Golf-shot practicing apparatus

Abstract

A golf shot practice apparatus with a flat base, a flat support board disposed over said base having a simulated turf towards one end thereof and a step mat towards the other end thereof. Interposed between the base and support board is a universal mechanism including a support cylinder extending upward from the base, a curved plate shaped like the lower portion of a sphere disposed between said support cylinder and the support board under the step mat. The curved plate engages the support board under the step mat. Engaging the inside of said curved plate is a disc affixed to an axial rod. Coupled to the rod are control elements to lift the rod and disc to alter the altitude in space of the curved plate so as to incline the support board at any angle desired with flixing elements including fixing inner and outer cylinders engaging the fixing rod and lowering the rod so the disc engages the curved plate in a desired position. Coupled to the fixing elements is a handle and alarm elements operatively responsive to the position of the handle to provide an alarm when the support board is not fixed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a golf-shot practicing apparatus, particularly a golf-shot practicing apparatus that can be most aptly utilized particularly in places other than a golf course, such as a home garden where the player can freely enjoy ball hitting practice in any direction with a ball placed on a board which can be held horizontally or any inclined position and direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Hitherto, various kinds of instruments for golf ball hitting practice have been put on the market. Without exception, however, all these instruments utilized a horizontal board is some form or another, upon which a golf ball or a quasi-ball will be placed horizontally.

In contrast, however, the actual golf courses have various slopes, hills, valleys in order to make the player more interested in the game. Besides, the actual golf course, the location of balls hit do not necessarily take a horizontal position. On a fairway, for instance, the ball may lie on an inclined plane as often as not. In addition, such planes usually take various positions going upwards or downwards. Also, the planes are often inclined forward or backward. As commonly known, a special knowledge, different from what is used when hitting balls lying on a plain, must be used in such cases.

But as far as the hitting practice is concerned, none of such conventional apparatuses is satisfactory when the balls are lying on variously inclined planes.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which can be effectively used in the hitting practices of golf balls which lie uphill, downhill or on a sidehill, or which lay flat by simulating various kinds of ball positions in such specified small places as common home gardens and the like.

The other objects of the invention are to provide a practicing apparatus that can be used by simple operations to alter the conditions of the ball position or the foot positions of players.

In order to attain these objects, the apparatus according to the present invention comprises a support board which is provided in such a position as to allow the player to have a required space between the base and the place upon which a player can ride in order to have hitting practice and which has a part where a ball can be put and another part where the player can take a stance toward the ball. Also, it comprises means to support the board above the base in all directions and at any angles of inclination in addition to means fixing said board in the horizontal or inclined positions. Besides, the fixing means of the practicing support board has a mechanism for binding screws which can be manually operated.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be clearly apparent from the following explanation and the description of the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an oblique view of the apparatus herein contemplated as seen in its forwardly inclined position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinally cut section in the central part of said apparatus. A part of the length is omitted;

FIG. 3 is a section cut along the line III -- III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a partly notched practicing support board;

FIG. 5 is a view of the base where one-half of the upper iron plate is removed;

FIG. 6 is an oblique view of an artificial quasi-turf mat; and,

FIG. 7 is a sectional view cut along the line VII -- VII of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of this invention and comprises a support board 2 for golf ball hitting practice and equipment 3 allowing the board 2 to incline on the base 1. The support board 2 for practice is of rectangular shape, and has an area broad enough to allow the player to put a golf ball B on its one end part and to take a stance towards the ball B.

The base 1, which is to be fixed on the surface of land, mainly consist of circumferential pipes 11, which are bent rectangularly as illustrated in FIG. 5, and two pipes 12 and 13 arranged crosswise in parallel, while the upper iron plates 14, 15 and 16 are welded together with these pipes 11. The iron plate 14 which is in the central part of the base 1 is made thicker than other plates 15 and 16, so as to be strong enough to bear a greater load put on it, while a drainage hole is arranged in the central part. The iron plate 15 on both end parts of the base 1 is so shaped as to have an upper coarse surface so that it may also act as a stepping plate for the player to go up the support board 2. One of the seating pieces 18 arranged on the four corner parts of the pipe 11 is somemtimes made elastic in order to stably fix the base 1 even when the surface of land is not flat.

