OPTICAL SIGHT FOR CONTROLLING AND MEASURING HEAD MOVEMENT OF A GOLFER

Abstract: An optical sight to be used in playing golf to control and measure any shift of the golfer's head during the execution of a stroke, i.e. the lifting up of the golf club and the successive downward movement thereof to hit the ball (PL), consisting of a reference pattern (11) of suitable shape providing a fixed reference point which is crossed by the line (LC) of "aim" connecting the golfer's pupil (OC) to the ball (PL) so that any shift of the golfer's head can be sensed, corrected and eliminated.

Description: O ptical sight for controlling and measuring head movement of a golfer This invention relates to an optical sight to be used in playing golf to control and measure any shift of the golfer's head during the lifting up of the golf club and the successive downward movement thereof to hit the ball, consisting of a reference pattern of suitable shape providing a fixed reference point which is crossed by the line of "aim" connecting the golfer's pupil to the ball so that any shift of the golfer's head can be sensed, corrected and eliminated. As well known to the golfers, in order to hit the ball correctly and effectively it is necessary that the golfer's head remains immovable when the golfer's trunk and arms are moving to hit the ball with the golf club both in case of a drive and a putt. This condition is very easy to be set forth, however very hard to be carried out as the golfer's head is naturally inclined to follow any rotation of the backbone. Theore¬ tically, the leaning of the golfer's head to follow any rotation of the shoulders and the trunk can be merely prevented by selecting a stationary reference point at which the golfer stares. However, this is really not easy as the stationary reference point could be the ball on which the golfer should fix his mind; moreover only one reference point is not enough. Actually, as the line of "aim" passing through only one reference point is the segment of straight line connecting the pupil to the ball, it belongs to a sheaf of straight lines having the common point at the ball and a second point formed by the moving pupil following the movement of the golfer's head which is inclined to rotate, even if to a small extent, thus following in turn the rotation of the trunk and the arms. In practice the rotation of the golfer's head is compensated by an opposite rotation of the golfer's eyes to continue watching the ball so that the golfer does not apparently see any change. Therefore, since there is not only one line of aim, the ball cannot and is not a reliable reference point to control the shift of the golfer's head. It should be then noted that as known from the geometry the univocal definition of a straight line is given by two fixed points through which one and only one straight line passes, as the terms of the theorem say. Since the origin of the segment of straight line, i.e. the pupil, is moving as already mentioned, the univocal definition of a straight line can be provided by only interposing a third reference point between the moving point, i.e. the pupil, and the stationary point, i.e. the ball to be hit. Thus the problem is solved according to the invention by using the third point. The present invention seeks to provide means allowing the interposition of a third point between the golfer's pupil and the golf ball. This is achieved by interposing in the line of aim a stationary reference point by which any shift of the golfer's head can be remarked and then eliminated by controlling and connecting the shift of the ball position with respect to such stationary reference point at any, even very small shift of the golfer's head. This is in practice achieved by providing a reference point on a transparent lens placed in front of the golfer's eyes. For example, such lens can either be that belonging to spectacles or sunglasses or lorgnettes coupled to the frames of the glasses in case the golfer is used to wear spectacles. It is devised to provide the reference point on only one lens because each golfer has one and only one direction eye, as known to the skilled in this field. Under these circumstances there are several em¬ bodiments of the present invention providing in front of the direction eye of the golfer an optical element de¬ fining a stationary point such as a screen or a pattern of a reference mask. This invention will be now illustrated in detail with reference to the annexed drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows schematically a golfer who is about to execute a drive to make the problem of the invention evident; Fig. 2A shows a first embodiment of the screen according to the invention with pupil and ball, the golfer's head being in the correct position; Fig. 2B is a similar view as Fig. 2A, however showing the position of the whole pupil-screen-ball when the golfer's head is slightly shifted; Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 shows a further embodiment of the in¬ vention ; Fig. 5 shows the ideal position of the imagine of the ball for the execution of a stroke according to a further embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 6 shows the shift of the imagine of the ball with respect to the ideal position of the latter embo¬ diment of Fig. 5 due to a rotation of the golfer's head to the right. From Figs. 1, 2A and 2B one can account for the problem of the invention and its solution. The position in the space of line LC connecting the golfer's pupil to ball PL, when the golfer's head is in the correct position, is different from the position of line LC ' connecting such two elements in a slightly shifted position schematically shown with broken lines. Actually the two lines belong to a sheaf of straight lines, two of which are defined by the two segments of straight line OC-PL and OC'-PL. It should be noted, however, that screen 11 on the auxiliary lens 10 allows the space shift of line LC' to be sensed due to the shift of the imagine of ball PL with respect to the centre of the screen itself. A movement of the golfer's head in¬ tended to shift the imagine of the ball to the centre of the screen again and to keep it in such a position will assure the golfer that his head is not moving due to any shift or rotation of the shoulders and the trunk ne¬ cessary to hit the ball. As it is apparent the screen can have different shapes, all suitable to achieve the object of the in- vention. Some shapes are shown in the drawing. In Fig. 2A a simple shape of the screen designated by 11 is shown on the left lens of auxiliary glasses and is crossed by segment