Golf putter

A golf putter for putting a ball along a path of desired golf ball travel includes a head having a planar striking surface. A horizontal extension from the head positions the shaft in a vertical plane 1/2 inch to 2 inches rearward of the head. The extension provides the connecting link between the shaft and the rear surface of the head and locates the center of gravity of the head between the shaft and the ball to be stroked when the head is in a striking position relative to the ball.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention is in the field of sporting goods equipment, and more 
particularly golf putters. The game of golf is very old and a wide variety 
of clubs have been designed and used, many of which have been patented. I 
am a gold pro and thus, am exceedingly familiar with the wide variety of 
putters on the market today as well as most of the putters used in the 
past. I believe the putter disclosed is new as compared to past and 
present putters. 
Putting is a skill that takes many hours of practice, and often many years 
of golfing, to master. A golfer, in order to be a good putter, must have 
many different skills. The golfer must be able to "read the green", that 
is be able to determine the "break" in the green and the "speed" of the 
green, in order to determine the direction in which he will putt the ball 
and the strength of the stroke which he will apply to the ball. Even if 
the golfer is able to correctly read the green, the golfer will often miss 
a putt because the stroke he applies to the ball somehow varies from his 
"reading" of the green. The putter disclosed herein will help to maximize 
the probabilities that the golfer's stroke will correspond to the way in 
which the golfer read the green. 
The putter is designed so that the shaft of the putter is completely behind 
the center of gravity of the putter's head. Previous putter designs had 
the shaft entering the putter head either at or in front of the center of 
gravity of the putter head. These previous designs often led to the golfer 
either driving the ball into the green during his putt, or "driving the 
putter head" into the green before striking the ball. All of these putter 
designs required a golfer, in order to "keep his eye on the ball", to 
direct his eyes to a position directly between his feet. This reduced the 
golfer's ability to see both the ball and the intended line of travel of 
the ball at the same time. Additionally, prior designs required the golfer 
to impart a starting force on the club in order to start his backswing. 
Driving the ball into the green, driving the putter into the green, not 
being able to visualize the line of travel, and a "hitch in the backswing" 
often lead to missed putts. The design of the putter disclosed herein has 
the shaft located well behind the striking surface and the center of 
gravity of the head and helps to minimize these problems. 
My putter allows the golfer to keep the putter head lower without 
contacting the head with the green before contacting the ball. As a 
result, when the golfer follows through after striking the ball, the 
putter imparts an increased top spin on the ball which gives the ball a 
truer roll than the prior putters. Prior putters tried to alleviate the 
problem of driving the ball into the green by putting an angle on the face 
of the putter. The design disclosed in this application also incorporates 
this angle feature to minimize the probability of driving the ball into 
the green. Also the design of the putter helps to aid the golfer in 
starting his backswing. The center of gravity of the club, when the shaft 
is held vertically to address the ball is in front of the shaft. The club 
head acts like a displaced weight on a pendulum and, therefore, helps the 
golfer to start his backswing without the need of the golfer imparting 
force on the club to start the swing. This reduces the possibility of the 
golfer having a "hitch" in his backswing. 
A further benefit of the design of my club is that when the shaft is held 
in a vertical plane in order to address the ball, the ball is not directly 
between the player's feet but rather closer to the front foot than the 
back foot. Thus, a player must turn his head slightly toward the direction 
fo the hole to see the ball. The slight turn greatly increases the amount 
of green within the player's peripheral vision, and therefore allows the 
player to both on the ball and keep his eye on the line of intended travel 
at the same time. Thus, it can be sen that the club helps to alleviate 
many of the problems inherent in previous putters. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
One embodiment of the present invention is a golf putter comprising an 
elongated shaft having a longitudinal axis and further having a gripping 
means attached to its proximate end, the distal end of the shaft is 
attached by an attaching means to a head that has a planar striking 
surface, a rear surface, a sole surface extending between the planar 
striking surface and the rear surface, and a top surface extending between 
the planar striking surface and the rear surface. The shaft is attached to 
the head so that the center of gravity of the head is between the 
longitudinal axis of the shaft and the planar striking surface, the planar 
striking surface is arranged at a critical angle to the first longitudinal 
axis to impart an upward force component to a golf ball upon striking it. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a golf putter capable 
of providing an upward force component to a golf ball upon striking to 
prevent the golf ball from being driven into the green and providing the 
golf ball with top spin. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a golf putter that 
has its head and shaft arranged so that the weight of the head will aid 
the golfer in beginning his backswing. 
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a golf putter 
having its shaft arranged so that when a golfer addresses the golf ball 
the golfer's peripheral vision of the green will be increased. 