As shown in FIG. 4, the golf practicing support board 2 comprises the circumferential pipe 21 bent rectangularly and two pipes 23 and 24 arranged crosswise in parallel, and above these pipes 21, 22 and 23 is stretched a rectangular thin sheet of iron 24, and further above it is put in piles the same sized sheet of natural rubber and they are all bound. The periphery of the above-mentioned iron sheet 24 is welded together with the pipe 21 and fixed, while the rubber sheet 24 is kept tightly in its circumferential four sides with corners 27 that is fixed to the pipes 21. Here the rubber sheet 25 effectively works as a preventive for the under-mentioned matters or persons not to slip off.

On a part of one end of the practicing support board 2, where the ball B will be placed, is spread an artificial quasi-turf mat 28 which, consist of a base portion 29 and a thick standing grass layer made of synthetic resinous fibres such as conventionally known artificial grass and is used to cover the upper surface, in which several round hollow ports 31 are made so that when the mat 28 is inclined, the ball B will not roll off if it is placed in one of these hollow ports 31. This arrangement is made because of the inclination of the practicing support board 2 and the hollow part 31 is actually formed by cutting partly into the thickly standing grass layer 30 of the mat 28 in a reverse cone or a cylindrical shape as shown in FIG. 7. In the part where the ball B will be placed, the necessary tool 32 to support the ball after it has been teed-up is provided as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The form of this tool 32 is well known. It is made of rubber and has a cylindric ball support part 32a at one end and a fixture 32b at the other end. This fixture is loosely put over a pin 34 protruding upward from the bracket 33 which is fixed to the aforesaid pipe 21. Consequently said tool 32 can be rotated around the pin 34 and sometimes it can be dispensed with and removed from the practicing support board 2. In order to make its removal possible, only one end of a reversal U-type frame 35, which is used to hold the tool 32 on the support board 2 is fixed to the bracket 33 while the other end is forming an interval between it and the bracket in order to allow the tool 32 to pass through.

A step mat 37 for the player is spread over the part on which he is going to take a stance toward the ball B put on the practicing support board 2. This mat 37 has a conventional structure, in which many cylindrical and rubberized pieces of material 37a are thickly arranged and are tied together with steel wires.

Between the part where the ball B is placed and the part where the player takes a stance as above-mentioned is provided a container 38 for a lot of golf balls. This container 38 is inserted into a hole 39 made in the practicing support board 2. It is supported by an upper end flange 38a. In order to perfect this support, two narrow support pipes 40 are arranged between the two pipes 22 and 22 below the flange 38a. Any rain water that happened to enter into the container 38 will be drained out through slit 41 made between the lower side of the side wall of the container 38 and its bottom wall. When practicing with the aid of this apparatus, the player will take the balls B out of the container 38 one by one and place them on the mat 28 or the part 32a of the tool 32, and then he will hit each ball. Accordingly, he will have no difficulty to come down from the support board 2 to get the practicing ball B every time.

The apparatus 3 to support the practicing board 2 further comprises a cylinder 46 fixed to an iron plate 14 of the base 1 around the hole 17 with several bolts 45 and the metallic plate 47 has a spherical surface, which is shaped like the lower part of a hollow ball put on the cylinder 46. The upper end surface 46a of said cylinder 46 is shaped to have a circular arc surface along the outside of said sperical surface plate 47, which has a flange 47a on its upper end. This flange 47a is fixed to the iron plate 49 of the lower surface of the practicing support board 2 with several bolts 48. Consequently both the cylinder 46 and the spherical surface plate 47 substantially constitute a universal supporting mechanism which allows the player to freely alter both the inclination directions and angles by simply changing the relative contacting positions. The iron plate 49 is located on the half of the side opposite the side where there is the part of the practicing support board 2 to place the ball B together with the pipes 21 and 23. As a result, the supporting point of the practicing board 2 by the supporting apparatus leans toward the direction of one end from the center. This is in order to improve the stabilization of the practicing board 2 at a position as near as possible to the place where the player takes a stance toward the ball B. However, the balance of the board 2 will be lost when the supporting point is biased from the center of the board 2. In order to cope with this problem, a lump of iron is put on one end of the iron plate 49 as a counter-weight 42 so that the supporting point and the center of gravity substantially coincide.

