Golfing aid

A golf club supporting apparatus is disclosed. The golf club supporting apparatus includes a base member having a lower portion including two spaced apart points contacting the ground and an upper portion connected to a shaft receiver. The shaft receiver includes a notched opening for receiving a shaft of the club being supported. The shaft is placed into the notched opening and a head of the club rests on the ground. The lower portion of the base member and the golf club head rest on the ground such that the golf club shaft is supported in a generally upright position. A clip is provided on the base member for attaching same to the upper rim of a golf bag. The method of using the golf club supporting apparatus includes the steps of inserting the golf club shaft in the notched opening of the supporting apparatus and sliding the golf club tapered shaft down the notched opening until the tapered shaft is firmly engaged by the notched opening. The golf club head and the supporting apparatus is then placed on a ground surface.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to golfing, and more particularly to a method 
and apparatus for supporting a golf club in a partially upright position. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Golfing has been one of the fastest growing sports in recent years. The 
sport of golfing is extremely popular, not only in the United States, but 
also in many foreign countries, such as Canada and Japan. 
Various types of devices or paraphernalia have been developed to provide a 
golfer a more pleasurable round of golf. Although a round of golf may be 
played by one walking the course and carrying one's bag, a substantial 
number of golfers ride in an electric or gasoline powered golf cart or 
walk the course pulling a pull cart. In some instances when a golf cart is 
used, the cart is required to stay on a cart path especially constructed 
for the cart. The cart is not allowed to traverse fairways or greens. In 
other instances, a golf cart is allowed to travel on fairways, but is 
restricted to the cart path around the tee areas and greens. 
One problem that arises during use of a golf cart is when the golfer must 
leave the cart and walk to his ball in order to take a shot. If the ball 
is in the fairway, the golfer must walk from the cart path to the fairway 
to where his ball has landed. In many cases, the golfer will take two or 
more clubs to the ball's location and decide when he reaches that location 
which club to use for his next shot. In other cases, when the ball has 
landed off, but near, the green, the golfer will usually take a putter and 
one or more other clubs such as a wedge with him to the ball's location. 
Taking a number of clubs at once eliminates taking a shot and placing the 
ball onto the green and then having to walk back and retrieve the putter 
for a subsequent putt. 
Similarly, golf pull carts are not generally permitted on the greens. 
Golfers must leave the pull carts some distance from the green while they 
chip or pitch onto the green and putt out the hole using a couple of 
different clubs. Typically, in these situations the golfer must place the 
club or clubs that he is not using on the ground while taking his shot. 
Many golf clubs are left lying on the ground, partially hidden by the 
grass, and lost by golfers who fail to pick up clubs after putting out the 
hole. 
Another problem with placing golf clubs directly on the ground is avoiding 
moisture and dirt on the grip. During morning hours, the fairways and 
greens of a golf course are generally damp from early morning dew or from 
the previous night's watering of the fairways and greens. Also, a recent 
shower of rain will dampen the fairways and greens without discouraging 
golfers from going out and playing a round of golf. Thus, if a golfer 
brings two or more clubs to where his ball landed, the golfer generally 
must put the additional clubs on the ground while taking his shot. This 
results in the grips of the clubs becoming damp and wet, thus requiring 
that these grips be cleaned and/or dried before use. 
Also some golfers do not enjoy the stooping and bending over to pick up 
golf clubs on the ground. Many golfers are elderly or have some physical 
limitation which hampers or restricts this stooping or bending. 
U.S. Design Pat. No. D279,309 to Rosen et al. discloses two parallel 
prongs, presumably for insertion into the ground, and a cradle support 
piece for apparently resting the shaft of the golf club. U.S. Pat. No. 
4,036,416 to Lowe discloses a foldable A-frame golf club carrier for use 
in carrying, stowing and transporting golf clubs. U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,239 
to Kerbs, Jr. discloses a carrier including a bottom support tier and 
intermediate and upper tiers having aligned openings or slots adapted to 
receive golf club shafts. The carrier includes a pointed member for 
insertion into the ground to position the carrier. 
