TAKE-AWAY POSTURE CONFIRMATION DEVICE

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a take-away posture confirmation device, and more specifically, to a take-away posture confirmation device which enables a user to acquire the correct posture using a light source during a take-away step.

Background Art

A golf swing is divided into stages such as address, take-away, backswing, top of backswing, downswing, impact, release, and follow-through.

The take-away, as illustrated in FIG. 1, starts from the address posture (a) and reaches a point where the club is horizontal, referred to as the take-away stage (b). In general, when the direction of the arm is referred to be around 8 o'clock relative to the clockwise direction.

Although postures of all stages are important, the take-away, which is generally the initial stage of the backswing, is considered fundamental for correctly performing the rest of the swing. If the stage begins with an incorrect posture, a compensatory action is generally performed in any one of subsequent stages, leading to difficulties in maintaining a consistent swing.

Referring to FIG. 2, three general elements are used to check if the take-away action is performed desirably. FIG. 2(a) shows a posture of a user when viewed from the front, and the preferable posture is when a club shaft is horizontal with the ground. If the club shaft reaches less horizontality, the user uses little the wrist, and if the club shaft exceeds horizontality, premature wrist cocking was performed.

Furthermore, FIG. 2(b) shows a posture of a user when viewed from the rear (lateral side), and the preferable posture is when a club shaft is horizontal with the ground and parallel to a target. There are cases where a clubhead faces outside the target (outside take-away) and where the clubhead faces inside the target (inside take-away) based on a grip.

Moreover, as illustrated in FIG. 2(c), the posture where the club shaft is horizontal with the ground and parallel to the target but a toe of the clubhead points upward vertically to the ground is termed square, and another posture where the toe of the clubhead almost parallels the user's inclined spine angle is considered desirable, and is referred to as a closed state.

Additionally, the posture where the toe of the clubhead faces the user's body is termed an open posture of the club head, and is commonly seen in amateurs as an undesirable posture.

Therefore, it is crucial for the user to check whether the user takes the correct posture during the take-away phase in real-time and practice the desirable posture at the initial stage of swing to acquire the desirable posture naturally. Devices and methods provided for the above purpose are very important.

However, it is difficult to find such devices and methods to practice the take-away posture. Swing analysis devices and methods using cameras or swing analysis devices and methods using motion detection sensors like inertial sensors have been proposed. However, the swing analysis devices and methods mostly analyze the entire swing trajectory or plane and compare the analyzed results with standard postures to provide feedback to the user. Therefore, there is a need for devices to practice the take-away posture.

PATENT LITERATURE

Patent Documents

Patent Document 1: Korean Patent No. 10-2240787

Patent Document 2: Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2023-0089233

Patent Document 3: Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2021-0026480

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior arts, and it is an objective of the present invention to provide a take-away posture confirmation device, which allows a user to visually recognize the state of a club shaft using a light source during a take-away phase, thereby enabling the user to practice the correct take-away posture.

The objectives of the present disclosure are not limited to those mentioned above, and other objectives not mentioned herein will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a take-away posture confirmation device of a golf club for confirming the take-away posture, which includes a head, a shaft, and a grip, including: a slit beam irradiation part, which irradiates a slit beam onto the head or a predetermined portion of the shaft at a predetermined angle. If necessary, the slit beam m irradiation part may be arranged on the shaft adjacent to the head.

Moreover, the slit beam irradiation part includes: a fixing part fixed to the shaft; and a laser generation part fixed by the fixing part to irradiate the slit beam, wherein the slit beam generated from the laser generation part is irradiated onto the ground surface on which a golf ball is placed to form a beam trajectory.

In this instance, the beam trajectory varies the location irradiated onto the ground surface depending on the position of the golf club during the take-away posture, and the beam trajectory is irradiated in the location where a user who takes the take-away posture can check. It is preferable for the slit beam irradiation part to be arranged on the shaft adjacent to the head so that a user can confirm the angle of the golf head.

Here, preferably, the slit beam irradiation part is arranged on the head or the predetermined portion of the shaft, and the beam trajectory irradiated from the laser generation part onto the ground surface controls the irradiation angle of a laser to be irradiated to a location where the user can check during the take-away posture.

Moreover, when viewed from the front, if the user using the golf club takes the take-away posture by moving the golf club to the left from the address posture, the position of the golf club is defined through the relative positions of the the head and the grip of the golf club in the take-away posture. When viewed from the front of the user using the golf club, the positions are defined as position 11 where the head is arranged above the grip, position 12 where the head and the grip are arranged at the same height and the shaft of the golf club is parallel to the ground surface, and position 13 where the head is arranged below the grip.

