Rigid Golf Ball Tee

A golf tee system comprising an insertion tool a thin-walled, hollow, thin-walled golf tee for holding a golf ball at a given height. When the structural insertion tool is non-fixedly inserted into the thinned walled tee to become a rigid golf tee system and resist collapsing and allowing insertion of the hollow golf tee into the ground surface. Once the golf tee system is inserted into the ground surface to a desired depth, the structural insertion tool is removed from the hollow golf tee, creating a hollow tee device can be used as a golf ball tee which shatterable, thereby creating a more stable trajectory and increased distance. In addition, the hollow tee is more environmentally friendly than other tees.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The sport of golf is well known and over many years has grown worldwide, A sport carried out by amateurs to professionals. Golf has been a physical and mental challenge since its creation in Scotland around 1456. Prior to the invention of the wooden tee, a player would make his own tee constructed from wet sand. Wet sand evolved into golf tees, for holding a golf ball upright and evolve into numerous tee designs, shapes and sizes and have been used in playing the game of golf for a substantial period of time.

Golf tees are permitted under the rules of play for golf by the United States Golf Association (FIG. 2) and the Royal and Ancient Golf Association (FIG. 3). The purpose of using the tee in playing the game of golf is to raise and support the golf ball off the ground for driving, or otherwise hitting the golf ball. from a teeing area on a golf course or on a practice range. According to the PGA (FIG. 2), the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) and United States Golf Association (USGA) rules of golf, for a tee to be legal, a tee must not: be longer than 4 inches (001.6. mm); be designed or manufactured in such a way that it could indicate line of play; unduly influence the movement of the ball; or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke or in his play. See logos,FIGS. 1-3.

Often in the teeing of golf balls it is difficult to insert the tee and tee designs have competing attributes that are both favorable and unfavorable. (SeeFIGS. 7 and 8) Various types of tees. have been used, with the customary tee being relatively sharp-pointed. Frequently, the ground is hard and it is difficult to push the painted flexible tee into the ground, so a rigid tee is used. On the other hand, the more flexible a tee is, the less impact it has on both the direction of the ball flight and the distance a ball is hit. However, a flexible tee is almost impossible to get into the ground. Rigidity and flexibility are polar opposites for a golf tee design.

Good golf tee design requires an understanding the physics of ball impact with a club face, aerodynamics (both lift and drag), potential energy, various forces, golf ball distortion, kinematics, gravity, golf tee interaction and the like. For example, golf balls can spin quickly, off a driver, for example, a golf ball can spin up to 4,000 rpm. A golf tee can have a large impact on ball spin, either improving the spin rate or diminish it. In addition, golf tees can change drive distance and trajectory.

Tees are typically made from turned wood or injection molded plastic, with a cup-.shaped upper section for holding the golf ball. Since the cup can cause friction, it is desirable to reduce the cup friction on the golf ball.

Golf tees are generally thought to be well known; however, they suffer from numerous disadvantages. Most golf tees are made of a rigid plastic or wood, having a circular shaped ball-supporting surface supported by an elongated tapered circular stem. The circular shaped ball-supporting surface can be a cause of instability. The slight concavity of the tee support surface approximately matching the bail profile generally allows for large surface contact between tee and ball. The movement of the ball across the concave surface will impart a spin to the ball, and quite often it will have an undesirable outcome. One known feature of golf ball flight is that the initial spin will determine the initial flight pattern. It is therefore preferable that there exist minimum resistance or friction between the tee and the ball at impact.

With the advent of high-speed photography comes greater understanding and it is seen that the golf ball is compressed and distorted at the moment of impact with a club face and rapidly expands and distorts the shape (FIG. 5). This distortion of the golf ball when setting on a standard rigid wooden or plastic golf tee, for example can contribute to many unwanted dynamics and inefficiencies in the golf drive.

Refer toFIGS. 4, 5, and 6. InFIG. 5, the round golf ball is shown distorted after the driver head hits the bail and the rigid tee. It is clear inFIG. 5, that the rigid tee pushes back on the driver head with a small force that will impact the balls flight and distance.FIG. 6illustrates that the ball is expanding/distorting vertically and shrinking horizontally upon impact. The ball is pressing down on the tee prior to. the driver head hitting the tee. Therefore, the tee has an influence on the balls flight.