PL-OC, and in Fig. 2B the situation in which the golfer has unintentionally moved his head is shown. As clearly shown, segment LC' connecting pupil OC' to ball PL in such a shifted position of the eye crosses screen 11 at one side of the central intersection point corresponding to the line of aim relative to the correct position of the golfer's head. The golfer can then easily correct his position by rotating his head so as to bring and keep the immagine of ball PL to the centre of screen 11. Screen 11 is placed in front of the left golfer's eye which is supposed to be the direction eye. In Fig. 3 another screen for a golfer with left direction eye is shown, said screen being drawn on a lens designated- by 110 of ancillary glasses which can be ap¬ plied to the frames of spectacles or sunglasses and re¬ moved therefrom. Such screen has a little central circle 112 al¬ lowing the ball PL to be perfectly framed. In Fig. 4 another screen designated by 211 is shown, said screen being provided directly on the left lens 210 of spectacles expressly used to carry the screen. Also screen 211 formed of concentric circles in¬ tersected by the two limbs of a cross has a little central circle 212 by which ball PL can be perfectly framed. In Figs. 5 and 6 there is shown an embodiment of the invention which seeks to improve the vision of golfers having the need of a focalization. Figs. 5 and 6 are similar to Figs. 2A and 2B and show the shift from the intersection point between the line of aim and the vertex of the angle forming the transparent portion of the left lens of finished glasses. Actually in these figures such lens is a mask de¬ fining an angle, preferably a right angle, by which the correction of any movement of the golfer's head when executing a drive or a putt is easily carried out by shifting the image of the ball to* , the vertex of the angle again. Of course, such mask should have an opaque field in which a transparent window having the desired angle shape is formed. In a preferred embodiment, spectacles of such type makes use of mirror lenses, i.e. lenses allowing a vision from the inside to the outside and not viceversa. Since the lenses seen from the outside appear as two mirrors, the mask formed on one of them is practically invisible. As clearly shown in the figures, in such embo¬ diment of the invention a mask having a completely opaque portion 313 and a transparent window 311 is formed on the left lens 310 of glasses PEC. Transparent window 311 has the form of a right angle having a vertex 312. In ope¬ ration, the golfer will stare at the ball as shown in Fig. 5 in which the imaginary line LC connecting ball PL to the pup.il of the direction eye OC crosses exactly vertex 312 of the angle so that the golfer will see the imagine IPL of the ball exactly placed on the vertex. Any shift of the golfer's head due to a movement of the upper part of the body, arms and trunk, in order to execute a drive or a putt will shift in the space the position of the line connecting eye OC to ball PL. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6 the golfer's head is supposed to have made a small angular movement to the right due to the movement of the whole trunk-arms to make the golf club ready to stroke, and then also the golfer's eye OC has made the same angular movement to reach po¬ sition OC ' . Accordingly the segment of straight line LC connecting ball PL to the golfer's eye at position OC * is different from the segment of straight line LC connecting the above two points at the correct position of Fig. 5 so that image IPL' of ball PL is shifted from vertex 312 of transparent angular portion 311. Such shift will warn the golfer of the movement of his head which should be then slightly rotated back to the left before the stroke is executed while keeping trunk and arms stationary to reach the correct ideal position again where imagine IPL of the ball coincides exactly with vertex 312 of angle 311. This will allow the golfer to execute a drive or a putt free from inaccuracy because of a movement of his head . It should be understood that changes and modifi¬ cations ca be made without parting from the scope of the invention. For example, the mask can be applied on any suitable means adapted to be placed in front of the golfer's direction eye.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An optical sight to be used in playing golf to control and measure any shift of the golfer's head during the execution of a stroke, i.e. the lifting up of the golf club and the successive downward movement thereof to hit the ball, consisting of a reference pattern of suitable shape placed in the line of aim connecting the golfer's pupil to the ball so that any shift of the golfer's head can be sensed, corrected and eliminated. 2. The optical sight of claim 1, wherein said sight is formed of a graduated screen placed in the line of aim, by which any shift of the golfer's head can be sensed and then eliminated by means of a correction of the shift to which the line of aim connecting the pupil to the ball is subjected with respect to the screen at any, even very small shift of the golfer's head. 3. The optical sight of claim 2, wherein said graduated screen is drawn on a transparent lens placed in front of the golfer's eyes. 4. The optical sight of claim 3, wherein said lens is inserted in the frame of spectacles or sunglasses or auxiliary glasses applied to the frame of spectacles. 5. The optical sight of claim 4, wherein said screen is formed of two sets of lines intersecting at right angle. 6. -The optical sight of claim 5, wherein said screen has a central circle allowing the ball to be perfectly framed. 7. The optical sight of claim 4, wherein said screen is formed of concetric circles intersected by two limbs of a cross and has a central circle by which the ball can be perfectly framed. 8. The optical sight of claim 1, wherein said screen is a mask placed in front of the golfer's di¬ rection eye and formed of an opaque sector and a tran¬ sparent sector defining an angle, the vertex of which is crossed by the line of aim connecting the pupil of the golfer's direction eye to the ball, the image of the ball being framed in said vertex so that any shift of the golfer's head can be sensed and then easily eliminated by shifting said image of the ball back to said vertex. 9. The optical sight of claim 8, wherein said angle is a right angle.

Inventors: DI CIOMMO LAURORA GIOVANNI, DI CIOMMO LAURORA, GIOVANNI
Applicants: CIOMMO LAURORA GIOVANNI DI, DI CIOMMO LAURORA, GIOVANNI
Application year: 1990
Main classification: A63B69
IPC codes: A63B69, G02C5, G02C9