Description DEVICE FOR SWING AND GOLF CLUB

Technical Field

[1] The invention relates to a device for swing and a golf club. More particularly, the invention relates to a device for swing and a golf club for exerting the force of a grip naturally backward for both of user's arms to closely contact his armpits thus to achieve body swing (body turn swing), in order to improve a specific distance by powerful impact, by correcting wrong swing actions, e.g., early wrist turn or driving with user s overlapped right hand, particularly thumb or index finger. Background Art

[2] When playing gold, swing is a very important action. The specific distance of a golf ball may be determined depending on the attitude and degree of swing. Therefore, beginners continue learn correct gripping and swing depending thereon.

[3] In spite of such a great effort, however, beginner golfers experience wrist turn earlier than desired. For example, it is desired to do swing while more force is exerted on the middle, ring and little fingers for the left hand and on the middle and ring fingers for the right hand. A beginner golfer, however, tends to exert much force on his thumb and index fingers when he does swing, so that relatively less force is exerted on the other fingers. Therefore, in swing, his wrists are naturally turned earlier than desired.

[4] Since force is not exerted on the other fingers for his right and left hands if his wrists are turned earlier as such, it is hard for both of his arms to closely contact his armpits in swing and it is thus hard to achieve smooth body turn swing.

[5] Since he cannot achieve smooth body turn swing, he cannot up-down drive balls while his left arm is being folded in impact and, down-up driving, so called chicken wing, is notably shown. Also, since he cannot achieve down-blow swing (up-down drive swing), and cannot achieve divot swing in a form that the soil under the grass in front of a golf ball is driven, the balls don't spin much.

[6] Therefore, when a beginner golfer plays golf for the first time, coaches emphasize in-out swing, and also reduced force in the golfer's right hand and arm for swing with his left arm. That is, if his right hand is overlapped in driving, his wrists are turned earlier than desired, so that he cannot drive balls by means of waist rotation and his body and it is thus impossible to obtain a desired specific distance. This is the reason why coaches emphasize the above action.

[7] However, although a beginner golfer recognizes the principle, it is very hard to acquire the skill easily. Therefore, if he corrects wrong swing actions such as early

wrist turn or driving with his overlapped right hand, particularly thumb or index finger with the inventive device for swing to be described hereinbelow, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that he will be able to acquire the skill of correct swing by easily addressing the abovementioned problem in a short period of time. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem [8] It is an object of the invention to provide a device for swing and a golf club for improving a specific distance by powerful impact since the force of a grip is naturally exerted backward in order for both of the golfer s arms to closely contact his armpits for body turn swing by correcting wrong swing actions, in a simple way, of early wrist turn or driving with an overlapped thumb or index finger.

Advantageous Effects

[9] With the invention, it is advantageous that users can improve a specific distance by powerful impact because the force of a grip is naturally exerted backward in order for both of user's arms to closely contact his armpits thus to achieve body swing (body turn swing), by correcting wrong swing actions, e.g., early wrist turn or driving with an overlapped right hand, particularly thumb or index finger. Brief Description of the Drawings

[10] The features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[11] Fig.1 is a perspective view of a conventional golf club ;

[12] Fig.2 is a perspective view of a device for swing according to a first embodiment of the invention to be applied to the golf club of Fig.1 ;

[13] Fig.3 shows a schematic exploded structure of the device of Fig.2;

[14] Fig.4 is a schematic lateral view of a golf club according to a second embodiment of the invention; and

[15] Fig.5 is a schematic lateral view of a golf club according to a third embodiment of the invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[16] The aforementioned object of the invention is achieved by a device for swing characterized by comprising: a lower body having a removable part from a grip in a golf club; and an upper body removably coupled to the lower body and having a finger arrangement in which any one finger is arranged so that the finger for holding the grip can be held and be supported thereby.

[17] Here, the removable part is a groove shaped a pipe of which one end is open, and the lower body is slide-movable toward the grip in the golf club through the groove.