Related objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent 
from the following description.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the 
invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the 
drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will 
nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the 
invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications 
in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles 
of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would 
normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. 
Referring to FIG. 1 there is illustrated golf putter 20 which includes an 
elongated shaft 21, a head 22 and a shank 23 connecting shaft 21 and head 
22 together. Shaft 21 includes a gripping means 24 attached to the 
proximate end 25 of the shaft. Shaft 21, shank 23 and club head 22 may all 
be fabricated from a single integral piece of metal or similar material 
and thus it is not required that the various component parts which make up 
golf putter 20 be fabricated as individual parts and then assembled. 
However, conventional golf club construction dictates that normally the 
head 22 and shank 23 are drawn together at the fabricated stage such as by 
a casting or forging operation and the distal end 37 of the particular 
shaft 21 is then secured to the shank 23. The desirability in attaching 
the shaft 21 as a separate component part is that this member is typically 
constructed of a different material than the head 22 and the shank 23 and 
is fabricated in a different manner. There is also a secondary advantage 
to this separate construction concept, and that is that the shaft 21 may 
be varied as to its stiffness and length while the head 22 and shank 23 
remain the same. As it will be come apparent hereinafter, it is envisioned 
as part of the concept associated with the present golf putter invention 
that the shank 23 may be fabricated as a replaceable item such that it 
would be separately joined to the head 22 and to the shaft 21 rather than 
be casted or forged as part of the head. This replaceable or 
interchangeable concept enables the shank 23 characteristics to be revised 
without the necessity to change the shaft 21 or the head 22 configuration. 
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the head 22 and shank 23 will be described 
and discussed in greater detail. Head 22 includes a rear surface 26, a 
planar ball striking surface 27, a sole portion 28 having a curvature and 
extending between rear surface 26 and planar striking surface 27 and a 
substantially flat top surface 29 also extending between rear surface 26 
and planar striking surface 27. It is to be understood that golf putter 20 
is arranged for a right handed golfer in that shaft 21 extends at an 
incline from its point of connection with shank 23 toward the area where a 
golfer would stand. Therefore, heel 30 is that end of head 22 which is 
closer to the golfer and toe 31 of head 22 is that end which is farthest 
from the golfer. The curvature to sole portion 28 can be best be 
illustrated by referring to FIG. 2 wherein the sole portion 28 upwardly 
and outwardly diverges from center line 32 toward heel 30 and toe 31. 
Shaft 21 is generally cylindrical throughout, although slightly tapering, 
and has a first longitudinal axis which is coincident and represented by 
line 33. The planar striking surface 27 is disposed in a ball striking 
geometric plane represented by line 34 in FIG. 1. Planar striking surface 
27 is inclined in an upward and rearward manner to provide approximately 
four degrees of positive loft. This loft is illustrated by the angle 
between line 34 and a vertical plane contacting said planar striking 
surface 27 at its forwradmost point and represented by line 35. The 
relationship between the first longitudinal axis line 33 and the planar 
striking geometric plane 34 is best illustrated in FIG. 1. As can be seen 
from FIG. 1 first longitudinal axis 33 lies in a vertical plane totally 
parallel to line 35 which represents a plane contacting the forwardmost 
point upon the planar striking surface 27. While the preferred embodiment 
incorporates a four degree positive loft, it is envisioned the positive 
loft of the planar striking surface may range from two degrees to eight 
degrees. 
The amount of the incline of the shaft 21 in the direction of the golfer is 
best illustrated in FIG. 2. The longitudinal axis 33 is inclined sixteen 
degrees, thirty seconds from a vertical line 36 intersecting longitudinal 
axis 38 of shank 23. This angle may vary from five degrees to thirty 
degrees and still be consistent with the teachings of this disclosure. 
Reference to line 33 being rearward of planar striking surface 27 is based 
upon the concept that the forward direction is the direction of desired 
gold ball travel and it is planar striking surface 27 which contacts the 
golf ball in order to direct it along this desired path of travel. A 
further relationship between first longitudinal axis line 33 and head 22 
is illustrated in FIG. 1 in which it is illustrated that line 33 extends 
past head 22 entirely on one side of the head 22. 
Shaft 21 and head 22 are joined by a shank 23 having a second longitudinal 
axis represented by line 38. When the head 22 is in a striking position 
relative to the ball, the second longitudinal axis 38 lies entirely within 
a horizontal plane. As is illustrated in FIG. 1, first longitudinal axis 
33 and second longitudinal axis 38 intersect to form right angles. Shank 
23 is of sufficient length so that the distance between line 33 
representing the longitudinal axis and line 35 representing a vertical 
plane contacting the forward motion point of the planar striking surface 
is two inches. It is envisioned that shank 23 may be of a maximum length 
of two inches or have a length from 1/2 to 2 inches, causing shaft 21 to 
be behind the center of gravity 40 of head 22. 
