Golfer's Training Device

Abstract

The device comprises a cord reel, and a length of cord for wound storage of the cord on the reel and for paying-out of the cord from the reel, and a spring operative normally to cause a storage of the cord on the reel. The pay-out end of the cord is adjustably attached to a finger-less glove to be worn on the hand of the leading arm of the golfer, and the reel is rotatably supported in a housing which has means for engaging the golfer's belt. A release plate carried externally on the housing has a housing-penetrating dowel pin which is used to disengage a reel-engaging latch, the latch being borne internally of the housing and being operative to hold the reel in its cord payed-out disposition. Before the cord can be rewound, the release plate must be actuated by the golfer's elbow prior to beginning the downswing of a golf club.

Description

This invention pertains to training devices, and in particular to a golfer's training device for disciplining the golfer in a proper execution of a golf club swing, the same comprising means to urge the golfer to hold his wrists in a cocked positioning, in the uppermost quadrant of the swing, and to release the wrists in the mid-point or ball-hitting portion of the swing. Further, the device comprises means for teaching the golfer to avoid "casting" in the swing, and to keep the elbow of the trailing arm close in to the body during the pull-down of the club, on addressing the ball, from the uppermost attitude of the club to the ball-contacting attitude thereof.

Golfer's training devices are known in the prior art which command or positively control the attitude of the hands and wrists in the execution of a proper golf swing. However, these devices are quite complex. They constitute substantial machines which do not lend themselves to ready transport about a golf course. Further, the machines are swing-attitude programmed and, consequently, force the golfer to conform to the optimum swing attitude. Such machines, therefore, perform a dominant training, in which the golfer may passively submit to the machine-powered excursions. This is not conducive to proper and early training of the golfer; rather, it merely demonstrates how cleverly the machine is trained.

What has been needed in this art is a device which will not dominate the golfer, a device which will urge the golfer to make an active response, and a device which will moderately pressure the golfer to assume a proper attitude of wrists and elbows without overpowering him.

Now, the prior art has a number of resilient-cord devices designed for attachment to the golfer's wrist and waist or foot, to urge the golfer to cock his wrists properly in the uppermost portion of the golf swing. Such devices are quite useful and effective in this purpose. However, they require that the golfer who is undergoing the training-discipline carry the length of cord draped from his wrist and/or waist as he moves about the golf course. This is both cumbersome and unattractive. Further, these devices have no means to teach the golfer to avoid "casting." The cord is movable about an arc defined by its length, thus, the arc may be executed by a swing made close to the body, or by a swing migrating away and outward from the body.

The type of device which is needed is one which will train the golfer to keep the elbow of his trailing arm in close to the body, to cause a pulling-down of the golf club on initiating the swing rather than an outward pointing or casting of the golf club head.

It is an object of this invention, then, to set forth a golfer's training device which has none of the limitations of the prior art devices.

It is a particular object of this invention to teach a golfer's training device comprising a length of filamentary material; means for releasably attaching one end of said material to a person's hand; a reel; means for securing an opposite end of said material to said reel; means for supporting said reel for rotation in a first direction to effect a retrieval and wound storage of all of said material, excepting said one end thereof, upon said reel, and for rotation in a second direction to accommodate a paying-out of said material from said reel; and means disposed between said reel and said supporting means normally operative to urge said reel in said first direction.

A feature of this invention, in one embodiment thereof, comprises a cord reel, and a length of cord for wound storage on the reel and for paying-out of the cord from the reel, and a spring operative normally to cause a storage of the cord on the reel. The pay-out end of the cord is adjustably attached to a finger-less glove to be worn on the hand of the leading arm of the golfer, and the reel is rotatably supported in a housing which has means for engaging a golfer's belt. A disengageable latch is operative to hold the reel in its cord payed-outs disposition.

Further objects and features of this invention will become more apparent by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric projection of the novel device, according to an embodiment thereof, the same being a rear view;

FIG. 2 is an axial cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 1, taken along section 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the latching end of the reel;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the latching end of the reel, taken along section 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a pictorial illustration of the carriage of the device on the belt of a golfer, and the hand-engaged attachment of the pay-out end of the cord; and

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the finger-less glove to be worn by the golfer which carries a strap for adjustable engagement with the pay-out end of the cord.

As shown in FIG. 1, the novel device 10, in one embodiment thereof, comprises a housing 12 which, on the rear surface thereof, has a pair of loops 14 through which a golfer's belt can be passed so that the device will be carried conveniently.