Here, when viewed from the right of the user, the positions are defined as position 21 where the head is located left of the grip, position 22 where the head aligns with the grip, and position 23 where the head is located right of the grip, and the position that simultaneously satisfies both the position 12 and the position 22 is defined as a first normal position.

Furthermore, the front of the golf head is termed the “toe”, the back is termed the “heel”, a vertical line passing through the heel and perpendicular to the ground is called the “heel perpendicular line”, and in the state in which the golf club maintains the first normal position, when viewed from the right of the user, the position of the golf head is defined based on the angle at which the golf head is placed. When defining the heel perpendicular line as 0 degrees, the leftward direction based on the heel perpendicular line as a negative (−) angle direction, and the rightward direction based on the heel perpendicular line as a positive (+) angle direction, the positions are defined as position 31 where the heel is located on the heel perpendicular line and the toe is arranged at the left of the heel perpendicular line between −45 degrees and less than 0 degrees, position 32 where the toe is arranged at the right of the heel perpendicular line between 0 degrees and less than 30 degrees, and position 33 where the toe is at the right of the Heel perpendicular line between 31 degrees and 90 degrees.

In this instance, when the position that simultaneously satisfies the position 12, the position 22, and the position 32 is defined as the normal position, the beam trajectory irradiated onto the ground surface at the normal position is called the normal irradiation trajectory. When the beam trajectory irradiated at positions other than the normal position is termed an abnormal position trajectory, the normal position trajectory and the abnormal position trajectory are irradiated onto different areas of the ground surface respectively.

Additionally, for a right-handed user taking the take-away posture, the upward direction is defined as a +z-axis direction, the downward direction as a −z-axis direction, the leftward direction (toward the target) as a +y-axis direction, the rightward direction as a −y-axis direction, the forward direction as a +x-axis direction, and the backward direction as a −x-axis direction. When the center of the normal irradiation trajectory is defined as the origin, the irradiation angle of laser is controlled such that the normal irradiation trajectory is parallel to the y-axis and laser is irradiated between the user's toes and the golf ball, and an irradiation range is controlled to exceed both sides of the golf ball, so the laser is irradiated at the position where the user can recognize the normal irradiation trajectory of the laser in the take-away posture.

Furthermore, when viewed from the right of the user in the state in which the golf club is positioned parallel to the y-axis, if the golf head is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 31 which moves in the +x-axis direction to be parallel to the normal irradiation trajectory. When the golf head is rotated in the clockwise direction, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 33 which moves in the −x-axis direction to be parallel to the normal irradiation trajectory, so that the user can confirm the trajectory 31 and the trajectory 33 during the take-away posture.

In addition, when the golf head is moved upward in the state in which the golf club is arranged parallel to the y-axis, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 11 which moves in the −y-axis direction from the normal irradiation trajectory. When the golf head is moved downward, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 13 which moves in the +y-axis direction from the normal irradiation trajectory so that the user can confirm the trajectory 21 and the trajectory 13 during the take-away posture.

Moreover, an end portion which is close to the laser generation part from the beam trajectory is referred to as a first endpoint and an end portion of the opposite side is referred to as a second endpoint. When the golf head is moved backwards in the state in which the golf club is arranged parallel to the y-axis, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 21 which is inclined to the normal irradiation trajectory and allows the first endpoint to move in the −x-axis direction. When the golf head is moved forwards, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 23 which is inclined to the normal irradiation trajectory and allows the first endpoint to move in the +x-axis direction so that the user can confirm the trajectory 21 and the trajectory 23 during the take-away posture.

Furthermore, a normal irradiation marker for allowing the user to confirm the position of the normal irradiation trajectory is arranged at the position where the normal irradiation trajectory is irradiated onto the ground surface. The ground surface is formed with a carpet or a rubber board, and the normal irradiation marker is formed by adhering or printing a sticker on the ground surface.

Additionally, the fixing part and the laser generation part are connected at the slit beam irradiation part by a hinge to rotate the laser generation part such that the irradiation direction of the slit beam irradiated to the ground surface can be changed. The fixing part is assembled to be rotatable around the center of the shaft, and is arranged to change the irradiation direction of the slit beam irradiated onto the ground surface by rotating the fixing part left and right relative to the center of the shaft.