Tee manufactures, such as Drive Golf USA, Western Birch Golf Company, Pride Performance™, etc., manufacture and distribute billions of tees per year. Many of these companies advertise that their tees providing greater distance. However, there are many factors involved that diminish their claims, take for example a “brush” tee. With a broth tee (e.g., Brush-T) there is less resistance if the chub comes into contact with the ball and brushes only. However, amateur golfers and many professional golfers' “chunk” The ball. if the club face hits the rigid section of the Brush-T tee, the drive distance and ball flight will be negatively impacted. In addition, a shortcoming of brush tees is that a brush tee insertion tool is needed to insert the tee into the ground. This imparts additional golf equipment, specialized packaging, brush damage without a brush protector tool and brush distortion, etc.

It is critical to consider the driving tee reaction forces that are involved both for the tee above the ground surface and below the surface. In one example, as a driver face hits a tee, the upper portion of the tee above ground rotates clockwise in the air and the lower portion below the ground surface rotates clockwise in the soil. At a macroscopic level, this can be thought of as a person pushing on the pole in the ground and how difficult or impossible it is to move the pole in spite of a large exertion of force, because the pole under the surface has to be turned through the soil. It is the same thing with a tee on a microscopic level. It requires a force to rotate the lower portion of the tee through the soil, causing reduced distance and direction. The harder the soil, the more force is exerted against the driver face. It the lower portion of the tee hits an obstacle (say a rock) it can cause the tee to turn right or left, resulting in less-than-optimal impact as the ball is struck by the club face. If a tee is broken on a drive the breaking of the tee requires force and energy taken away from the drive. To experience that force/energy break a wooden tee in your hands.

Referring to external prong patent U.S. Pat. No. 9,849,360 B2, current assignee, Greenkeepers Inc., discloses a golf tee that includes a stake that has an insertion end and a crown for supporting a golf ball. However, the design suffers from the limitations mentioned supra. Very few amateur golfers can hit a ball at a precise elevation (the crown location). This is due to numerous factors, such as varying ground elevations, between, the golfer and the ball variability of stance width, when addressing the ball, forward upper body bending, plyers stance too wide and so on. This is why many brush, prong, pivoting, and low friction tees are deceptive and don't work well. They don't work well if you can't control the vertical distance from the ground to approximately ½ of an inch. This is why it is disingenuous for a company to say that their tee results give proven longer distance. This may be true if the robotic arm repeatedly impacts the ball in the brush area. Based on observation alone, most amateur golfers cannot control their swing that well, look at all the divots on the tee box and course were players chunk the ball/hit it fat. What is needed is a golf tee that is flexible along its entire length and not just in one small section of the tee to allow for forgiveness by removing the area of resistance from the tee when the ball is Struck.

Greenkeepers' product “4 Yards More Golf Tee”, Pride Golf Tee®, Brush-T, Versa Golf Bamboo Golf Tees, Pride Professional Tee System, Champ Fly Tees, Callaway Par 3, Martini Golf Tees, Hi-Ball 3.25”, Western Birch Gait Tees, the Flightpath, Zero Friction Tour 3-Prong Golf Tees, Callaway Wood Golf Tees, Zero Friction Victory Golf Tees, Zero Friction Victory Golf Tees and others suffer from the same disadvantages mentioned supra.

Many golf tees require the use of multiple components or tees that are. used when inserting or driving a golf ball in the designated tee area. On a par 3-hole golfers often prefer that a tee be inserted further flush to the ground than on a drive where the tee height is higher. With many tees there is a wider diameter structure (tee) that prevents tee insertion from going any further. Therefore, a tee set up for driving the ball stops the insertion at a given, predetermined height if the golfer wants a higher height. Because the same tee cannot be used for a drive, requires a second tee. It is advantageous to have a single tee that can adapt to ail tee box, driving situations.

The world of long driving has brought about innovation in tees as players try to eke out as much distance as they can through marginal gains. Many tee manufactures claims to reduce the resistance the ball experiences as it leaves the tee. This is frequently not the case.

A critical factor in involving a golf tee is reducing the mass of a tee, thus reducing the force acting against the club fare. Therefore, there is a need for a tee that has reduced mass when compared to the prior art. In addition, there is a need for a tee that can be adjusted with various flexure based on weather conditions (e.g., soil softness).

Invention US 2008/0182684 A1, has three hard plastic prongs, wherein the prongs do not flex. Although an improvement over some prior art, the invention has several shortcomings. Even though the patent mentions lower friction, the prongs influence the path of the ball to some extent, Also, a rigid tee provides a resistive force when a club face hits the tee above or under the ground. Therefore, a tee that is more flexible than the mentioned patent is desired throughout the entire tee (both above and below the ground surface). Many times, a golfer “chunks” the ball. A chunked shot—also known as a fat shot—is where the club hits the ground before making contact with the ball. Therefore, it is desirable that a tee remain flexible along its entire length.

Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,822 relates to a “brush type golf tee.” The patent states the improved golf tee is analogous to a grass lie for a golf ball, in that the golf ball lie of the improved golf tee is a soft lie. A golf ball lie that will not interfere with the potential flight of the golf ball when the golf ball is struck with a golf club and is not adequately lifted off the lie during the initial forward flight of the golf ball.” However, brush tees in general suffer from several shortcomings. As mentioned above, all golfers, even professional golfers, chunk the ball. As mentioned, it is critical that the tee remain flexible both above and below the ground surface and brush tees have a rigid surface that is inserted below the ground surface. In addition, golfers most often insert a golf ball into the ground surface by holding the ball to a cup of the tee and pushing down on the ball to insert the tee into the ground. Pushing down with a golf ball, on the brushes either distorts the brushes or requires a tool for insertion.

Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 8,678,953 discloses a “reconfigurable” golf tee that is formed from reconfigured flat card stock. The folded card stock provides a tee element that provides less resistance and a lower mass that a typical tee and therefore allows a golf ball to be driven further than a typical tee. However, the folded card stock tee has a major disadvantage. Due to its flexibility, it is impossible to insert the tee into any soil unless the soil is very soft or wet.

Merriam Webster defines biodegradable materials as being: capable of being broken down into innocuous products by the action of living things (such as microorganisms). According to Eco Golf and OCEANTEE claim their golfs tees environmentally friendly, however this may not be the case. Eco Golfs other line of ball props, Tee2Green tees, are more like traditional wooden tees, but they, too, will biodegrade in as little as nine months, and they are made from all renewable substances like wood pulp, wheat straw and corn. According to Oceantee, a tee manufacturer, the speed of a golf tee decomposition can vary between 6 months to 2.5 years. Wood tees take over 3 years to decompose. A product can degrade in a given time, but are toxic chemicals being used to make the tees, are the broken-down materials toxic to the soil and many other factors.

All things being equal with regard to “biofriendly” tee material, the more surface area that is exposed to microbes the fast the breakdown of the tee. It is desirable to have a tee with the greater surface area than conventional toes.

Most golf tees are made of wood or plastic, and have a limited life span It is well known that tees break or become deformed during play. Most broken, lost or damaged golf tees are not environmentally friendly, taking years, decades or longer are needed to break them down. Broken tees litter tee boxes creating an eyesore, often requiring an employee of the golf course to pick them up and dispose of them, where they go to a landfill. There. are numerous environmental factors associated with golf tees, like landfill waste, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, etc. Royal North Devon Golf Club, England's oldest golf course, recognizing the adverse environmental impact has banned plastic golf tees, that began Jan. 1, 2020. Bamboo and wood tees create a lot of waste and CO2 when manufactured. A single stalk of bamboo only produces 500 golf tees. By some estimates wooden golf tees, use 10,000 tons of trees for golf tees per year. in addition, approximately 75 percent of the material is lost when milling the dowels into either a hardwood or bamboo tee. The sawdust can then be burned to power the mill increasing 002 emissions. The tees are transported from oversees -on large freighters further increasing 002 emissions. Based on data from the National Golf Foundation, an estimated 2.8 billion wooden tees are used in the US alone. According to their website “Pride Golf Tee is the world's largest manufacturer of white birch wooden golf tees, thanks to a state-of-the-art technology that enables the Company to produce billions of tees per year.” Therefore, it would be advantageous to use a non-toxic composite and biodegradable product using less wood and plastic in the tees. In addition, if the tee is likely to or designed to break that it decomposes in a short amount of time.

According to SIMCOE.COM “Birch trees reach their maturity in 60 to 70 years and live for as long as 150 years. They can grow up to 80 feet tall.” Cutting down 70,000 trees a year when they take 60+years to mature eliminates a lot of wildlife forest habitat for many years. Even with replanting, it will take a decade for the tree canopy to grow enough to support significant wildlife. Therefore, Pride golf tees have a significant detrimental effect on the environment.

Many companies state they have a plant a tree planting program, which is often misleading. If it takes more than a life time to grow a tree that is not a significant positive impact. What type of trees are being grown and where? Therefore, it.is desirable to have a tee use existing waste, for example, comprising limestone and sawdust to make the tees.

