Instrumented golf club system & method of use

Abstract

An instrumented golf club system having an instrumented golf club, an interface means and a computing means is disclosed herein. The instrumented golf club includes a plurality of sensors, an internal power supply, an angular rate sensor and an internal ring buffer memory for capturing data relating to a golf swing. The interface means is capable of transferring data from the instrumented golf club to the computing means for processing the data and presenting the data in a useful and informative format. The data may be used to assist a golfer's swing, or to design an appropriate golf club for a specific type of golfer.

Description

[0001] The present application is a continuation application of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 09 / 310,835, filed on May 12, 1999.[0003] 1. Field of the Invention[0004] The present invention relates to golf equipment and, more specifically, to an instrumented golf club system having the ability to make quantitative measurements of specific mechanical or physical properties of the golf club during a golf swing. Data descriptive of the measured properties is stored within a memory device provided in the instrumented golf club.[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art[0006] Various data measuring and collecting devices and methods are used for analyzing a golf club during a golf swing. In a similar manner, the effectiveness of a golf ball impact with the golf club during the golf swing can be measured in terms of initial launch conditions. Such launch conditions include the initial velocity, launch angle, spin rate and spin axis of the golf ball. These launch conditions are determined pr...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, not every golfer has ready access to professional golf instruction.

A significant drawback associated with the use of wires in an instrumented golf club is that the wires can be very cumbersome, and can become obtrusive to the golfer when the golfer attempts to swing the golf club.

However, this bat does not contain any data storage capability.

Thus, data transfer to an external memory device is a significant drawback.

The cumbersome nature of data transfer via cables or wires affects the motion and feel of a golfer's actual golf swing.

In addition, while the use of radio transmissions is preferable to the use of wires or cables emanating from the golf club for transferring data, a transmitter adds excessive weight.

The effective range of these wireless instrumented golf clubs is limited by the low power used in such embodiments, and the accuracy of the radio transmitted data is subject to interference or noise from other sources of nearby radio transmissions.

Furthermore, in conventional systems, the receiving equipment typically must be located in close proximity to the radio transmitter disposed in the golf club thereby restricting the flexibility and portability of using such systems.

Using a linear data capture approach, as taught by the prior art, would require extensive amounts of memory, and would make it very difficult to provide such memory requirements completely internal to an instrumented golf club.

In the prior art, instrumented golf clubs used a combination of sensors to formulate an indirect measurement of rotation rate, which resulted in imprecise measurements.

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