In order to fix the practicing board 2 in a horizontal or any inclined positions, there is a cast disc 50 that is inside the spherical surface plate 47 and holds it down to the upper end surface of the cylinder 46. The peripheral surface 50a of said disc 50 is made to have a circular arc along the inside of the spherical surface plate 47, and through the said spherical surface plate 47 it faces the upper end surface of the cylinder 46. The slit to exhaust the rain water that is on the disc 50, so as to prevent the various parts from their being corroded, is formed with several vertical ditches 52 provided on the peripheral brim of the disc 50 leaving some suitable space between them. The apparatus to control the pressing force against the spherical surface plate 47 of the disc 50 comprises a fixing cylinder 53 which is located inside the support cylinder 46 and which has the threads 54 on its interior circumferential surface, a rotary telescoping elevating cylinder 55 whose outer circumferential surface is threaded 56 and which is screwed to the fixing cylinder 53, an operating handle 57 to rotate it, a tightening rod 58 which connects the center of the pressing disc 50 and the center of the rotary elevating part 55. The fixing cylinder 53 is united with the said support cylinder 46 by means of several arms 60 which extend radially from the periphery of the fixing cylinder 53. The rotary elevating part 55 is a cylindrical casting having a top wall. In the upper end peripheral surface it has a projection 55a which has a poligonal section and into which is put the head of handle 57 composed of a pipe that has a poligonal section. The handle 57 extends outward through a very wide aperture 71 in the peripheral wall of the cylinder 46. The tightening rod 58 passes through the central hole 72 of the top wall of the rotary elevating part 55, the lower end hole 73 of the spherical surface plate 47 and the central hole 74 of the disc 50 in succession, and between the flange-shaped head part 58a in its lower end and the lower surface of the top wall of the rotary elevating part 55, is placed the thrust bearing 75, while through the intermediary of a washer 76 on the disc 50, the two nuts 77 are put on the screw part 58b arranged on the upper end. The bearing 75 serves to transmit the rotation of the rotary elevating part 55 of the bearing 75 to rod 58 while nut 77 is useful for regulating the effective length of the rod 58. The hole 73 in the spherical surface plate 47 is made large enough so that even when the practicing board 2 is inclined to its maximum, the spherical surface plate 47 will not touch the rod 58. When the part 79 of the practicing board 2 and the rubber sheet 25 with their circumferences separately cut are removed, a rectangular hole 81 will be formed and through that hole 81 and there is also another hole 78 made in the iron plate 49 of the lower side directly under said hole 81, the regulating operation of said nut 77 and the maintenance of the interior of the supporting apparatus 3 as well as maintenance can be carried out as well. The part 79 to make the hole 81 is supported at the four corners on the lower side by the four supporting pieces 80 that are fixed to the lower side of the iron plate 24 as illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, and it is maintained on the same side as other parts.

Elevating part 55 is lifted against the fixing cylinder 53 by turning the handle around counter-clockwise and through this operation the tension of the rod 58 will be removed and the pressing force of the disc 50 against the spherical surface plate 47 will be weakened. Consequently in this condition, the practicing board 2 can be inclined in any direction and at any angle, so that when the handle 57 is turned around clockwise, after the desirable inclination direction and angle are fixed, the practicing board 2 will be fixed in position.

It will be very dangerous, however, if the fixing force board 2 by means of fixing apparatus is completely removed or weakened, when a player steps upon board 2 to have ball hitting practice or for some other purposes. For the purpose of preventing such a danger, an alarm bell 82 is provided to cope with said peril. This alarm bell 82 has a battery inside and is arranged on the peripheral surface of the cylinder 46. The pressing button 83 of its switch projects into the inside of the cylinder 46. This switch is operated by operating piece 84 which extends outward from the upper side of the rotary elevating pipe 55 through the intermediary of a plate spring 85. When the rotary elevating cylinder 55 is in its tightened position, the operating piece 84 always pushes outward against the elasticity of the spring 85 to make the push button 83 of the switch retreat so as to keep the switch OFF. But whenever the rotary elevating part 56 is turned around counter-clockwise to loosen the fixing of board 2, the operating piece 84 will come off the spring 85 and the switch will be ON to make the alarm bell 82 start to give an alarm. By this alarm of the alarm bell 82, everybody realizes that it is dangerous to be on the practicing board 2, so that safety will be assured at all times.

