Golf ball retriever

A golf ball retriever enables a golfer to quickly and easily recover the ball from a muddy ground hazardous location and the like. The retriever includes a rod, a swivel coupling adjustably mounted on the rod for positioning the retriever at selective angular positions with respect to the ground, a head member fixedly attached to the swivel coupling, and a cage mounted on the head member for capturing a single ball or multiple balls within, depending on the size of the cage being used. The retriever cage is formed of flexible looped wires which are spaced apart sufficiently to permit passage of the ball therein. The ball is captured by contacting the ball with the cage in a direct or peripheral manner. Cages of various capacities can be readily interchanged on the retriever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a golf ball retriever which enables a 
golfer to quickly and easily recover the ball which is lodged in a muddy 
ground hazardous location and the like. More particularly, the present 
invention pertains to a golf ball retriever having wire loop projections 
from the front end of an elongated handle, including one wire loop used as 
a retaining element for loosely engaging the other wire loops. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Retrievers for golf balls are known in the prior art. Many of the golf ball 
retrievers of the prior art require the golfer to have a substantial 
amount of patience and luck to actually capture the ball within a cage of 
the retriever. In a water hazardous situation, unclear water and/or wave 
movement on the water surface make(s) the retrieval uncertain of success. 
Many golfers find it extremely difficult to position the cage securely on 
top of the ball to perform the retrieval, especially if the ball is 
located in a muddy hole in the water hazardous location and the like. 
Further, when the handle of the retriever is a long telescopic type, that 
is, when the telescopic handle is extended to its operational length, that 
is, 10 feet, 15 feet, 18 feet and the like, the cage end becomes shaky and 
difficult to retain in a stationary position to enable the ball to be 
contacted. Further, mispositioning of the cage can agitate the water and 
give it a muddy and unclear condition to make the retrieval difficult or 
impossible. Further, retrievers of the prior art are difficult to operate 
when the retrieval operation is performed in a tight and small space. When 
a ball rolls, for example, into a small hole at a water hazardous 
location, the wedging of the ball into the cage enclosure and its 
retention therein are challenges which have met with little or no success 
by the prior art devices. Eventually, the golfer may give up trying to 
retrieve the ball and will move on in an angry mood which may not help the 
golfer's game. 
Retrievers are broadly old in the patented prior art as illustrated in the 
references cited below. 
The U.S. Pat. No. 373,289 issued Nov. 15, 1887 to William H. Hart discloses 
the feature of interchangeability of tools on a rod member. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,270,632 issued Jan. 20, 1942 to Robert R. Hasty discloses a 
golf ball rake or retriever comprising a telescoping handle and a cage 
which are adjustable to various angular positions with respect to each 
other. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,430 issued Aug. 9, 1966 to Homer T. Jenkins discloses a 
golf ball retriever comprising a retriever unit pivotally connected to a 
handle portion. The retriever unit having a wedging part of opposed 
members collects the ball by passing the ball through a pair of adjoining, 
resilient members to retain the ball therein. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,338 issued Jul. 3, 1973 to Robert W. Seeger discloses a 
golf ball retriever which is adapted to be removably attached to the end 
of an elongated rod. The retriever head comprises a plurality of elongated 
wires shaped into loops, which are secured within a tubular hub to form a 
cage-like structure. Upon contact with the ball, the opening of the loop 
is slightly expanded to receive the ball and then closes around the ball 
once it is within the cage-like structure. 
Australia Patent No. 270,206 published May 12, 1966 to Kenneth E. Graham 
discloses a golf ball retriever having a cage-like member of a cylindrical 
formation of a diameter slightly larger than the ball. 
None of the above-cited patents disclose or suggest alone or in combination 
the instant invention described and claimed herein. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a golf ball retriever which enables a 
golfer to quickly and easily recover the ball from a muddy ground 
hazardous location and the like. The retriever includes a handle, a swivel 
coupling adjustably mounted on the handle for positioning the retriever at 
selective angular positions with respect to the ground, a head member 
fixedly attached to the swivel coupling, and a cage mounted on the head 
member for capturing a single ball or multiple balls within, depending on 
the size of the cage being used. The retriever cage is formed of flexible 
looped wires which are spaced apart sufficiently to permit passage of the 
ball therein. The ball is captured by contacting the ball with the cage in 
a direct or peripheral manner. Cages of various capacities can be readily 
interchanged on the retriever. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a golf ball 
retriever for enabling a golfer to recover the ball from a muddy ground 
hazardous location, sticky brush area, and the like. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a golf ball retriever 
wherein various sized cage units may be used, depending on the number of 
balls to be captured. 
