DISPOSITIF D'ENTRAINEMENT AU GOLF

GOLF TRAINING DEVICE

Abrégé français

La présente invention concerne un système comprenant une balle (1) de golf qui est utilisé pendant l'entraînement au coup avec un T et qui, après le coup, est automatiquement renvoyé à l'aide d'un fil (3) sensiblement rigide fixé à la balle (1) et qui à son extrémité libre opposée est prévu pour être fixé dans le sol à une distance prédéterminée à l'avant de la balle, ainsi qu'un anneau (6) qui peut glisser le long dudit fil (3) et qu'un fil élastique (7) s'étendant sensiblement le long dudit fil rigide (3) pour coopérer avec le fil élastique (7) dont les extrémités libres (8, 9) retenant le fil rigide (3) sont arrêtées de manière élastique puis renvoyées. Le fil rigide (3) présente le long de sa partie avant (5) des parties marquées (A-C) qui indiquent la distance entre la balle (1) et l'anneau (6) et qui relient les fils et la distance jusqu'au fil élastique (7) transversal, ceci donnant au joueur une indication relative au club de golf qu'il doit utiliser pour réaliser la fonction basique du système, c'est-à-dire que la balle revienne à l'endroit du T après un coup correct et parfait.

Abrégé anglais

The invention relates to an arrangement, comprising a golf ball (1) which is
used during the tee strike training and which, after the strike, is
automatically returned with the aid of a substantially rigid line (3) secured
to the ball (1) and, at its opposite, free end adapted to be anchored in the
ground at a predetermined distance in front of the ball, and a ring (6)
slidable along said line (3) and also on an elastic line (7), extending
substantially across said rigid line (3), for cooperation with said elastic
line (7) the free ends (8, 9) of which retaining the rigid line (3) are
resiliently halted and then returned. The rigid line (3) does, along its front
portion (5), exhibit marked sections (A-C) which indicate the distance from
the ball (1) to the ring (6), interconnecting the lines, and to the crossing
elastic line (7) thereby informing the player about which club he is to use to
realize the basic function of the arrangement, namely that the ball will
return to the tee location following a correct and perfect strike.

Revendications

6
CLAIMS
1. An arrangement, comprising a golf ball (1) which
is used during the tee strike training and which, after
the strike, is automatically returned with the aid of a
substantially rigid line (3) secured to the ball (1) and,
at its opposite, free end adapted to be anchored in the
ground at a predetermined distance in front of the ball,
and a ring (6) slidable along said line (3) and also on an
elastic line (7), extending substantially across said
rigid line (3), for cooperation with said elastic line (7)
the free ends (8, 9) of which are adapted to be anchored
in the ground, whereby said ball (1) is, after the strike,
by said ring (6) and said rigid line (3), to which the
ball (1) is secured, resiliently halted and then returned,
characterized in that the rigid line (3)
does, along its front portion (5), exhibit marked sections
(A-C) which indicate the distance from the ball (1) to the
ring (6), interconnecting the lines, and to the crossing
elastic line (7) thereby informing the player about which
club he is to use to realize the basic function of the
arrangement, namely that the ball will returned to the tee
location following a correct and perfect strike.
2. An arrangement according to Claim 1,
characterized in that the length of the
rigid line (3) is approximately seven meters and that of
the crossing, resilient line (7) about five meters.
3. An arrangement according to Claim 1,
characterized in that the rigid line (3) is
secured in the ball (1) by expansion means or by the
corrogated fastener member in the center of the ball core
cooperating with a holding ring attached to line (3).

7
4. An arrangement according to Claim 3,
characterized in that the ball (1) has a
mounting hole the diameter of which is greater through the
shell of the ball than through the center of the ball
core.
5. An arrangement according to Claim 1,
characterized in that the line (3) is
integrated with the ball core by a vulcanization process.

Description

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1
GOLF TRAINING DEVICE
The present invention relates to a golf training arrange-
went and, more specifically, to an arrangement comprising
a golf ball which is used during the tee strike tra~.ning
and which, after the strike, is automatically returned
with the aid of a substantially rigid line secured to the
ball and, at its opposite, free end adapted to be anchored
in the ground at a predetermined distance in front of the
ball, and a ring slidable along said line and also on an
elastic line, extending substantially across said rigid
line, for cooperation with said elastic line the free ends
of which are adapted to be anchored in the ground, whereby
said ball is, after the strike, by said ring and said
rigid line, to which the ball is secured, resiliently
halted and then returned.
In the market-place there do today exist a number of prior
art arrangements comprising rubber loops or rubber tapes,
which are used e.g. for tennis training and also to train
golf ball tee strikes. Those arrangements do not provide
control over the return of the ball since the force of the
strike will determine the speed of the returning fall. For
that reason there do often occur accidents caused by balls
hitting either the person training or spectators close to
the tee. The prior art does also include light plastic
balls, some of which are perforated, adapted for training
golf swings and ball hits. These do, however, not create a
realistic sense and ball hit and it is almost impossible
to decide whether the ball hit was good or not.
The object of the present invention is to provide an
arrangement of the type mentioned above which comprises a
golf ball and which offers the possibility in a safe and
realistic way to train golf swings and ball hits. In