Housing 12, as FIG. 2 depicts, comprises a pair of end plates 16 and 18 and a cylindrical shell 20. A ball nut 22 is fixed to plate 18 by means of a key 24, and a ball screw 26 is threadedly engaged with the nut 22. A bolt 28 and plate 30 and pin 32 secure the screw 26 to an end wall 34 of a cord reel 36. A ball bearing 38 is carried in an annular recess 40 formed in the outer face of wall 34, the bearing also being carried in a corresponding recess in a thrust plate 42. A compression spring 44 is interposed between the plate 42 and end plate 16, to urge the reel 36 in the direction of end plate 18.

Reel 36 has a continuous helical groove 46 formed on the outer periphery thereof for retrieveably nesting a length of cord 48 thereon. Spring 44 is operative normally to urge the reel 36 toward the plate 18, so that the ball screw 26 will thread into ball nut 22 and cause a rotation of the reel 36 and screw 26 in the direction indicated by the arrow on screw 26. Thus, cord 48 will wind upon groove 46 for storage. A central recess 50 accommodates for the axial movement of the screw 26 within plate 18. Cord 48 has an enlarged stop-ball 52 on one end thereof, the same being set into a reel slot 54 for securing said one end to the reel. A guard 56 is secured to plate 18, and about a portion of the reel 36, to prevent the cord from jumping off the reel.

Shell 20 mounts a trunnion 58 which, in turn, pivotally supports a latch 60. A spring 62, attached at opposite ends to the latch and to the trunnion, urges the latch in the full line disposition shown. However, the latch 60 is movable to the alternate disposition shown in broken line illustration. One end of the latch 60 defines a tang 64 which, upon the reel being rotated and axially translated toward same, impinges upon a surface of wall 34 at location "A" FIGS. 3 and 4. Further rotation of the reel causes the latch 60 to pivot until the tang 64 drops into a slot 66 formed in wall 34. Thereupon, reel 36 is latched against rotation, and translation, in the alternate direction.

As will be self-evident to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, the circumferential length of the groove 46, the helical pitch of the screw 26 and nut 22, and the prescribed pay-out length of cord 48 are all pre-determined and cooperative to insure the optimum impingement of tang 64 at location "A."

Shell 20 has a first aperture 68 formed therein, with a grommet 70 lining same, to facilitate the movement of the cord 48 to and from the reel 36 for storage and pay-out. A release plate 72, the purpose of which is disclosed subsequently, also has an aperture 74 formed therein, the same being in juxtaposition with aperture 68. Accordingly, cord 48 is retrieved and payed-out through the release plate.

Release plate 72 is pivotally supported on shell 20 at 76, and is urged, pivotally, away from shell 20 by means of spring 78. Spring 78 envelops a dowel pin 80 which extends perpendicularly from plate 72 and which penetrates a second aperture 82 formed in the shell 20. Spring 78 holds pin 80 in a normally spaced-apart relationship to the latch 60. Yet, upon the plate 72 being moved against the bias of spring 78, the pin is brought into impacting engagement with latch 60, to cause the latch to assume the dashed-line positioning shown (in FIG. 2). Therefore, plate 72 and pin 80 are the means which cooperate to release the reel from its latched disposition.

As shown in FIG. 5, the device is carried on the belt or waistband of the golfer, the cord 48 being payed-out as the golfer raises his club to the upper-most portion of the swing. One end of the cord 48, as depicted in FIG. 6, is adjustably secured to a finger-less glove 84 which is worn on the hand of the leading arm of the golfer. Now then, to discipline the golfer to keep his elbow of his trailing arm in close to his body, to avoid "casting," and to insure that the club is pulled down, initially, the golfer must move that elbow into the plate 72 -- to release the reel 36, and to free the cord 48 as well.

In use, then, the device is worn on the belt of the golfer, with the glove 84 on the hand of the leading arm. The golfer moves his arms up into the wind-up of the swing and, in so doing, is made aware of an increasing tension on his left or leading hand. To counter this the golfer tension, is persuaded to cock his wrists -- thus assuming the proper attitude for the swing. At the top of the swing, the reel 36 is latched in position, cord-reeled position. Now, of course, the golfer can "cast;" he can proceed to straighten his trailing arm and abort the swing on addressing the ball. However, mindful of the nature of the device 10 and its functioning, the golfer instead will move the elbow of his trailing arm the very short distance required to contact plate 72. Thereupon, the reel 36 is released and, under the urging of spring 44, is rotated and translated to cause a relief of tension on cord 48.