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a golf ball 
retriever which will enable a golfer to manually adjust the retriever at 
selective angular positions with respect to the ground whereby the ball 
may be easily retrieved from the hazardous location. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a golf ball retriever which 
will easily enable a golfer to retrieve a ball which is lodged in a small 
and tightly confined hazardous location. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a golf ball retriever which 
is easily carried within any conventional golf club bag. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a golf ball retriever which 
is easy to construct and maintain in view of the minimum of parts in the 
instant invention. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a golf ball retriever which 
enables a golfer to contact the lodged ball with a minimum contact portion 
of the cage and thereby the ball is quickly retrieved and captured within. 
Other objectives of the present invention will be apparent from the 
following detailed description of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 shows a golf ball retriever 10 including an elongated handle 12 
having a front end 14 to which a cage element 16 is attached through the 
use of a swivel attachment 18. The swivel attachment 18 includes two 
circular disc members 20 and 22 having mated grooved portions 24 for 
providing a pivotal attachment between the cage element 16 and the 
elongated handle 12. The details of the swivel attachment 18 are shown in 
FIG. 3 and discussed in more detail below. 
As shown in FIG. 1, the cage element 16 includes a head portion 26 having 
two flexible individual looping members 28 extending from the front of the 
head portion 26. Each of the flexible individual looping members 28 is an 
elongated flexible wire with the ends embedded into the front of the head 
portion 26. A retaining flexible loop element 30 also extends out from two 
opposite sides of the head portion 26 and includes two engaging loops 32, 
each one enclosed about one of the flexible individual looping members 28 
at a distal portion 34 thereof located at a greatest distance from the 
head portion 26 along the outer edge of the cage element 16 opposite the 
head portion 26. 
The distance D between the distal portions 34 is slightly less than the 
diameter of a regulation golf ball. Each of the individual flexible 
individual looping members 28 forms a capturing loop bounded by the outer 
periphery thereof, which is the flexible wire embedded into and extending 
out from the head portion 26. Since the distance D between the distal 
portions 34 is slightly less than the diameter of a regulation golf ball, 
a single golf ball may be retained between the capturing loops. 
A second embodiment as shown in FIG. 2 includes three flexible individual 
looping members 128 and is capable of retaining more than one regulation 
sized golf ball. More particularly, the golf ball retriever 110 includes 
the same elongated handle 12 as used in the golf ball retriever 10, but 
having a larger cage element 116 attached thereto instead of the cage 
element 16. The specifics of the swivel attachment 18 allowing different 
cage elements to be attached to the elongated handle 12 will be discussed 
in greater detail below. Briefly, for the present discussion of the second 
embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the circular disc 20 is attached rigidly 
to the front end 14 of the elongated handle 12 and the circular discs 22 
and 122 are rigidly attached to head portions of their respective cage 
elements 16 and 116. The screws S1 and S2 allow the disc portions to be 
disengaged from their mated grooved portions 24 or 124 so that another 
cage element may be attached to the elongated handle 12. 
The cage element 116 includes three flexible individual looping elements 
128 extending from the head portion 126. Each of the flexible individual 
looping elements 128 is an elongated wire with the ends embedded into the 
front of the head portion 126 to form a capturing loop to trap a 
regulation sized golf ball between any two capturing loops of the 
individual looping elements 128. A retaining flexible loop element 130 
extends out from the head portion 126 and includes three engaging loops 
132, each one enclosed about one of the flexible individual looping 
members 128 at a distal portion 134 thereof located at a greatest distance 
from the head portion 126 along the outer end of the cage element 116 
opposite the head portion 126. As in the first embodiment, the distance 
between any two distal portions is slightly less than the diameter of a 
regulation sized golf ball. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the swivel attachment 18 for the golf ball retriever 10 
having the cage element 16 attached to the elongated handle 12 includes a 
conventional internally threaded screw nut S1 and a conventional outwardly 
threaded screw bolt S2. The circular disc 22 is attached to the head 
portion 26 of the cage element 16 and includes a hole 220 therethrough 
allowing the screw S2 to be inserted therein. The circular disc 20 is 
attached to the front end 14 of the elongated handle 12 and includes a 
hole 200 through which the screw S1 may be inserted. The swivel coupling 
18 provides the capability of angularly adjusting the longitudinal 
direction of the elongated handle 12 relative to the direction at which 
the flexible individual looping members 28 extend from the head portion 
26. There are many discrete positions at which the mated grooved portions 
24 match so that there are no gaps between the circular disc members 20 
and 22 (see FIG. 1). For example, FIG. 4 illustrates an angular adjustment 
of the swivel attachment 18 with the elongated handle 12 and the head 
portion 26 adjusted such that the longitudinal direction of the elongated 
handle 12 is collinear with the direction the elongated members 28 extend 
from the head portion 26. The swivel attachment of the golf ball retriever 
110 functions in a similar manner to attachment 18. 