As described above, the said board 2 according to the present invention allows the practice of golf shots on variously inclined surfaces of the board 2 by making it inclined, which such a change of the direction of the inclined surface or its angle can be made by a simple and easy operation.

The present invention may be embodied and utilized in various other forms without departing from the spirit and all its basic characteristics, and all the embodying examples mentioned above should be considered nothing but the exemplary ones in all respects and are not definitely restrictive. The extent of this invention is as shown by the claims and from the specification and therefore the meaning of the claims and all the altered forms within the extent equal to the claims should be considered as included in the claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A golf shot practicing apparatus comprising:

a. a base;

b. a support board above said base for a person to have golf ball hitting practice having thereon a part on which a ball will be placed and a part allowing the player to take a stance toward the ball;

c. universal means by which the practice board above said base will be freely supported in any inclination in any direction and at any angle, said universal means including a support cylinder which is fixed to said base and a spherical plate which has a shape of the lower part of a hollow sphere and which is disposed upon the said support cylinder, while the peripheral rim thereof is fixed to the lower side of the said support board; and,

d. fixing means for said support board to fix the position thereof in a horizontal or inclined state inside the said spherical plate including a disc that presses the spherical plate to the upper side of the said supporting cylinder and a controlling device having a fixing cylinder that has a threaded inner periphery, a rotary elevating part that grapples with said fixing cylinder, a handle to rotate it and a tightening rod which passes through said spherical plate that connects said elevating part and the disc for pressing the spherical plate to said fixing cylinder.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 with a rubber sheet spread over the upper surface of the said support board.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 to which is attached a golf ball container to hold balls within it on the said support board.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which a synthetic quasi-turf mat is spread over part of the said board where a ball will be placed.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which synthetic quasi-turf mat has a dent made by cutting into standing synthetic grass, so that at least one ball may be held in it.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which an instrument to support a ball is disposed on said board.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1 which includes alarm means that gives an alarm whenever the fixing force of the said practicing support board is not applied.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 in which said alarm instrument gives out an alarm whenever said rotary elevating part rotates to a definite rotating position.

9. A golf shot practice apparatus comprising in combination:

a. a flat base (1)

b. a flat support board (2) disposed over said base having a simulated turf (28) towards one end thereof and a step mat (37) towards the other end thereof;

c. a universal mechanism (3) interposed between said base (1) and said support board (2) including a support cylinder (46) extending upward from said base (1), a curved plate (47) shaped like the lower portion of a sphere disposed between said cylinder (46) and said support board (2) under said step mat, said curved plate engaging said support board substantially under said step mat, a disc (50) for engaging the inside of said curved plate affixed to an axial rod (58) control means coupled to said rod (58) to lift said rod and disc to alter the altitude in space of said curved plate to incline said support board at any angle desired with fixing means including a fixing inner and outer cylinders (53, 55) engaging said fixing rod and lowering said rod so said disc engages said curved plate in a desired position, a handle (57) coupled to said fixing means and alarm means (83) operatively responsive to the position of said handle to provide an alarm when said support board is not fixed.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9 wherein one of said fixing cylinders (53, 55) is fixed to said support cylinder (46) and the other is a telescoping elevating cylinder said two cylinders being threadly engaged so that one of said cylinders can be rotatably raised or lowered with respect to said base, said handle (56) engaging said rotatable cylinder to rotatably raise said cylinder, said rod (58) being connected to said cylinders so that the raising of said rod also raises said disc which permits substantially universal movement of said curved plate.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein said alarm means is disposed adajcent said fixing rotating cylinder with switch means thereon and switch engaging means on said fixing rotation cylinder so disposed as to turn on said alarm when said support board is not in a fixed position.