As is evident, when the golfer has moved the club to a mid-point of the swing, where the ball is about to be struck, the cord 48 is substantially relieved, and spring 44 is wholly relaxed. The golfer pulls the club against the ball, and follows through. In this mid-point area of the swing, there is yet a tension on the wrists of the golfer they are yet conscious of a tethering thereof to the cord, and consequently the golfer holds his wrists firm and in position to pronate during the follow-through. In the follow-through portion, again the device 10 gradually tensions the gloved hand, increasingly, to discipline the golfer to cord his wrists once more after they have pronated.

Glove 84, in one embodiment, comprises a finger-less article which has a hand-enveloping strap 86 sewn thereinto. The strap has an extending portion 88 with a buckle or the like thereon, the buckle being provisioned to receive an apertured tongue 90 which carries the foremost end of the cord 48. The tongue and buckle are cooperative to effect an alteration of the length of pay-out or feed of cord -- practically to adjust the optimum length of cord for a particular golfer's swing. Of course, this is an arbitrary arrangement for adjusting the free length of the cord. Other arrangements will occur to persons skilled in this art. So also, in the embodiment shown, the housing 12 is shown to be cylindrical; it could just as well be rectangular. Spring 44 could be supplanted by an expansion spring disposed within the reel 36 against the plate 18, and other latching and release arrangements could readily be practiced. Any and all other such arrangements and practices, clearly, would proceed from the teaching of my invention and be comprised by the spirit thereof.

While I have described my invention in connection with a specific embodiment thereof, therefore, it is to be clearly understood that this is done only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of my invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A golfer's training device, comprising:

a single length of filamentary material;

means coupled to one end of said material for engagement thereof with a person's body extremity;

a reel;

means for securing an opposite end of said material to said reel;

means for supporting said reel for rotation about an axis in a first direction to effect a retrieval and wound storage of all said material, excepting said one end thereof, upon said reel, for rotation in a second direction to accommodate a paying-out of said material from said reel, and for axial translation of said reel along said axis; and

means disposed between said reel and said supporting means normally operative to urge said reel in said first direction; wherein

said reel and said supporting means have means cooperative for restraining said reel against rotation only in said first direction, upon said reel having been rotation in said second direction and payed-out said material, and only upon said reel having been translated a given distance along said

2. A device, according to claim 1, wherein:

3. A device, according to claim 1, wherein:

said restraining means comprises a resilient latch having a depending tang, and a recess formed in one end of said reel for receiving said tang therein;

translation of said reel during rotation thereof in said second direction moves said recess into proximate adjacency to said tang; and

said tang automatically engages said recess, to restrain said reel, upon

4. A device, according to claim 3, wherein:

said supporting means comprises a housing; and

said latch is pivotally mounted to, and is resiliently held in a first disposition relative to, said housing; and further including

spring means operatively disposed between said latch and said housing for holding said latch in said first disposition in which said latch is engageable with said recess, and for accommodating a resilient movement of said latch to a second disposition in which said latch is disengageable

5. A device, according to claim 4, further including:

means carried by said housing for selectively causing said latch to move

6. A device, according to claim 5, wherein:

said latch-movement-causing means comprises a release plate pivotally mounted to said housing;

said housing having a first aperture formed therein; and

said release plate having a dowel pin extending therefrom, perpendicularly, said dowel pin being in penetration of said first aperture with the extended termination thereof disposed in proximate adjacency to an end of

7. A device, according to claim 6, wherein:

said latch-movement-causing means further comprises spring means interposed between said release plate and said housing for urging said release plate away from said housing and for causing said termination of said dowel pin normally to maintain a spaced-apart relationship with said opposite end of said latch;

said interposed spring means being yieldably responsive to a movement of said release plate toward said housing to permit said termination of said dowel pin to impinge upon said opposite end of said latch, to cause said

8. A device, according to claim 6, wherein:

said release plate has an aperture formed therein: and

said housing has a second aperture formed therein:

said release plate aperture and said housing second aperture are in juxtaposition and

said filamentary material is payed-out and retrieved through said

9. A device, according to claim 1, wherein:

said supporting means has means for releasably engaging a person's belt or like waistband; and

said coupled means includes means for adjustably moving said one end of said material into greater and less proximity to a person's hand, to alter the length of said material which may be payed-out from said reel.