Accordingly, such factors as the contour of the ground and the like, will 
determine what angular adjustment should be made between the head portion 
26 or 126 relative the elongated handle 12 or 112. Further, if a golfer 
needs to retrieve a golf ball from a tight area, he may choose the smaller 
cage element 16 to retrieve the golf ball, while if the golfer needs to 
retrieve the golf ball in an area where the exact location of the golf 
ball may be hard to determine, the golfer may choose the larger cage 
element 116 to accomplish the task. These and other advantages of the 
present invention will be discussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 5-7. 
The golf ball retriever 10 is large enough to entrap one regulation sized 
golf ball B as shown in dashed lines in FIG. 5. The wires of the flexible 
individual looping members 28 as well as the retaining flexible looping 
element 30 may be made of stainless steel, hard plastic, or other 
materials of a predetermined thickness so as to have the preferred 
stiffness characteristics for the present invention, which should provide 
that stiffness to accomplish the trapping of the ball B by requiring only 
a minimum contact between the two adjacent flexible individual looping 
members 28 to trap the ball between them. That is, the flexible individual 
looping members 28 may be either directly on top of the ball B or on one 
of the sides of the ball B while coming into initial contact therewith 
during the retrieving process. As shown in FIG. 5, the ball B is easily 
moved into the cage element 16. As stated above, and illustrated in FIG. 
1, the distance D between the distal portions 34 of the individual looping 
members 28 is slightly less than the diameter of a regulation sized golf 
ball, so the individual looping members 28 need only expand slightly in 
order to capture the golf ball B within the cage element 16. Thus, the 
golfer need only apply a slight amount of downward pressure upon the cage 
element 16 in order for the individual looping members 28 to expand around 
the bottom portions thereof which are in contact with the ball B to form 
an opening or spacing that permits the passage or wedging of the ball B 
between the two adjacent capturing loops of the looping members 28. 
As soon as the ball B is trapped between the two capturing loops, the 
flexible individual looping members snap back into their normal looped 
shapes. Accordingly, the ball B will remain inside the cage 16 until the 
golfer takes action to remove the ball B therefrom. As illustrated in FIG. 
5, during the retrieving process, the cage element 16 is placed over the 
ball B. The cage element 16 is then lowered to retrieve the ball B. Each 
of the capturing loops of the flexible individual looping members 28 is 
within a vertical plane since the loops of the looping elements are 
vertical before they contact the ball B as shown in dashed lines in FIG. 
5. The flexible individual looping members 28 are canted during retrieving 
the ball B as shown in solid lines in FIG. 5. Once the ball B is 
retrieved, the capturing loops of the looping members 28 return to their 
vertical position. 
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the retaining flexible looping element 30 forms 
a loop which is substantially in a horizontal position as the cage 16 is 
lowered over the ball B. Thus, the plane formed by the retaining flexible 
looping element 30 is perpendicular to both of the planes formed by the 
capturing loops of the flexible individual looping members 28. If the 
golfer lifts the cage element 16 up quickly or jerks the cage element 16 
up and down while lifting the cage element 16 after the ball B has been 
retrieved, the ball B could be dropped easily. As discussed above, the 
stiffness of the individual looping elements 28 and the distance 
therebetween are established to allow the ball B to be retrieved with 
minimal effort. The ball B may then be removed with minimal effort. In the 
preferred method of operation for the golf ball retriever 10, the golfer 
should rotate the cage 16 by ninety degrees through manipulation of the 
elongated handle 12 after retrieving the ball B. In this manner the 
capturing loops of the flexible individual looping members 28 would be in 
a substantially horizontal position and the loop formed by the retaining 
flexible loop 30 would be in a substantially vertical position. The 
retaining flexible loop 30 would then prevent the ball B from falling out 
of the cage element 16. 
The cage element 116 as shown in FIG. 7 performs similar to the cage 
element 16, except that it is larger and has an additional flexible 
individual looping element 128. The stiffness of the flexible individual 
looping members 128 and the retaining flexible looping element 130 is 
preferably the same as the flexible individual looping members 28 and the 
retaining flexible looping element 30 and the distance between any two 
adjacent individual looping members 128 is the same as the distance 
between the two individual looping members 28. The capturing loops of the 
individual looping members 128 are maintained in a vertical position as 
the cage 116 is placed over a regulation size golf ball. The plane defined 
by the retaining flexible looping element 130 is perpendicular to the 
plane of the capturing loops. The benefit of the cage element 116 over the 
cage element 16 is that the golf ball can be captured between any two of 
the individual looping elements 128, thus less accuracy is required in 
placing the cage element 116 centered over the golf ball in order to 
retrieve it. However, the cage element 16 can work in tighter spaces if 
the golf ball is located within a hole or between two objects. 
While it will be apparent that the embodiments of the invention herein 
disclosed are well calculated to fulfill the objects above-stated, it will 
be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modifications, 
variations, and changes without departing from the proper scope of the 
appended claims. For example, more than three flexible individual looping 
members may be used in a cage element.