BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention is in the field of athletic footwear. More specifically it relates to an improvement in golf shoes and their fabrication.

Background and Prior Art

It has long been known by golfers that a proper golf swing is essential to good performance in the game. A proper golf swing involves the coordinated movement or non-movement of all the golfer's various body parts. It includes proper positioning of the head, arms, shoulders, torso, legs and fee<t. A wide range of devices and techniques have been, proposed heretofore to • make the golf swing more automatic and to eliminate the need to focus on certain aspects of the swing.

United States Patent Number 4,149,324 issued on April 17. 1979 to es Lesser and Frank ^' R. Washburn and commonly assigned with the present invention, discloses the concept that golf shoes can advantageously have specially beveled edges to assist the wearer in making a proper golf swing.. This patent, which ^' is. incorporated . herein by reference, points out that conventionally, golf shoes are mirror images of one another and that usually golf shoes are little more than comfortable street shoes with spikes to provide an anchor to the turf. These shoes, marketed by the owners of the present invention as the "Washburn" shoe, provided the feature of having differentially beveled edges, that is

the edge of the right shoe was different from the left. This beveling helped the golfer achieve the desired lateral movement and improved the golfer's swing. Although these shoes were a major step forward in golf shoe design and did provide substantial advantages to their wearer, as introduced, they presented certain manufacturing and durability problems. In- addition, they did not address all the factors inherent in a golf swing and thus left opportunities for further improvements.

In one particular; the Washburn shoe did no always grip the.wearer's heel. In our studies, we have observed that the golfer's foot would tend to pull out of the shoe. This separation would have the effect of eliminating much of the advantage provided by the shoe's design. In another particular, the soles of these prior shoes at times had problems with cracking and tearing" It is one object of this invention to provide improvements in the Washburn type shoe. it is also an object of this invention to provide golf shoes which promote a proper golf swing and have a commercially-attractive appearance.

STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION

It- has now been found that differentially beveled golf shoes of the Washburn type are improved by rigidly incorporating into their structure a substantially non-deforraable heel counter. Such a counter can grip the golfer's heel and allows the shoes to more completely proximate the proper golf swing. Stated in structural terms, this aspect of the invention provides an improvement in a pair of golf shoes in which the individual shoes have differential inward and

downward beveling on the edges of their soles to promote a proper golf swing. In these shoes, the beveling on the shoe corresponding to the handedness of the golfer (that is, right shoe for a right-handed golfer and left shoe for a left-handed golfer) is along substantially the entire inner edge. On the other shoe of the pair the beveling is from about the inner edge at the ball around the toe and along substantially the entire outer edge. In such shoes, the improvement involves coupling to each of the soles in substantially rigid affixment a substantially non deformable heel counter. The combination of the rigid heel counter and the particularly beveled sole is especially advantageous because of the beneficial action of the beveled soles on the golfer's swing and the ability of the heel counter to force the golfer to take advantage of this beneficial action.

In another aspect this invention employs the heel counter improvement in combination with an external heel counter support adhered to the sole and to the upper of the shoe.

In a further aspect this invention provides an improvement in differentially beveled sole. golf shoes wherein outer portions of the sole of the right shoe for the right-handed golfer (or left for the left-handed golfer) are cantilevered and/or flaired outward for additional bracing and resistance to pivoting and swaying in that direction during the backswing. In this embodiment, the placement of the spikes or cleats on the flaired shoe can advantageously be wider than the placement of the spikes or cleats on the unflaired shoe.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Brief Description of the Drawings

In this specification, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a partially cut away side view of a golf shoe embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a rear-facing cross sectional view taken at line 2-2 of the golf shoe of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-section of a flared outside sole for use in a golf shoe of this invention; and Figure 4 is a bottom view of the soles of a pair of golf shoes embodying preferred aspects of this invention.

Description of Preferred Embodiments

Referring now more particularly to Figures 1 and 2 in the drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like parts in the differing views, it will be seen that Figure 1 provides a side view of a golf shoe 10 of this invention. This shoe includes a conventional appearing upper 11 attached to a molded sole 12. In the embodiment shown, sole 12 has been hollowed out and filled with weight-saving plastic foam insert 13.

Insert 13 can be made, of ethylene vinyl .acetate foam or . the like as desired. Upper 11 is glued or. heat-molded to the sole 12. Shoe 10 is a right shoe for a right-handed golfer, or as defined herein, it is the shoe which corresponds to the "handedness" of the golfer. Thus, as set forth in the teachings of USP 4.149.324. it has an inward and downward bevel 14 along its entire inside edge but not on its outside edge 15.