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

The terms and words used in the specification and claims must not be limited to typical or dictionary meanings, but must be regarded as concepts selected by the inventor as concepts which best illustrate the present invention, and must be interpreted as having meanings and concepts adapted to the scope and spirit of the present invention to aid in understanding the technology of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, the take-away posture confirmation device allows the user to visually check the state and position of the club shaft using the light source during the take-away phase, thereby enabling the user to intuitively recognize the take-away posture in real-time to easily correct the take-away posture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically illustrating a typical address posture and a typical take-away posture.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating elements for checking the correct take-away posture.

FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a golf club for confirming the state of the take-away posture according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view defining the position of a golf club through relative positions of a head and a grip of the golf club in the take-away posture according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 5 to 7 are views illustrating a normal position trajectory and an abnormal position trajectory in the take-away posture according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a view from the direction “A” of FIG. 4.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating the form of a beam trajectory 255 when a slit beam 270 is irradiated onto the ground surface 90 depending on the position of the golf club.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, thicknesses of lines and sizes of constituent elements may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience in explanation.

Furthermore, terms to be described later are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, and may differ depending on the intentions of a user or an operator or custom. Accordingly, such terms should be defined on the basis of the contents of the overall specification.

In addition, the embodiment disclosed hereinafter does not limit the scope of the present invention, but corresponds to merely exemplary terms of constituent elements presented in claims of the present invention, and the embodiments that include replaceable constituent elements as equivalents of the constituent elements defined in the overall specification and claims may be included in the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically illustrating a typical address posture and a typical take-away posture, FIG. 2 is a view illustrating elements for checking the correct take-away posture, FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a golf club for confirming the state of the take-away posture according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a view defining the position of a golf club through relative positions of a head and a grip of the golf club in the take-away posture according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, FIGS. 5 to 7 are views illustrating a normal position trajectory and an abnormal position trajectory in the take-away posture according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 8 is a view from the direction “A” of FIG. 4.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a golf club for confirming the take-away posture of the present invention includes a head 100, a shaft 120, and a grip 130, and a slit beam irradiation part 200, which irradiates a slit beam onto the head 100 or the shaft at a predetermined angle is provided.

While not illustrated in the drawings, the slit beam irradiation part may be installed with the head, or alternatively, may be positioned near the head of the shaft, in the middle of the shaft, or behind the grip of the shaft.

Furthermore, the slit beam irradiation part 200 can be located on the shaft near the head, and includes a fixing part 210 fixed to the shaft, and a laser generation part 250 fixed to the fixing part to irradiate a slit beam 270.

The slit beam 270 generated from the laser generation part is irradiated onto a ground surface 90 where a golf ball is placed, and forms a beam trajectory 255.

Thus, a user can visually observe the beam trajectory irradiated onto the ground with the eyes and can correct the posture while checking the beam trajectory in real-time by determining the take-away posture.

Moreover, the beam trajectory 255 varies the location irradiated onto the ground surface depending on the position of the golf club during the take-away posture, and the beam trajectory is irradiated in the location where the user who takes the take-away posture can check.

Additionally, the slit beam irradiation part 200 can be located on the shaft near the head to allow the user to check the angle of the golf head while the golf club maintains the normal position. In this case, the beam trajectory irradiated from the laser generation part 250 onto the ground surface controls the irradiation angle of laser so that the beam is irradiated onto the position where the user can check during the take-away posture.

Referring to FIG. 4, when viewed from the front, if the user using the golf club takes the take-away posture by moving the golf club to the left from the address posture, the position of the golf club is defined through the relative positions of the the head and the grip of the golf club in the take-away posture.

When viewed from the front of the user using the golf club, the positions are defined as position 11 where the head is arranged above the grip, position 12 where the head and the grip are arranged at the same height and the shaft of the golf club is parallel to the ground surface, and position 13 where the head is arranged below the grip.

When viewed from the right of the user, the positions are defined as position 21 where the head is located left of the grip, position 22 where the head aligns with the grip, and position 23 where the head is located right of the grip. The position that simultaneously satisfies both the position 12 and the position 22 is defined as a first normal position.

Furthermore, the front of the golf head is termed the “toe”, the back is termed the “heel”, a vertical line passing through the heel and perpendicular to the ground is called the “heel perpendicular line”, and in the state in which the golf club maintains the first normal position, when viewed from the right of the user, the position of the golf head is defined based on the angle at which the golf head is placed.

Additionally, when defining the heel perpendicular line as 0 degrees, the leftward direction based on the heel perpendicular line as a negative (−) angle direction, and the rightward direction based on the heel perpendicular line as a positive (+) angle direction, the positions are defined as position 31 where the heel is located on the heel perpendicular line and the toe is arranged at the left of the heel perpendicular line between −45 degrees and less than 0 degrees, position 32 where the toe is arranged at the right of the heel perpendicular line between 0 degrees and less than 30 degrees, and position 33 where the toe is at the right of the Heel perpendicular line between 31 degrees and 90 degrees.

