Abstract:
A golf-ball catching device includes: an adapter detachably secured on a putter shaft, a fastener formed on the adapter for firmly fastening the adapter on the putter shaft, a chuck with plural pawls and fixed on the adapter, and a clutch member movably held on the chuck; whereby upon disengagement of the clutch member from the chuck to open the pawls of the chuck, the golfer may hold the putter to allow the pawls to be inserted into the hole of a putting green for picking up the golf ball without bending his or her body; and upon engagement of the clutch member with the chuck, the pawls of the chuck may be closed or retracted for a safe ergonomic putting or for a convenient safe storage into a golf bag.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A conventional ball-catching device as shown in FIG. 7 includes a base C clamped or held on a putter shaft S and a plurality of pawls P for catching a golf ball when rolled into the hole, which however has the following drawbacks: 
     1. The pawl P has an acute end portion easily injuring the golfer or breaking the golf bag when stored into the bag. 
     2. The pawls P are divergently formed on the catching device with a fixed form and can not be folded or retracted. The divergent pawls may scratch the golfer&#39;s clothes or may influence his or her putting action. 
     3. The base portion C is formed as a fixed dimension and not suitable for the putters with different sizes. 
     The present inventor has found the drawbacks of the conventional golf-ball catching device and invented the present catching device with much improvement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to provide a golf-ball catching device including: an adapter detachably secured on a putter shaft, a fastener formed on the adapter for firmly fastening the adapter on the putter shaft, a chuck with plural pawls and fixed on the adapter, and a clutch member movably held on the chuck; whereby upon disengagement of the clutch member from the chuck to open the pawls of the chuck, the golfer may hold the putter to allow the pawls to be inserted into the hole of a putting green for picking up the golf ball without bending his or her body; and upon engagement of the clutch member with the chuck, the pawls of the chuck may be closed or retracted for a safe ergonomic putting or for a convenient safe storage into a golf bag. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a sectional drawing of the present invention for catching a golf ball. 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional drawing of the present invention when retracting or closing the chuck of the catching device. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing the elements of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 shows another preferred adapter and fastener of the catching device of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 shows still another modification of the adapter and the fastener of the catching device. 
     FIG. 6 shows further modification of the fastener and the adapter of the catching device of the present invention. 
     FIG. 7 shows a conventional golf-ball catching device. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As shown in FIGS.  1 ˜ 3 , the present invention comprises: an adapter  1 , a fastener  2 , a chuck  3  and a clutch member  4 . 
     The adapter  1  may be detachably (or fixedly) mounted on a putter shaft S especially on a top end portion S 1  of the putter shaft S. The embodiments as shown in the drawing figures are illustrated for describing the present invention only, not for limiting the present invention to the specific structures as such illustrated. 
     The adapter  1  includes: a base  11  having a plurality of fastening leaves  12  foldably formed on the base  11  and having a screw hole  111  formed through the base  11  for securing the chuck  3  on the base  11  by a screw  13  passing through the screw hole  111  and locked into a screw hole  321  formed in the chuck  3 ; and a side wall  10  integrally formed on or protruding from the base  11  for securing the fastener  2  on the side wall  10 ; whereby upon grasping of the fastening leaves  12  around a top portion S 1  of the putter shaft S and upon fastening of the fastener  2  to surround the leaves  12  on the shaft S, the adapter  1  and the golf-ball catching device of the present invention will be firmly fastened on the shaft S. 
     Each fastening leaf  12  is formed with a plurality of longitudinal teeth  122  on an outer surface of each leaf to be frictionally engaged with a plurality of vertical teeth  23  juxtapositionally formed on the fastener  2  when each fastening leaf  12  is folded downwardly to be disposed about the putter shaft S, thereby fastening the leaves  12  around the shaft S by the fastener  2 . 
     The fastener  2  may be formed as an elongate strip having a fixed end portion  21  engaged or fixed on a first fixing portion  14  formed on the side wall  10  of the adapter  1  and a free end portion  22  fastened to a second fixing portion  15  formed on the side wall  10  opposite to the first fixing portion  14  after firmly surrounding and fastening the fastening leaves  12  on the shaft S. 
     The second fixing portion  15  on the side wall  10  of adapter  1  may be formed as an engaging slot  151  to be engaged or locked with the vertical tooth  23  formed on the fastener  2  for locking the free end portion  22  of the fastener  2  on the adapter  1 . 
     Each fastening leaf  12  may be formed with a frictional packing pad  121  on an inner surface of each leaf for frictionally holding the leaf  12  on the shaft  3  as fastened by the fastener  2 . 
     The fastener  2  as shown in FIG. 4 is modified to have horizontal teeth  23   a  horizontally formed on the fastener  2  in order to be engaged with a plurality of latitudinal teeth  122   a  juxtapositionally formed on each leaf  12 . 
     The fastener  2  as shown in FIG. 5 has been modified to be an elastic ring or strip to be fastened on opposite brackets  14   a ,  15   a  respectively formed on opposite ends of the side wall  10  of the adapter  1 . Naturally, the two brackets  14   a ,  15   a  may be further simplified to be a single bracket (not shown), on which the two loop ends  21 ,  22  of the elastic ring (strip)  2  are tied or fastened to the single bracket. 