[18] A slide-move coupling part may be formed in the upper and lower bodies so that the position of the finger arrangement can be varied, the slide-move coupling part being used to slide-move the upper body with respect to the lower body.

[19] It is preferred that the finger arrangement has a curvature slowly rising upward in the direction where any one finger is placed.

[20] In the meantime, the aforementioned object of the invention is achieved by a golf club characterized by comprising a rod type shaft; a head provided on the lower part of the shaft and for hitting a golf ball; and a grip provided on the upper part of the shaft to enable a user to hold it with both of his hands, wherein the grip is integrated with a contact-support which any one finger for holding the grip contacts and is supported by.

[21] Here, the contact-support has an internal space to allow the one finger to be arranged and may be formed by the upper surface of a slope projecting in a longitudinal direction of the grip on the surface of the grip.

[22] The contact- support may be formed by the upper surface of a projection projecting on one side of the grip in a different direction from the longitudinal direction of the grip so that the one finger may be arranged.

[23] Hereinafter, by illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, the invention will be described in more detail. In the description of each embodiment, like components shown in the drawings will be denoted by like reference numerals.

[24] Fig.l is a perspective view of a conventional golf club. As shown in the figure, a conventional golf club 10 comprises a long rod- type shaft 11, a head 13 provided on the lower part of the shaft 11 and for hitting a golf ball (not shown), and a grip 19 positioned on the upper part of the shaft 11 for allowing a user to hold the golf club 10 with both of his hands.

[25] The shaft 11 forms a body of the golf club 10, generally made of a metal of good elasticity and lightweight, e.g., aluminum, tungsten, etc.

[26] The head 13 consists of a hitting part 15 directly contacting golf balls, and a back projection 16 formed back of the hitting part 15. The hitting part 15 and the back projection 16 have a given thickness.

[27] The hitting part 15 is formed flat and has a given loft angle. The hitting part 15 is formed with a central point 15a. The central point 15a is positioned at a point where golf balls are hit best, so called a sweet spot.

[28] Therefore, if the golf ball is hit at the sweet spot when the user swings the golf club

10, energy is transferred from the head 13 to the golf ball, so that the golf ball flies along an intended track.

[29] A toe 17 is formed having a given curvature, in the front where the hitting part 15 and the back projection 16 meet each other. On the opposite side of the toe 17, a heel

18 is provided. The heel 18 connects the shaft 11 to the head 13, but a hogel (not shown) is usually used.

[30] The grip 19 is a part in the golf club 10 which a user actually holds. The user holds the grip 19 with both of his hands in a manner of (including but not limited to) overlapping, interlocking and ten finger gripping, of which any manner may be applied. That is, any gripping manner may be applied with the inventive device for swing 20 described hereinbelow.

[31] Fig.2 is a perspective view of a device for swing according to a first embodiment of the invention to be applied to the golf club of Fig.l. Fig.3 is a schematic exploded view of a structure of the device of Fig.2.

[32] When using the golf club 10 with a device for swing 20 (hereinafter, 'swing device') having a structure shown in the Figs. 2 and 3, wrong swing actions can be corrected in a simple way, such as early wrist turn or driving with an overlapped right hand, in particular thumb or index finger. In addition, the force of the grip can be exerted naturally backward, and both of user's arms closely contact armpits to achieve body turn swing, in order to improve a specific distance by powerful impact.

[33] The device for swing 20 for achieving such an effect comprises a lower body 30 and an upper body 40 which can be disconnected from each other. It is preferred that the swing device 20 is substantially made of an elastic material. It should be noted that the invention, however, is not limited to such a material, and the swing device 20 may be plastic or partially of a metal.

[34] The lower body 30 is coupled to the grip 19 of the golf club 10. For this purpose, a removable part 32 is formed on the lower part of the lower body 30, for coupling/ removing it to/from the grip 19.

[35] The removable part 32 may be achieved in various ways. In this embodiment, however, by means of an example, the removable part 32 is a groove 32 shaped a pipe of which one side 32a is open.

