This invention relates to a golf practice aid and particularly to a golf practice aid which assists the golfer in adopting the correct stance and set-up position.

It is generally accepted among golf experts that adoption of the correct set-up position, which includes positioning of the feet and also ball placement in relation to the feet position, is essential to the player hitting the ball accurately. For a beginner at the game, a square stance is advisable particularly when playing long shots especially with the driver, and to achieve this, the player must accurately know the intended direction of play. As the player progresses at the game, the player may modify this square stance to suit his or her own particular style but, when a person is starting to play the game, most professionals will advocate a square stance.

For a beginner at golf, a professional is the person to advise on these and many other matters but, of course, the services of a professional can only be for a limited period of time and are costly.

It would, therefore, be useful to have a golf aid which, when the professional has shown the player his or her correct set-up position, can be used to assist the player when practising in reproducing that set-up position in relation to the intended line of flight when the professional is not present to give such advice.

Many proposals have previously been made to provide a mechanism to assist a tyro golfer in achieving the correct set-up position. The majority of these include a structure which is placed on the ground and which can be set to conform to the optimum stance - as decided by a professional - for the particular golfing beginner. One such structure is disclosed in United States Patent No 4,647,048 to Welch and includes a base which is laid on the ground and two pivoted arms each attached to the base at one of their ends, the other end of

each such arm having a foot guide. In use, a golf ball is placed adjacent the remote end of the base and the golfer's feet positioned by the professional in the guides. Thus, the golfer has the correct set-up position. This set-up position can be recorded by noting the relative positions of the base, pivoted arms and foot guides so that when the structure is collapsed for storage after the practice session is over, its position may be recovered for a further practice session at a later time without the professional being present.

As mentioned earlier, the golfer not only requires to assume the correct feet position in relation to the ball but also requires to know the intended line of flight of the ball ie, the aiming direction, if the practice session is to be meaningful. The structure of Welch does not provide this.

It is the main object of the invention to provide a golf practice aid which will assist the player when practising in reproducing his or her correct square set-up position in relation to the intended line of flight without further assistance from a professional, or improvements in such an aid generally.

According to the present invention there is provided a golf practice aid comprising a flat head portion with at least one indicator giving the golfer the intended direction of aim, two elongate arms each pivotally mounted at one end to the head portion, a toe locator attached to and adjustably positionable along each arm, the head portion and the arms carrying indicia for the recording of the relative set-up positions for a golfer of the head in relation to the arms and the position of the toe locators on the arms.

One said indicator may be a line running the entire width of the head portion. Alternatively, or additionally, the said indicator may be a straight edge of the head portion or a straight slot in the head portion which also receives tee pegs.

The head portion may be elongate with two projections each of which has one of the arms pivotally attached to it.

The head portion may be generally T-shaped, the top of the T having at least one aiming slot through which a tee peg may be passed to receive a ball to be played and in which the shank of the T receives the said ends of the arms.

The shank of the head portion may be provided with locating means for accurately locating the position of the arms relative to the head portion when in use.

Each said arm towards its end remote from the head portion may be provided with a longitudinal slot along which slides studs on its toe locator.

Each toe locator may be provided with a small hole through which a tee peg may be passed into the ground to lock the golf practice aid in position.

In the accompanying drawings :-

Figure 1 is a plan view of a golf practice aid first embodiment; and

Figure 2 is a plan view of a further embodiment.

Referring first to Figure 1 of the drawing, a golf practice aid comprises a head portion 2 and two arms 4 and 6. The head portion 2 is generally T-shaped with the top 8 of the T having two straight aiming slots 10 through which a tee peg 12 may be passed to receive a practice golf ball. It will be appreciated that only one (or more than two) such slots 10 may be provided but, with two such slots, the left hand slot would normally be for use by a right-handed golfer using a wooden club and the right hand slot would normally be for a left- handed golfer using a wooden club.

The two arms 4 and 6 are each at one end pivotally mounted at 14 and 16 on the shank 18 of the head portion 2. The shank 18 is also provided with locating means in the form of small holes 20 and 22 which co-operate with holes (not shown) in the arms 4 and 6 and through which tee pegs or similar pegs may be passed releasably to lock the arms 4 and 6 and the head portion 2 in relative position.

Each arm 4 and 6 is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 24 and 26 which receives pairs of studs 28, 30

on toe locators 32 and 34. These toe locators are shaped as shown in the drawing and include shaped cut-out portions 36 and 38 to enable the correct positioning of the feet 40, 42 of the player. One or more of each pair of studs 28, 30 may be tightenable so as to retain the position of its toe locator 32 or 34 on its arm 4 or 6. Also, each toe locator 32, 34 may be provided with a small hole 44, 46 through which a tee peg or the like may be passed into the ground to retain the golf practice aid in position during use.

The head portion 2 has two indicators giving the golfer the intended direction of aim, thus ensuring the square stance set-up, namely, the straight edge 48 and the slots 10.

To use the golf practice aid of the present invention as above described, the assistance of a golf professional is sought to establish the correct square set-up position of the player in relation to the intended line of flight, or aim. This will determine the relative positions of the golf ball and the feet of the player and the line of flight. The toe locators 32 and 34 will be locked in position on their slides, the arms 4 and 6 will be locked in position in relation to the head portion 2 and the position of the ball will be marked by the mark 50 adjacent the tee peg 12. The holes 20 and 22 used for the correct set-up position will be similarly marked or noted. The golf practice aid can then be used for practice. When this practice session is finished, the locking means of the arms relative to the head portion will be released, the arms and head portion can then be rotated so as to lie in roughly a straight line and thus readily be conveyed and stored. When the next practice session arrives, the correct set-up position for the player can readily be determined with the use of the golf practice aid of the present invention without the services of a golf professional.

The various parts of the golf practice aid of the present invention may conveniently be made of plastics with the top of the head portion and perhaps the toe locators faced with an artificial grass surface many different types of which are

known today. From the prototype golf practice aid as above described in relation to Figure 1, the developed practice aid of Figure 2 has been created. Like parts have been given the same reference numerals and Figure 2 should be read with reference to Figure 1.

It will be noted that the embodiment of Figure 2 is somewhat different dimensionally to that of Figure 1 but the overall structures are similar.

In the Figure 2 embodiment, the head portion 2 has two indicators of the intended aiming direction. These are the straight edge 48 and a line 52 extending the width of the head portion 2. Indicia 54 and 56 on the head portion 2 register with a line indicator 58 and 60 on arms 4 and 6 respectively to enable the golfer to recover the exact positions of the arms in relation to the head portion at the next practice session. Similarly, the arms 4 and 6 are provided with indicia 62 and 64 so that the exact positions of the foot locators 32 and 34 on the arms 4 and 6 can be recovered. Indicia 66 adjacent the straight edge 48 of the head portion 2 enables ball placement to be consistent when the ball to be struck is located on the surface 68 which may be any of the well-known artificial grass surfaces.