It is desirable to have a lightweight and low cost golf club support device 
which maintains one or more golf clubs in a partially upright position to 
make the club more visible to minimize the risk of loss. It is also 
desirable to have a lightweight and low cost golf club support device 
which supports a club or clubs such that the grips do not get wet or 
dirty. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a golf club support device 
which maintains the club or clubs substantially upright to minimize or 
eliminate any stooping or bending over to pick up additional clubs which 
have been removed from the golf bag. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention comprises a golf club supporting apparatus which can 
be used to support a golf club in a substantially upright position. 
Supporting the golf club in a substantially upright position reduces the 
possibility of the golfer losing the club and reduces dirt and moisture on 
the grip. Furthermore, the golf club supporting apparatus eliminates the 
golfer's stooping or bending over to pick up the clubs on the ground. 
Advantageously, the supporting apparatus engages the shaft of the golf 
club, so the supporting apparatus is picked up off the ground when 
retrieving the club. The golf club supporting apparatus includes a base 
member having a lower portion which contacts the ground and an upper 
portion which connects to a shaft receiver. The shaft receiver includes a 
notched opening for receiving the shaft of the club to be supported. 
In use, the shaft of the golf club is placed into the notched opening and 
the head of the club rests on the ground. The shaft and the base member 
are used to mutually support each other and maintain the golf club in a 
substantially upright position. The upper portion of the base member also 
includes one or more recesses to support additional clubs, if needed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, the golf club supporting apparatus, designated 
generally as 10, is shown supporting a conventional golf club 32. FIG. 1 
shows a phantom view of a second golf club 32' resting on the supporting 
apparatus 10. As will be explained below, when using the supporting 
apparatus 10 to support a single golf club, this is accomplished by using 
the supporting apparatus in the manner as shown with the solid line 
showing of the golf club 32. 
The golf club supporting apparatus 10 includes a base member 20 having a 
lower portion 22 and an upper portion 24. The base member 20, as shown in 
FIGS. 1-4, is substantially flat and is preferably made from a sturdy, 
lightweight plastic to provide adequate stiffness with a minimum amount of 
weight. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the base member 20 includes two side 
members 52 and 54 whose lower ends are joined by a bottom member 26. 
Preferably, the base member 20 is molded as one monolithic piece. As shown 
in FIGS. 2 and 3, the base member 20 has a central opening 28 which 
reduces the weight of the supporting apparatus 10 and also reduces the 
wind loading which may be exerted on the supporting apparatus 10, thus, 
providing a more stable support for the golf club 32. In addition, various 
other ways of fashioning the base member 20 may be used and all such 
variations are contemplated by the invention. The base member 20 is 
preferably configured such that the lower ends of the two side members 52 
and 54 contact the ground surface with the bottom member 26 slightly 
raised above the two lower ends. This provides a more stable base when 
positioned on unlevel ground. 
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a second embodiment of the golf club supporting 
apparatus, designated generally as 100, is shown attached or clipped to a 
conventional golf club bag, generally designated as 60. In this 
embodiment, a base member 120 is curved to correspond with the exterior 
shape of the golf club bag 60. The curved base member 120 generally 
conforms to the exterior of the golf club bag 60 which reduces the chances 
of the supporting apparatus 100 hooking or snagging some object. 
It is to be understood that the following description will be described 
with reference to the base member 20 of the supporting apparatus 10 
although the description equally pertains to the base member 120 of the 
second embodiment 100. 
A shaft receiver 30 is connected to the upper portion 24 of the base member 
20. As shown in FIG. 4, the shaft receiver 30 includes one or more notched 
openings 42 and 44 having a diameter sized to the lower portion of the 
shaft 32A of the golf clubs (FIG. 1). The proper notched opening engages 
and grips the shaft 32A of the golf club 32. 
In the preferred embodiment, the shaft receiver 30 includes two stepped 
notched openings 42 and 44 as shown in FIG. 4. The notched opening 44 is 
preferably 3/8ths of an inch in diameter, and the notched opening 42 is 
preferably 7/16ths of an inch in diameter. It is contemplated that the 
larger diameter notched opening 42 will be most frequently used for the 
number 2 through 9 irons and the pitching wedge. The notched opening 44 is 
preferably used for a putter whose shaft typically has a smaller diameter 
than the other irons. It is contemplated that only a single flexible 
notched opening may be used which is adapted to receive all of the various 
clubs, or three or more notched openings of different sizes may be used. 
