Patent Publication Number: US-2009222972-A1

Title: Left-Handed Golf Glove Having Grip Fixing Band

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates, in general, to a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band, and more particularly, to a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band, in which the grip fixing band is detachably attached to the golf glove, thereby enabling firmer gripping of the grip of a golf club using the grip fixing band, thus helping the swing of the golf club to be stably carried out. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an ordinary method of gripping the grip of a golf club with one hand wearing a golf glove Golf gloves may be worn on both the left and right hands, but generally are worn only on the left hand. Herein, all of the attached figures illustrate the state in which the golf glove is worn only on the left hand. 
     As for the method of gripping the grip of a golf club, first, a golfer grips the distal portion of the grip  1  of the golf club in the state of wearing a golf glove on the left hand  2 , and then places the thumb  3  of the left hand  2  on the grip  1 . Next, the golfer smoothly grips a proximal portion of the grip with the thumb  6  and index finger  7  of the right hand  5  while enclosing the thumb  3  of the left hand  2  in the palm of the right hand  5 . 
     In this way, the golfer grips the grip  1  so as to swing. At this time, it is most important to move the two hands together. If the hands become spaced apart from each other by centrifugal force occurring during the swing, or slip from the grip  1 , the impact point is changed, and thus the golf ball cannot be sent to the intended place. In order to solve this problem, a golf beginner must use a modified gripping method. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the modified gripping method functions to secure the two hands together by intertwining the little finger  8  of the right hand with the index finger  4  of the left hand. However, when using this gripping method, the little finger  8  and the index finger  4  cannot be used to grip the grip  1 , and thus the force gripping the grip becomes very weak. As a result, the transmission of force is reduced, so that the flight distance of the golf ball is reduced. 
     Further, in order to increase the flight distance of the golf ball, it is important to firmly grip the grip with two hands. Especially, when the golf club is gripped and swung, 80% or more of the force is transmitted from the left hand. Above all, it is important to firmly grip the grip  1  of the golf club with the palm of the left hand. However, as in  FIG. 1 , when the swing is repeatedly conducted with the golf glove on the left hand, the palm of the left hand, particularly the thick-fleshed left lower portion, abrades against the grip with a strong frictional force, the golf glove wears out quickly. Hence, there occurs trouble in that the golf glove must be frequently replaced. When the golf glove becomes very worn, the friction between it and the grip  1  is reduced, and thus the gripping force of the left hand is weakened. As a result, when swinging, the transmission of force is reduced, and thus the flight distance of the golf ball is decreased. 
     In order to solve this problem, various methods for increasing the gripping force of the left hand gripping the grip are proposed. Among them, one is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-230129. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a coupling band  12  is attached to the thumb  11  of a left-handed golf glove  10 , and then the grip  15  of a golf club  16  is gripped in the left hand. Thereafter, the grip  15  is wound and fixed with the coupling band  12 . At this time, the coupling band  12  is velcro-fastened by attaching a hook pile  14 , provided on one end of the coupling band  12 , to a loop pile  13  provided on the thumb  11 . 
     However, even when using this golf glove, the coupling band  12 , added to increase the frictional force with the grip  15 , has too small an area where it contacts the grip  15 . Hence, the effect of substantially increasing the frictional force is insignificant. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , when gripping the golf club, the coupling band  12  is separately attached to the thumb of the left hand, which is enclosed by the right hand, and thereby the coupling band  12  somewhat obstructs the gripping by the right hand. 
     In addition, in order to increase the gripping force of the left hand as described above, it is necessary to increase the frictional force against the palm of the left hand, which is the portion in contact with the grip. The golf glove illustrated in  FIG. 2  has no gripping means other than the coupling band  12 , and thus it does not substantially help increase the gripping force of the left hand. 
     DISCLOSURE 
     Technical Problem 
     Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band, in which a separate left-handed golf glove is attached to the golf glove, thereby causing the grip fixing band to contact the entire palm of the left hand to thereby increase the frictional force with a grip, and causing the left and right hands to grip the grip fixing band together to thereby be secured together. 
     Technical Solution 
     In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band, a hand back fabric, a hand palm fabric, and a thumb fabric, in which one end of a grip fixing band is attached to the hand back fabric, and the other end of the grip fixing band extends to have a length enough to be wound toward a knife hand portion of the golf glove, cover the part of the hand palm fabric that contacts the grip of a golf club, and be gripped with the right hand. 