     Or, the fastener  2  may be modified to be a fastening strip as shown in FIG. 6 having an elastic fastener portion (made of rubber and other elastic materials)  25  formed on the fastener  2 ; and having a coarse surface of a Velcro tape  24  formed on one end of the fastener  2  coupled with tiny hooked threads of the Velcro tape  24  formed on the other end of the fastener for fastening the fastener  2  for firmly fastening the leaves  12  on the shaft S. 
     The fastener  2  and the adapter  1  may be further modified to be a plurality of preferred embodiments for firmly fastening the catching device of the present invention on the shaft S, not limited in this invention. 
     Since the plurality of fastening leaves  12  are foldably secured to the base  11  of the adapter, the leaves  12  may be manipulated to grasp the putting shaft S even having different sizes. So, the present invention may be adapted for differently sized putting shafts. 
     The chuck  3  includes: a plurality of pawls  31  normally resiliently diverging flaredly (FIG. 1) for catching a golf ball G from a hole in a putting green; and a shank portion  32  having its lower portion secured to the base  11  of the adapter  1  such as fixed by a screw  13  and having the pawls  31  formed on an upper portion of the shank portion  32 ; with the pawls  31  operatively retracted centripetally to be closed for forming an elliptical (or spherical or arcuate) contour A (FIG. 2) for a safe ergonomic putting or for a safe convenient storage in a golf bag (not shown). 
     Each pawl  31  includes: a hook portion  311  formed on an outer end portion of the pawl  31  and having an arcuate top surface  311   a  for a smooth safe putting or safe storage of the present invention, a groove  312  recessed in a middle (or outer) portion of the pawl  31  to be engaged with an outer ring  42  of the clutch member  4  when the pawls  31  are closed as shown in FIG. 2, and a thin root portion  313  formed on an inner portion of the pawl  31  adjacent to the shank portion  32  for providing the resilience of each pawl  31  as biased on the thin root portion  313  (serving as a “fulcrum” of the lever-like pawl  31 ), the pawl  31  having an arcuate side surface  310  for smoothly engaging with or disengaging from the clutch member  4  and also for forming a smooth arcuate surface for a safe putting or storage of the catching device. 
     The clutch member  4  includes: an inner ring defining a central hole  41  to be slidably engageable with the shank portion  32  of the chuck  3 , and an outer ring  42  formed on an outer periphery of a sleeve portion  43  generally bowl-shaped, or cup-shaped, or conical shape disposed about the shank portion  32  of the chuck  3 ; with the outer ring  42  operatively engaged with each groove  312  recessed in each pawl  31  (FIG. 2) for retracting or closing the pawl  31  for forming an elliptical (or arcuate) contour A generally confined by the arcuate surfaces  310  of the pawl  31 , the bowl-shaped sleeve portion  43  of the clutch member  4  for a safe ergonomic putting or safe convenient storage of the catching device attached on the putter shaft S. 
     When catching the golf ball G, the pawls  31  of the chuck  3  have the plurality of hook portions  311  concentrically defining a circle having an inside diameter  311   d  slightly smaller than a diameter of the golf ball G as shown in FIG.  1  and having a height  311   h  of the hook portion  311  of each pawl  31  above the shank portion  32  being larger than a radius (½ diameter) of the golf ball (FIG. 1) in order to limit the ball G within the pawls  31  to prevent from releasing of the ball G from the chuck  3 . 
     The outer ring  42  of the clutch member  4  defines an inside diameter  42   d  (FIG.  2 ), generally ranging from one half (½) through two third (⅔) of the diameter of the golf ball G; and the inside diameter  42   d  of the outer ring  42  being smaller than the inside diameter  311   d  of the hook portions  311  of the pawls  31  (when normally diverged flaredly) so that the pawls  31  of the chuck  3  will be centripetally retracted for safe ergonomic putting or storage of the present invention. 
     Otherwise, if the diameter  42   d  of the outer ring  42  were too large (e.g. approximating the diameter of the ball G), the pawls  31 , as grasped by the clutch member  4 , will not be greatly retracted or closed, still diverging the pawls  31  outwardly flaredly to possibly influence a putting action or to injure the player. 
     The elements of the present invention may be made of elastomers including plastics. But the materials as used are not limited in this invention. 
     For catching or picking up golf ball from a green hole, the pawls  31  are pushed to the ball G to slidably engage the ball within the pawls  31  after holding the putter shaft S by inverting the club of the putter upwardly. The ball G is resiliently held by the pawls  31  and can be easily released from the pawls  31  after opening the pawls. 
     For putting action or for storage of the putter into a golf bag, the clutch member  4  is pushed upwardly from FIG. 1 to FIG. 2 to engage the outer ring  42  with the grooves  312  of the pawls  31 . Since the pawls  31  are flared outwardly having an inside diameter  311   d  within the hook portions  311  of the pawls  31  being larger than an inside diameter  42   d  of the outer ring  42 , the pawls  31  will be gradually retracted as converged by the outer ring  42  of the clutch member  4  to generally define an arcuate contour A (FIG. 2) of the retracted pawls and the clutch member for a safe ergonomic putting without injuring the player, or without influencing the player&#39;s putting action and also for a safe convenient storage of the present invention as attached on the putter to be stored into a bag. 
     Accordingly, the present invention provides a golf-ball catching device for catching a golf ball, which can be operated to retract the pawls of the catching device for a safe ergonomic putting or for a safe convenient storage thereof and which can be suitable for differently-sized putters. Namely, the present invention is adjustable for the putters of different sizes. 
     The present invention may be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.