Moreover, when the position that simultaneously satisfies the position 12, the position 22, and the position 32 is defined as the normal position, the beam trajectory irradiated onto the ground surface at the normal position is called the normal irradiation trajectory 300, and the beam trajectory irradiated at positions other than the normal position is termed the abnormal position trajectory, the normal position trajectory and the abnormal position trajectory are irradiated onto different areas of the ground surface respectively.

Additionally, for a right-handed user taking the take-away posture, the upward direction is defined as a +z-axis direction, the downward direction as a −z-axis direction, the leftward direction (toward the target) as a +y-axis direction, the rightward direction as a −y-axis direction, the forward direction as a +x-axis direction, and the backward direction as a −x-axis direction. When the center of the normal irradiation trajectory 300 is defined as the origin, the irradiation angle of laser is controlled such that the normal irradiation trajectory 300 is parallel to the y-axis and laser is irradiated between the user's toes 151 and the golf ball 150. In this instance, it is preferable for the irradiation range to exceed both sides of the golf ball 150, so the laser is irradiated at the position where the user can recognize the normal irradiation trajectory 300 of the laser in the take-away posture.

In addition, referring to FIG. 5, when viewed from the right of the user in the state in which the golf club is positioned parallel to the y-axis, if the golf head is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 31 255CC which moves in the +x-axis direction to be parallel to the normal irradiation trajectory 300.

Furthermore, when the golf head is rotated in the clockwise direction, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 33 255CW which moves in the −x-axis direction to be parallel to the normal irradiation trajectory 300, so that the user can confirm the trajectory 31 and the trajectory 33 during the take-away posture.

Additionally, referring to FIG. 6, when the golf head is moved upward in the state in which the golf club is arranged parallel to the y-axis, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 11 255U which moves in the −y-axis direction from the normal irradiation trajectory 300.

When the golf head is moved downward, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 13 255D which moves in the +y-axis direction from the normal irradiation trajectory 300 so that the user can confirm the trajectory 21 and the trajectory 13 during the take-away posture.

Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 7, an end portion which is close to the laser generation part from the beam trajectory is referred to as a first endpoint 271 and an end portion of the opposite side is referred to as a second endpoint 272. When the golf head is moved backwards in the state in which the golf club is arranged parallel to the y-axis, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 21 255R which is inclined to the normal irradiation trajectory 300 and allows the first endpoint 271 to move in the −x-axis direction.

Furthermore, when the golf head is moved forwards, the beam trajectory is controlled to become a trajectory 23 255F which is inclined to the normal irradiation trajectory 300 and allows the first endpoint 271 to move in the +x-axis direction so that the user can confirm the trajectory 21 and the trajectory 23 during the take-away posture.

Moreover, a normal irradiation marker 310 for allowing the user to confirm the position of the normal irradiation trajectory is arranged at the position where the normal irradiation trajectory 300 is irradiated onto the ground surface.

Furthermore, the ground surface 90 is formed with a carpet or a rubber board, and the normal irradiation marker 310 can be formed by adhering or printing a sticker on the ground surface.

Additionally, referring to FIGS. 3 and 8, the fixing part 210 and the laser generation part 250 are connected at the slit beam irradiation part by a hinge 260 to rotate the laser generation part such that the irradiation direction of the slit beam irradiated to the ground surface can be changed.

The fixing part 210 is assembled to be rotatable around the center of the shaft 120, and is arranged to change the irradiation direction of the slit beam irradiated onto the ground surface by rotating the fixing part left and right relative to the center of the shaft.

In addition, an assembly part 211 which is rotatably assembled to the center of the shaft 120 is provided at one side of the fixing part, an an aperture 251 which controls the irradiation angle of the slit beam is provided on the laser generation part 250 to adjust the irradiation angle of the slit beam.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating the form of the beam trajectory 255 when the slit beam 270 is irradiated onto the ground surface 90 depending on the position of the golf club, schematically depicting the beam trajectory deviating from the normal irradiation marker 310 according to the user's posture.

Since FIG. 9 is a schematic example, it is natural that there may be a difference between the actual condition and the example.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Accordingly, any and all modifications, variations or equivalent arrangements should be considered to be within the scope of the invention, and the detailed scope of the invention will be disclosed by the accompanying claims.