     Here, one end of grip fixing band may be removably attached to the hand back fabric. Further, the other end of the grip fixing band may be formed with a wide gripping portion so as to correspond to the left lower portion of the hand palm fabric which undergoes the strongest friction with the grip of the golf club. In addition, the grip fixing band may be made of natural leather, which has good frictional force. 
     ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT 
     According to the left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band of the present invention, when a golf club is gripped, the left and right hands are more firmly secured together, and a grip can be efficiently prevented from slipping when performing a golf swing. This is greatly helpful to improve the precision of the swing and increase the flight distance of a golf ball. In addition, the golf glove is prevented from wearing out due to friction with the golf club, so that the golf glove can be used for a longer time. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The above objects and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent after reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an ordinary method of gripping the grip of a golf club; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a conventional left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates the palm portion of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate a gripping method according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  illustrate another gripping method according to the present invention; and 
         FIGS. 8 and 9  illustrate yet another gripping method according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     BEST MODE 
     Reference will now be made in greater detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  illustrate a configuration of a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band in accordance with the present invention. First, as for an ordinary configuration of the golf glove, the golf glove includes a hand back fabric  21  and hand palm fabric  23  four finger portions other than a thumb portion of which are sewn together, and a thumb fabric  24 . Each of the four finger portions provided to the hand back and palm fabric  21  and  23  is sewn with a connecting fabric  22  on both opposite sides, and thereby spaces into which the four fingers can be inserted are formed. Alternatively, the finger portions of the hand back and palm fabrics  21  and  23  may be cut to be wide, and may then be sewn directly together without the connecting fabrics  22 . 
     The golf glove configured in this way is attached to by a grip fixing band  25 , which is the most characteristic technical configuration of the present invention. Particularly, the present invention is directed to increase the gripping force of the left hand, which plays the most important role in gripping the grip of the golf club, and thus the grip fixing band  25  is attached to the left-handed golf glove. 
     The grip fixing band  25  is made in the form of a belt having a predetermined length, one end  25   a  of which is attached to the hand back fabric  21 . The grip fixing band  25  may be integrally attached to the hand back fabric  21 . However, the grip fixing band  25  is preferably attached to the hand back fabric  21  only if necessary, in such a manner that a piece of velcro  26  is separately attached around a tightening flap  27  used to pull on or off the glove, and then the end  25   a  of the grip fixing band  25  is removably attached to the piece of velcro  26 . 
     Meanwhile, the other end  25   c  of the grip fixing band  25  extends to be long enough to be wound toward a knife hand portion  21   a  of the left-handed golf glove, cover the part of the hand palm fabric  23  that contacts the grip  40  of the golf club, and then be gripped with the right hand  30 . In this manner, the grip fixing band  25  having such a length serves to secure the two hands together therethrough because the other end thereof  25   c , wound toward the knife hand portion  21   a  of the left-hand golf glove, is gripped with the right hand. 
     Especially, the grip fixing band  25  is preferably provided with a wide gripping portion  25   b  so as to correspond to the left lower portion A of the hand palm fabric  23 , which undergoes the strongest force of friction with the grip. According to the above-described gripping method, the left lower portion A of the hand palm fabric  23  of the left-handed golf glove  20  wears out quickly because the friction with the grip of the golf club when performing a golf swing is strongest there. For this reason, the left-handed golf glove  20  must frequently be replaced. Further, the frictional force with the grip is reduced, and thus the precision of the golf swing and the flight distance of the golf ball are reduced. 
     In the present invention, in order to solve this problem, the width of the gripping portion  25   b  of the grip fixing band  25  which contacts the left lower portion A of the hand palm fabric  23  is widened to increase the area undergoing friction with the grip. Thereby, direct contact of the hand palm fabric  23  with the grip is completely removed, thus effectively preventing the golf glove from wearing out. 
     The golf glove is generally made of inexpensive artificial leather in consideration of cost. However, because natural leather has better frictional force than artificial leather, the grip fixing band of the present invention is preferably made of natural leather. Accordingly, the grip fixing band made of natural leather directly contacts the grip of the golf club, thus having the same effect as when using an expensive golf glove made of natural leather. 
       FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate a gripping process using a left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band in accordance with the present invention. 
     First, as in  FIG. 5 , a golfer wears the golf glove  20  on the left hand, and winds the grip fixing band  25  toward the knife hand portion of the golf glove, thereby enabling the grip fixing band  25  to directly contact the grip  40  of the golf club. Especially, the grip  40  that contacts the left lower portion A of the hand palm fabric  23  by positioning the grip fixing band  25  is adapted so as to allow the entire grip  40  to contact the grip fixing band  25 . Thereby, the frictional force between the grip  40  and the hand palm fabric  23  increases, and thus it is possible to prevent the left hand from slipping when performing a golf swing. At this time, when the grip fixing band  25  is strongly pulled and gripped, the flesh of the left hand corresponding to the left lower portion A of the hand palm fabric  23  is also pulled to firmly grip the grip. As a result, slippage of the left hand can be more effectively prevented. 
     Then, as in  FIG. 6 , the golfer closes the right hand  30  so as to make the thumb  31  of the right hand  30  cover the thumb  28  of the left hand, together with the grip fixing band  25 . As described above, the other end  25   c  of the grip fixing band  25  is formed to have sufficient length to be gripped by the right hand. When the golf club is gripped using the grip fixing band  25  according to the above-described gripping method, two hands are secured together by means of the grip fixing band  25 . As such, the grip can be more firmly fixed, and thus the precision of the golf swing and the flight distance of the golf ball are increased. 
     In particular, according to the above-described gripping method, because two hands are secured together, the little finger  32  of the right hand is not required to be intertwined with the index finger  29  of the left hand, and thus all of the fingers can be used to grip the golf club, as can be seen from the comparison of  FIGS. 1 and 6 . Accordingly, the gripping force is increased, so that the precision of the golf swing and the flight distance of the golf ball are increased. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates another gripping method using a left-handed golf glove according to the present invention. The gripping method is almost equal to that illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , but it has a difference in that the other end  25   c  of the grip fixing band  25  is wound around the index finger  33  of the right hand. In this manner, in which the other end  25   c  of the grip fixing band  25  is wound around the index finger  33  of the right hand, the gripping is slightly troublesome, but it can produce a better effect because the left hand and the right hand are more firmly secured together. 
     Finally,  FIGS. 8 and 9  illustrate another gripping method using a left-handed golf glove according to the present invention. To sum up the foregoing, the effects of the present invention are as follows: The first effect is to secure the two hands together by means of the grip fixing band  25 , and the second effect is to increase the gripping force of the left hand by gripping the grip fixing band  25 , thus increasing the precision of the golf swing and the flight distance of the golf ball. 
     When a golfer exceeds the level of a golf beginner to be familiar to the golf swing, two hands are secured together to a certain extent, thus the first beneficial effect of the grip fixing band  25  is reduced. Therefore, it is not necessary to grip the grip fixing band  25 , which is wound and gripped with the left hand for the purpose of integrating two hands, with the right hand. In this case, as in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , the other end  25   c  of the grip fixing band  25  is provided with hook pile  25   d , and loop pile  26   a  is provided at a position on the hand back fabric  21  of the golf glove. Then, the grip fixing band  25  is wound one turn according to the type of golf glove, is pulled tightly, and is fastened using the velcro. The velcro fastening further increases the gripping force of the left hand, thus the contribution to the second effect of the grip fixing band  25  is further improved. 
     In this manner, when the other end  25   c  of the grip fixing band  25  is wound one turn according to the type of golf glove, is pulled, and is removably attached to the hand back fabric  21 , all of the various gripping methods described with reference to  FIGS. 5 through 9  can be used, thus providing more convenience. 
     In the drawings and specification, typical preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and are not for the purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims. 
     INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
     As described above, according to the left-handed golf glove having a grip fixing band of the present invention, when a golf club is gripped, the left and right hands are more firmly secured together, and a grip can be efficiently prevented from slipping when performing a golf swing. This is greatly helpful to improve the precision of the swing and increase the flight distance of a golf ball. In addition, the golf glove is prevented from wearing out due to friction with the golf club, so that the golf glove can be used for a longer time.