Shank 23 enters head 22 on its rear surface 26 as is best illustrated in 
FIG. 2. The shank 23 enters head 22 so that a vertical line 36 
intersecting the longitudinal axis 38 of shank 23 is nineteen 
thirty-seconds of an inch from center line 32 of head 22. It is envisioned 
that shaft 21 and shank 23 may be arranged differently with respect to the 
center line 32 of the head. As is clearly illustrated, shank 23 enters 
head 22 well above sole 28. Various means of attachment of shank 23 to 
head 22 are envisioned. Illustrated in the drawings and in the preferred 
embodiment, the method of attaching the shank 23 to the head 22 is 
accomplished by a cavity 39 sized to allow the outside diameter of shank 
23 to be inserted snuggly therein. Various means of securing such shank 
within such cavity are envisioned, such as gluing, welding, and forging. 
Up to this point in the description of this invention, reference has been 
made generally to the rear surface 26, and top surface 29, and although 
under conventional golf putter designs, the rear surface and top surface 
are normally continuous in nature being either flat or slightly curved, 
rear surface 26 and top surface 29, disclosed herein are actually very 
complex in nature. 
Top surface 29 actually consists of 6 surface areas, excluding the surface 
formed by cylindrical housing 41, a generally flat uppermost surface 42, a 
lowermost upward surface 43 having the same focus of curvature as sole 
surface 28, an upper toe surface 44 and an upper heel surface 45 having 
the same radius of curvature as each other from the same focus of 
curvature as sole surface 28, and lower toe surface 46 and lower heel 
surface 47 having the same radius of curvature as each other from the same 
focus of curvature as sole surface 28. Upper toe surface 44 and lower toe 
surface 46 extend the same distance from the toe 31 toward the center line 
32 of the head, and upper heel surface 45 and lower heel surface 47 also 
extend the same distance toward center line 32 from heel 30. Rear surface 
26 consists of 4 surface areas, excluding the rearward surfaces of 
cylindrical housing 41 and cylindrical housing support 48. The forward 
rear surface 49 lies in a vertical plane, the rearward rear surface 50 
also is vertical and the middle toe rear surface 51 and middle heel 
surface 52 lie in a vertical plane between forward rear surface 49 and 
rearward rear surface 50. The combinations of the top surfaces and 
rearward surfaces create ahead weighted at the toe and the heel as is 
illustrated. 
One particular point of complexity is the point where the shank 23 attaches 
to the head 22, which consists of a cylindrical housing 41 having a 
longitudinal axis of symmetry coincident with second longitudinal axis 38. 
Cylindrical housing 41 contains a cavity 39 internally sized to fit the 
outside diameter of shank 23. Cylindrical housing 41 is fixedly attached 
to forward rear surface 49 and has a rear surface 53 which lies in a 
vertical plane between the rearward rear surface 50 and the middle toe 
rear surface 51 and the middle heel rear surface 52. Cylindrical housing 
41 is fixedly attached to the lower most upper surface 43 by a cylindrical 
housing support 48. 
The above disclosed invention helps to reduce the probability of error in 
putting a golf ball by increasing the golfer's peripheral vision in the 
direction of the desired path of golf ball travel, by imparting top spin 
to the golf ball when stroked and by aiding the golfer in starting his or 
her backswing. When the head 22 of the putter 20 is positioned behind the 
golf ball and the shaft 21 is held in a vertical plane, the golf ball, 
rather than being positioned directly between the golfer's feet (as is the 
case with previous putters), is located two inches closer to the golfer's 
front foot than is normally the case. This positioning of the golf ball 
requires the golfer to turn his or her head slightly in the direction of 
desired travel. This slight turn of the head greatly increases the 
golfer's peripheral vision in that direction. Additionally, the 
arrangement disclosed lifts the head 22 of the putter 20 more quickly 
through the arc of the golfer's followthrough than is typically the case 
with prior designs, thereby imparting increased top spin on the golf ball 
and imparting an upward force component to the ball. Finally the location 
of the center of gravity 40 of the head 22 in front of the shaft 21 causes 
the putter 20 to act as a displaced pendulum. The weight of the head 22 
being displaced from the vertical plane in which the shaft 21 is held 
begins the backswing of the putter 20 without the golfer being required to 
impart a starting force. Since the golfer is not required to impart a 
starting force to overcome the inertia of the club at rest, it is less 
likely that the golfer will have a hitch in his or her backswing. 
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the 
drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as 
illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that 
only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all 
changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are 
desired to be protected.