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contrast to the prior art arrangement this one does return
the ball in a way under control, meaning that during the
end of the return movement the ball is brought back to the
player at ground level and to the tee. At the same time
identified sections along the front portion of the rigid
line indicate the distance from the ball to the ring
interconnecting the lines and to the crossing elastic
line, thereby providing an indication about which type of
club to be used. When the training is carried out with a
club of the driver type, the ground connection of the
rigid line is moved for example closer to the tee so that
the distance between the ball and the crossing line is
increased. If the training is carried out with an iron
club, e.g. number six, the ground connection is instead
moved to a greater distance from the tee whereby the
distance between the ball and the crossing line is
reduced. The factor decisive for the basic function of the
training arrangement is namely that the ball should be
returned to the tee, at the same time indicating that the
player has made a correct strike. The features of the
invention are set out in the subsequent claims.
Thanks to the invention there has been provided an
arrangement which in an excellent manner satisfies its
purpose and which, in addition thereto, is simple to use
and cheap to manufacture. The combination of use of an
actual golf ball and the fact that the arrangement accord-
ing to the invention offers a control return movement
creates a very realistic experience of the ball hit which
completely determines the quality of the training. Thanks
to the fact that the ball is secured to a substantially
rigid line, extending from the golf ball to a ground con-
nection, and which via a ring, preferably a metal ring, is
slidably held in position on the crossing elastic line,
the above-mentioned controlled strike and return of the
ball is achieved. When a strike is made the crossing
elastic line, or rubber line, catches the ball travelling

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in the strike direction, which is then converted to a
catching direction defining a pulling parabola different
from the mentioned direction of the strike. This parabola
includes a downwardly towards the ground oriented return
movement of the ball, the elastic line keeping the rigid
line, at which the ball is secured, depressed and pulls
the ball back to ground level along the ground and up to
the starting position at the tee. Stated in other words,
the interconnection between the longitudinal rigid line
and the resilient line forces the ball after the strike
earlier to change its direction to a downwardly oriented
path thereby storing in the resilient line energy for the
return of the ball. The rigid line, at which the ball is
secured, exhibits marked sections in front of the passage
through the metal ring on the resilient line so that a
player who wishes to train with a driver club can in a
convenient manner move the golf ball and the rigid line
connected therewith away from the resilient line. When the
training is with ar! iron club, the distance between the
golf ball and the metal ring can be decreased, either by
movement of the crossing line relatively the ball or by
displacement of the ground connection of the rigid line.
Stated in other words and as has been mentioned above, one
can in a simple way change the distance between the ball
and the metal ring in response to the type of golf club
used since clubs with different angles generate ball
trajectories of different height. This does further
increase the possibility to determine whether the strike
was good or not. In order to facilitate change of ball it
could be releasably attached to the rigid line via a
mounting ring. Further, the use of a ring for the purpose
of interconnecting the rigid line with the resilient line
provides the advantage that it is completely impossible
for a ball in movement to roll in below the crossing line
in which case it would not be caught thereby. Finally, it
must be stressed that the golf training arrangement
according to the invention does only require a small area

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which is distinctly defined because the line to which the
ball is secured is substantially rigid.
The invention will now be described more in detail, refe-
rence being made to the drawing which diagrammatically
shows an arrangement comprising a golf ball to be used in
connection with tee strikes for training purposes and at
which the ball is, following the strike, automatically
returned to its tee position.
l0
As shown in the drawing a ball 1 is secured to the one end
2 of a rigid line 3, which in turn has its free end 4
anchored in the ground. The connection between the line 3
and the ball 1 is made in such a way that the ball must
not be given a through hole. Instead, expanding means can
be used, e.g. in the shape of a bolt or a corrogated
fastener member, in the center of the ball core. The free
end of the expander bolt or the fastener member, respect-
ively, has a member cooperating with the ring used for
releasable connection of the ball 1 to the rigid line 3.
Alternatively, the line could be secured in the ball core
by vulcanization, so as to be integrated therewith.
Further, a mounting ball in the ball 1 has a greater
diameter in the shell of the ball 1 than in the ball core
whereby is achieved that lateral forces generated at the
strike are not transferred to the shell where they could
otherwise cause cracking.
The portion 5 of the rigid line 3 adjacent the ball 1
carries a ring 6 slidable thereon and manufactured in a
suitable material, for example plastic or metal. It can
also slide on and cooperate with a resilient line 7 ex-
tending substantially across the rigid line 3. This resi-
lient line 7 can be constituted by a rubber line and it
is, at its free ends 8, 9, adapted to be secured to
ground. Since the metal ring 6 encloses both the rigid
line 3 and the resilient line 7 a returning golf ball 1

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cannot, in an uncontrolled way, return below the resilient
line 7 and then hit the player or a spectator.
According to the preferred embodiment the length of the
5 rigid line 3 is about seven meters and that of the cross-
ing resilient line 7 about five meters. The metal ring 6,
which is traversed by both those lines, is at a distance
from the golf ball 1 which depends on the type of club
selected far the training. In the example illustrated one
has, with the aid of the markings on line 3, chosen a
distance of about two meters. The distance from the ball
to the crossing line 7 is marked on the rigid line 3 with
sections A-C which could have the colours blue A, white B
and yellow C. With reference thereto the location of the
golf ball relatively the metal ring 6 and the crossing
line 7 can easily be determined in response to the type of
club used at the training. The training arrangement
according to the invention does automatically signal the
quality of the strike because, upon a good strike the ball
will under control be returned to its tee position where-
as, when the strike is bad, the ball will come to rest at
a longer or shorter distance from its tee position.

Dessin représentatif