It is further noted that golf club shafts 32A have a very slight gradual 
outward taper from the head 32B to the grip 32C. Thus, it may be desirable 
to make the notched opening 42 or 44 have a corresponding taper along its 
length. 
Referring to FIG. 1, the notched openings 42 and 44 of the shaft receiver 
30 have a longitudinal axis (not shown) which preferably forms an angle 
.alpha. of approximately 30 degrees relative to the longitudinal or 
vertical axis of the base member 20. This allows the lower face of the 
head 32B of the golf club 32 to rest substantially along the ground when 
the golf club shaft 32A is engaged by the notched opening 42 or 44 and the 
base member 20 is supported by the ground. As shown in FIG. 1, the golf 
club shaft 32A is maintained in a substantially upright position which 
gives the golf club 32 higher visibility and keeps the golf club grip 32C 
at substantially waist height, away from damp or wet ground. 
Referring to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, a clip 34 is also connected to the upper 
portion 24 of the base member 20, preferably opposite the shaft receiver 
30. The clip 34 may be attached to the rim 62 of the golf bag 60, as shown 
in FIGS. 5 and 6, for attachment and easy storage of the golf club 
supporting apparatus 10. A side view of the clip 34 is shown in FIG. 1. 
When the golf club supporting apparatus 10 is not in use, the clip 34 may 
be placed over the top rim 62 of the golf club bag 60 with the base member 
20 hanging down on the outside of the bag. According to the second 
embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the base 
member 20 is preferably curved in shape so that the base member 20 
conforms to the golf club bag 60, when hanging from the rim 62 of the golf 
club bag 60. 
Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the upper portion 24 of the base member 20 
includes one or more recesses 38 which are capable of receiving the shaft 
32A of additional golf clubs 32' as shown in FIG. 1. The shaft 32A of the 
golf club 32' rests in the recess 38 with the head 32B resting on the 
ground. 
USE AND OPERATION 
The golf club supporting apparatus 10 initially hangs by the clip 34 from 
the rim 62 of the golf club bag 60, as shown in FIG. 5. For exemplary 
purposes, assume that the golfer is in a sand trap just off of the green. 
The golfer selects two clubs, the putter and sand wedge, from the golf 
club bag 60. The shaft 32A of the putter near the head 32B is inserted 
into the notched opening 44, preferably while the golf club supporting 
apparatus 10 is hanging from the bag 60. With the grip 32C of the putter 
above the head 32B, the tapered shaft 32A is permitted to slide down in 
the notched opening 44 until the shaft 32A is firmly gripped by the 
notched opening 44. The putter and the supporting apparatus 10 is then 
raised until the clip 34 clears the rim 62 of the golf club bag 60. 
The golfer then takes the sand wedge and the putter with the supporting 
apparatus 10 to the sand trap, placing the putter and supporting apparatus 
10 on the ground near the sand trap. After hitting out of the sand trap 
onto the green, the golfer picks up the putter and the supporting 
apparatus 10 which is firmly gripped by the notched opening 44. The golfer 
slides the supporting apparatus 10 down the putter shaft 32A, removes the 
putter shaft 32A from the notched opening 44, and inserts the sand wedge 
shaft 32A into the notched opening 42 in the manner as described above. 
The sand wedge and the supporting apparatus 10 is then placed on the 
ground near the green while the golfer putts out. The substantially 
upright position of the golf club 32 in the supporting apparatus 10 as 
shown in FIG. 1 maintains the club 32 in a highly visible position, keeps 
the grip 32C off of the ground, and eliminates any stooping or bending 
over to pick clubs up off the ground. The putter and the sand wedge with 
the supporting apparatus 10 are then carried back to the golf club bag 60 
where the supporting apparatus is removed from the sand wedge shaft 32A 
and clipped onto the rim 62 of the golf club bag 60 with the clubs being 
put back into the bag 60. 
The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative 
and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and 
materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may 
be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.