Let's examine the terms that manufactures use regarding their golf tees. Many say that bamboo tees are environmentally friendly. As mentioned supra, a single stalk of bamboo only produces 500 golf tees and it takes 3 years to grow, therefore bamboo tees have a significant impact on the environment. Many say the impact of bamboo or wooden tees is nothing short of deforestation. An argument is frequently made that broken golf tees in the tee box is unsightly and therefore there is a need for biodegradable tees. Tees are left on the tee box for maybe one or two days before being picked up. Almost everything is biodegradable given enough time. The more material, the longer it takes to break down.

It is critical to look at the entire process of making a tee to understand whether it is “environmentally friendly”. In a simplified overview with just a few of the steps required, initially the tee material has to be harvested, collected and shipped to the factory which requires energy. Next the material has to be processed which requires a process that creates CO2 carbon emissions and waste, such as wood or plastic waste. in the case of wooden tees, they are most often paint causing additional environmental impact. Next is packaging, crating, shipping, distributing, etc. The bottom line is what is the total environment impact of the tees. The idea of putting seed in the tees that are left in the tee box sounds like a great idea, but is it? For example, perennial ryegrass is used on the tee boxes at several Pebble Beach golf courses. However, introducing a new grass may be detrimental, for example, an invasive creeping bent grass or crab grass which requires energy and manpower to remove. Different courses use different grasses in the tee box, it is unlikely the tees will be made with different grasses for different tee box grasses. Bermuda grass is a warm season variety. Prostrate meadow grass is a winter hardy grass. There is a need for a tee that minimizes the environmental impact from beginning to end, of. the process. There is also a need for a tee that minimizes material and hopefully avoids wood and bamboo. After looking at all tee creation and final delivery steps, it may be that bamboo tees are much worse for the environment than advertised. Therefore, it is desirable that a tee not contain grass and that golf tee manufacturers advertise the actual environmental impact of their tees.

Therefore, a need exists for a golf tee system and golf tees that are less rigid, more flexible, with lower mass both above and below the ground surface, cause less driving resistance and ball flight distortion and preferably can be used with a standard golf tee and a standard golf ball for insertion. in addition, there is a need for a tee that is environmentally friendly and that decomposes more quickly than conventional tees.

It is also desirable to have a golf tee system that uses existing components comprising existing golf tees, divot repair tools and material waste as part of the of the overall system.

Note: There is no attempt to include any part of the claimed invention in the background of the patent application by the patent author. If any background material is deemed to be prior art for the novel claims that background material should be removed.

SUMMARY

A golf tee system comprising an insertion tool a thin-walled, hollow, thin-walled golf tee for holding a golf ball at a given height. When the structural insertion tool is non-fixedly inserted into the thinned walled tee to become a rigid golf tee system and resist collapsing and allowing insertion of the hollow golf tee into the ground surface.

Once the golf tee system is inserted into the ground surface to a desired depth, the structural insertion tool is removed from the hollow golf tee, creating a hollow tee device can be used as a golf ball tee which shatterable, thereby creating a more stable trajectory and increased distance. In addition, the hollow tee is more environmentally friendly than other tees.

Those skilled in the art will realize that this invention is capable of embodiments that are different from those shown and that details of the devices and methods can be changed in various manners without departing from the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded as including such equivalent embodiments as do not depart from the spirit and scope of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring toFIG. 9. a golf tee system900comprises an elongated, hollow, non-structural golf tee900with a hollow ball support end920. The pointed golf tee end970is non-hollow, and the non-structural golf tee900cannot be inserted into the ground by itself if the soil is too hard, which it is most often the case. An insertion tool1000shown inFIG. 10comprises a structural insertion portion1070, wherein the insertion portion1070is inserted into the hollow ball support end1020of the golf tee900and when fully not-fixedly engaged1300(as shown inFIG. 13), the structural insertion tool1340allows the non-structural golf tee1300to be inserted into the ground1759(as seen inFIG. 17) with optional assistance of a golf ball1450(as shown inFIG. 14). In this case, when the insertion tool1500(as shown inFIG. 15) is pulled out of the golf tee900, the golf tee900will remain in place and hold a golf ball1450when placed on it without shattering or breaking. The tee1300and the insertion tool1340when non-fixedly engaged, are in hoop stress, or circumferential stress. It should be noted that a thin walled cylinder is more likely to fail along its axis than along its hoop.