[36] With such a removable part 32 in the form of a groove 32, the open side 32a is pressed toward the shaft 11 or the grip 19 to insert the groove 32 in the shaft 11 or the grip 19. The lower body 30 is then slide-moved to a desired point on the grip 19 to arrange the lower body 30 in the desired point on the grip 19.

[37] The upper body 40 is removably coupled to the lower body 30. On the upper surface of the upper body 40, there is formed a finger arrangement 42 for placing any one finger, e.g., a thumb for holding the grip 19 to contact and be supported thereby.

[38] The finger arrangement 42 is formed to have a curvature slowly rising upward in the direction where the thumb is arranged.

[39] In this case, since every user who uses the golf club 10 has a thumb different in length or thickness, it may be inconvenient to use the finger arrangement 42 if the

position of the finger arrangement 42 is fixed.

[40] To address such a problem, the lower body 30 and the upper body 40 are further provided with a slide-move coupling part 35 for slide-moving the upper body 40 with respect to the lower body 30 to enable the position of the finger arrangement 42 to be varied. The slide-move coupling part 35 can be easily implemented by a projection with a recess 35a formed on the lower body 30 and a projection 35b formed on the upper body 40. Such a coupling structure of the projections 35a and 35b is also referred to as a dovetail coupling structure.

[41] By means of the operation of the slide-move coupling part 35, the upper body 40 can slide-move with respect to the lower body 30 whose position is fixed. Since the upper body 40 can move as such, the position of the finger arrangement 42 formed on the upper surface of the upper body 40 can be varied.

[42] In addition to such a structure, however, golfers can practice swing by selecting and coupling to the lower body a desired finger arrangement from among a plurality of small, medium and large finger arrangements 42 different in their size, area, height, etc.

[43] As described above, according to the embodiment of the invention, wrong swing actions can be corrected, e.g., early wrist turn or swing with an overlapped right hand, in particular, a thumb or index finger, in a simple way. Accordingly, the force from the grip is exerted naturally backward, so that both of the user s arms closely contact his armpits to achieve body turn swing in order to improve a specific distance by powerful impact.

[44] In the meantime, users can practice swing with the swing device 20 additionally coupled to the golf club 10 according to the aforementioned first embodiment.

[45] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative means serving the same action as that of the aforementioned swing device 20 can be integrated in the golf club 10, more particularly in the grip 19 of the golf club 10. Now, it will be schematically described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5.

[46] Fig.4 is a schematic lateral view of a golf club according to a second embodiment of the invention and Fig.5 is a schematic lateral view of a golf club according to a third embodiment of the invention.

[47] As shown in Figs.4 and 5, the scope of the second and third embodiments covers the golf club 10a and 10b.

[48] That is, in the second and third embodiments, the grip 19 is integrated with a contact-support 50 and 60 which any one finger, e.g., a thumb, for holding the grip 19 contacts and is supported by.

[49] In the second embodiment, the contact- support 50 has an internal space 50a in which the thumb is arranged. The space 50a is formed on the upper surface of the slope

50 projecting in the same direction as the longitudinal direction of the grip 19 on the surface of the grip 19.

[50] In this case, when a user puts his thumb on the contact- support 50 in order to hold the grip 19, the thumb can be easily placed in the space for the user to practice swing in an effective and advantageous way.

[51] In the third embodiment, the contact-support 60 is formed by the upper surface of the projection 60 projecting on one side of the grip 19 in a different direction from the longitudinal direction of the grip 19, so that user s thumb can be placed therein. In this case, the contact- support 60 may be shaped a branch of a tree slantingly protruding from its trunk.

[52] Even in this case, since the shape is suitable for user s thumb holding the grip 19 being placed, it advantageously provides the effect that the user can practice swing effectively.

[53] As such, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and modified and varied without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. It should also noted that all of such modifications and variations of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

[54] The word "comprising" and its conjugates, does not exclude the presence of elements other than those listed in any claims or the specification as a whole. The singular reference of an element does not exclude the plural reference of such elements and vice- versa. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.