elastic so that the transverse stretchable member 12 is afforded by a double thickness of elastic and the two anchoring loops 14 and 16 are provided as continuations of this-double thickness member 12.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4 the association of the harness with an upper garment such as the T-shirt 11 serves to assure proper location of the harness 10 on and with respect to the golfers body, and hence the employment of the present invention is simpliiied. The harness 10 may of course be secured to the shirt 11 in different ways, and as shown in Figs. 4 and 4A this is accomplished by parallel lines of stitching 18 of elastic thread, or as shown in Fig. 4B, by similar lines of zig-zag stitching 18Z made with non-elastic or conventional thread. Where the garment 11 is of a stretchable material such as knitted fabrics, the anchoring bands 14 and 16 may be stitched to the garment throughout their entirelength, the band 14 being located at substantially the rearward or right hand shoulder seam, while the band 16 is located at the lower end of the left or forward sleeve. With such a stretchable garment 11, the major portion of the member 12 may be similarly sewn to the back of the garment, the intermediate web portion 12W thereof being left free so that it may extend fromthe back of the garment to the lower end of the left sleeve.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. S of the drawings the invention is illustrated as embodied in a golfers harness 110 that is made up and Worn independentlyofgthe golfers clothing. The harness `110 has an elongated member 1-1Zrof stretchable or elastic material and has'anchoring means in theform-of anchoring loops 114 and 116 attached to opposite 4ends of the member 112as by stitching at 1148 and n116S. The harness 110 is Worn in the relationship hereinbefore described, in respect tothe harness 10, and the basic functioning Ais the same. The independent harness 110, however, has the advantage that it is reversible, and need not be made in right and left hand embodimentswas is the case with the form of the invention shown in Figs. l to 4. l

, From the foregoing description it kwill be apparent that therfpresentginvention enables the speed and extent of a ,golters back swing tobe governed and controlled, and that this is accomplished Yby means of a simple character.

While I have illustrated and described only two embodiments of my invention, `it is to Vbe understood that my invention is not limited to the precise forms shown but includes all modifications, variations, and equivalents coming within the scope of the appended claims.

. I claim:

1. In golfing equipment, a shirt adapted to be worn by a -golfer and made from stretchable material and cling and secureduto the forward sleeve of said shirt in downwardly spaced relation Mto theforward'shoulder portion thereof, and an elongated stretchable strap member connected between said rst and second anchoring means and extended across the back of said shirt.

2. In goliers equipment for improving a golfers back swing action, a shirt made from stretchable material and having a body portion, forward and rearward shoulders, and forward and rearward sleeves, a harness comprising a iirst stretchable anchoring loop encircling and secured to the rearward shoulder of said-shirt, a longitudinally s'tretchablev strap member attached at one end to said anchoring loop and extended in a generally horizontal direction across and secured to the back of said shirt, and a second stretchable anchoring loop attached to the other end of said stretchable strap member and encircling and secured to the forward sleeve of said shirt at a point located downwardly from the shoulder, whereby when the shirt is worn by a golfer, said loops and said stretchable member cooperate in yieldingly restricting and restraining the golfer in the movements that are involved in the back swing of a golf stroke.

yReferences 'Cited lin the le Yof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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