As best seen inFIG. 11, the golf tee1120comprises thin walls1120; wherein the golf tees1120are easily shattered when struck with a driver head or a club face. The wall thickness1120is mostly uniform, with a wall thickness of approximately 0.126 inches to 0.27 inches. The golf tee height is less than 4 inches.

The golf tee999as presented herein has a tee insertion tip912a hollow ball support end920and hollow center section1330. The elongated structural insertion tool1000, comprises a structural insertion portion1070, wherein the insertion tool tip1270is inserted into the hollow golf ball support1220, until the insertion tool tip1270is proximate to the insertion tip end1280(as shown inFIG. 12) wherein a non-fixedly locked, golf tee assembly1400is formed (as shown inFIG. 14) pushed into the ground1759.

The golf tee system900comprises a hollow tee device1220for holding a golf ball1750(as seen inFIG. 17), a structural insertion tool1502having a tool outer profile1227that approximately matches an inner profile of the hollow device (best seen inFIG. 11), wherein the structural insertion tool1502is removably housed in the hollow tee device opening1520(best seen inFIG. 15) and provides the necessary structural support for inserting the hollow tee device1400into a ground1759(as shown inFIG. 14). The system having a insertion tip1070at a front end of the structural insertion tool1000, the insertion tip1070is used to assist the hollow tee device1400to penetrate the ground1759by applying a downward force on the structural insertion tool1000, until the hollow tee component1400is inserted into the ground1759to a desired depth. The insertion tool1502is removed from the hollow device1520, which reveals a ball-support1620of the hollow device1600for holding a golf ball1750above the ground1759from which the golf ball1750may be played.

The golf tee999of the golf tee system900meets the rules of the USGA Tees (Rule 6.2) which states: “A tee is a device designed to raise the ball off the ground. A tee must not: be longer than 4 inches (101.6 mm); be designed or manufactured in such a way that it could indicate line of play; unduly influence the movement of the ball; or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke or in his play.” Note: As an exception for difficult turf conditions, tees tethered together or to an anchor may be used during the round provided that the player does not align the tees or tether in such a way that could indicate line of play or otherwise assist the player in making a stroke.

The golf tee is made of materials comprising; biodegradable plastic, paper, synthetic materials, fertilizer, sawdust, wood, bamboo, waste products, rubber, plastics, high-bond composites, corn plastic, metal, biodegradable materials, silica, sand or other materials known by those of skill in the art.

The golf tee system900wherein the insertion tool1020is structural. As shown inFIGS. 10 and 12, the insertion device1000may have insertion depth line markings1025to indicate various depth insertion measurements. In this instance, the golf tee1220may be opaque to allow the markings on the insertion tool1227to be seen.

As shown inFIG. 18, the hollow tee structure can be nested inside each other for ease of shipment.

A insertion tool could be used with a variety of interchangeable hollow tips including wire golf tees, golf tees with a formed rounded golf ball holding top, a tee device with slits and a multi-diameter, flexible, tool. The rigid, structural insertion tool is made of materials, comprising metal, plastic, paper, synthetic material, wood, bamboo, rubber, high-bond composites, corn plastic, recycled plastics and biodegradable materials.

In some embodiments, the rigid structural insertion tool comprises an arm that is fixedly attached to a handle, a divet tool arm, and a rotatable arm component of a spinning divet multi tool.

A rigid, structural system comprises a hollow device with an attached insertion tip for holding a golf ball and a structural insertion tool having an outer profile that approximately matches an inner profile of the hollow device. The structural insertion tool is removably housed in the hollow device and provides the necessary structural support for inserting the hollow device into a ground surface. The system has an insertion tip at a front end of the hollow device. The insertion tip is used to penetrate the ground surface by applying a downward force on the structural insertion tool, until the hollow device is inserted into the ground surface to a desired depth. The insertion tool is removed from the hollow device wherein a ball-support of the hollow device for holding a golf ball is above the ground surface and a lower portion of the hollow device is below the ground and the hollow device is held in place by a ground surface material. In some embodiments, the hollow device has line markings to indicate the desired depth insertion. In some embodiments, the insertion tool comprises internal or external rigidity for the hollow device. In some embodiments, the device is not hollow. The hollow device for holding a golf ball comprising a modified injection molded golf tee, a hollow tube and a drilled-out golf tee. The hollow device and the insertion tool are made of materials comprising; plastic, paper, synthetic material, fertilizer, sawdust, wood, bamboo, waste products, rubber, high-bond composites, corn plastic, metal, biodegradable materials, and a combination thereof.