In accord with the present invention, the shoe is equipped with a substantially non-deformable heel counter 16. This is firmly and substantially rigidly affixed to sole 12 so as to form a single coupled unit with sole 12. Again this can be accomplished with glues, hot melt adhesives or the like. Heel counte 16 surrounds the golfer's heel and,' as shown, extends forward from the rear of the shoe about 1 1/2 to 4 inches especially about 2 to 3 inches. Heel counter 16 is fabricated from plastic (e.g. polyurethane) or hard fiber sheet stock so as to be firm and offer support to tήe; golfer. The heel counter comes up high enough to grip the golfer's heel. By the use of the heel counter, the golfer's foot is held into the shoe so that when the golfer pivots he does so in the set manner dictated by the shape of the sole of the shoe.

The direct coupling of the golfer's foot to the sole of the shoe can be further enhanced by the addition of an external heel counter support 17 which is generally made of plastic or hard rubber and adhered or sewn around the outside rear of the shoe immediately above and in attachment to the edge of the molded sole. Another device that will assist in retaining the golfer's foot in the shoe during'the swing is a padded collar around the top of the shoe, or as shown as 18 in Figures 1 and 2. around the Achilles tendon area of the shoe. Other features of the s.hoe construction shown in these Figures include an insole 19 which can serve as cushioning or merely to present a comfortable flat surface for the foot to rest upon. In various embodiments of this invention, this insole can be made thick or thin or tapered in thickness. This insole can be used to achieve a variation in heel height from negative to positive or visa versa by means of suitable tapering.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an improved profile for the outside edge of the right shoe sole for right-handed golfers or left shoe for left-handed golfers. In this improved profile. instead of being substantially vertical, the outer edge of the sole from about the toe to about the heel is flaired outwards to enhance the support and to make that edge of the shoe more resistant to lateral movement. The extent of this flairing is from about 3/16 of an inch up to about 1/2 of an inch with the actual dimension selected being graded according to shoe size. Larger shoes in the size range can employ larger flairings while smaller shoes employ smaller flairings. In Figure 3. a cross section of a sole made at essentially the same place as the cross section in

Figure 2, this flairing. is depicted as item 20. with insert 13 in sole 12 and bevel 14 being as described above. In Figure 3. item 21- is a shadow view of an indention or relief molded into, or' cut into the- flairing. This indention is one of one or more in the flairing . They are present to promote flexibility and proper bending of the shoe during, walking while • permitting the desired bracing action of the flaired sole to be achieved. In Figure 4 flairing 20 is shown to extend substantially along the outside edge of the right shoe for a right-handed golfer. This flairing can take any shape which ^* is aesthetically pleasing. Advantageously, this flairing is not present on the inside of the other shoe, even though this shoe's inside edge is not inwardly beveled. Figure 4 also shows that the right shoe contains 4 indentions or reliefs 21. 21A. 21B and 21C in flair 20. These indentions extent inward at their base to about the width of the flair. They may. if desired, by accompanied by or flex grooves 27,

27A, 27B and 27C which cross the bottom of the sole and further promote bending and associated comfort during walking. The other shoe of the pair has the same flex grooves, shown as 27' 27A' 27B' and 27C, respectively 5. but does not have the one or more indentions in the side of its sole because it does not have the flaired outer edge of the right shoe.

The golf shoe depicted in Figures 1 and 2 is not shown as having spikes or cleats. These have been 0 omitted to simplify the drawings. In fact, the shoes of this invention would have spikes or cleats of the metal or hard rubber/plastic variety. These can be placed at conventional locations about the ball and heel areas. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the 5 placement of the spikes is different on the right and left shoes with- the. spikes- on the shoe corresponding to the golfer's handedness being placed in a wider pattern and the spikes on the other shoe being in a narrower pattern. .This is shown in Figure 4 where a pair of 0 soles for a right-handed golfer are depicted. The right shoe 10 has its sole 12 flaired on its outer edge at 21 in the region set forth with the dotted line. Its. inside edge is beveled at 14. The left shoe, 10A has its sole 12'- beveled around its toe and along its 5 outside surface.at 14' and carries on its bottom 10 spikes 22' through 26a' . Sole 12 of shoe.10 carries 10 . spikes or cleats 22. through 26a. Spikes 23 and 23a are- spaced about 1/4 inch (that is from about 1/8 to about 3/8 inch) further apart than corresponding spikes 23' 0 and 23a' on the left shoe. Likewise, spikes 24 and 24a are spaced about 1/4 inch (that is from about 1/8 to about 3/8 inch) further apart than spikes 24' and 24a' This wider placement on the right shoe allows it to plant more firmly and to achieve the desired correct

swing. As will be appreciated, for a left-handed golfer, this pattern would be reversed.

While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention can be adapted and modified without departing from its spirit and that its scope is defined by the following claims.