Patent Publication Number: US-6709346-B1

Title: Grip sleeve for golf club shaft

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to exercise apparatuses, and more particularly to a grip sleeve for a golf club shaft. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A regular golf club includes a grip sleeve fitted to a shaft thereof The grip sleeve, which is typically made of rubber, not only is adapted to be a gripping portion of the golf club, but also absorbs counterforce by virtue of the rubber while hitting balls. 
     Some manufacturers of golf clubs make a grip strap wound around the grip sleeve. The grip strap is substantially made of leather or foam plastic or rubber or compound of the above three materials such that the golf club is provided with preferable gripping and shock-absorption effects and looks preferable in profile. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional grip sleeve  10  is formed of a sleeve body  11 , an annular stopper  12 , and a sleeve cap  13 . The sleeve body  11  has a smaller outer diameter respectively than that of the stopper  12  and that of the sleeve cap  13  so as to relatively form a recessed section adapted to be wound around with a grip strap between the stopper  12  and the sleeve cap  13 . The grip strap includes an initial end and a distal end. While the grip strap is wound around the grip sleeve  10 , the initial end of the grip strap is pressed against the recessed section of the sleeve body  11  and in proximity of the sleeve cap  13  at a bottom side thereof before the grip strap is spirally wound around the recessed section of the sleeve body  11  toward the stopper  12  until the distal end thereof approaches the stopper  12 . However, the distal end of the grip strap fails to be retained so as to be turnup by hand&#39;s holding. After a period of time, the grip strap will be gradually disengaged from the grip sleeve  10  from the distal end thereof. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, another conventional grip sleeve  20  is formed of a sleeve body  21  and an annular skirt member  22  extending integrally outwards from an opening of the sleeve body  21 . The skirt member  22  can be turned back to cover an external surface of the sleeve body  21 , as shown in FIG.  3 . Accordingly, while a grip strap is wound around the grip sleeve  20 , the skirt member  22  will be turned back to cover a distal end of the grip strap so as to prevent the distal end from exposed outside and to improve the aforementioned drawback of the aforesaid prior art. 
     However, because the sleeve body  21  is provided with a deficient thickness at the opening thereof, while the grip sleeve  20  is fitted to a golf club shaft, the opening of the sleeve body  21  fails to hold the shaft tight, and thereby the grip sleeve  20  is subject to slip away or disengage from the shaft. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, still another conventional grip sleeve  30  is formed of a sleeve body  31 , an annular stopper  32 , and a sleeve cap  33 . The sleeve body  31  is provided with a smaller outer diameter respectively than that of the stopper  32  and that of the sleeve cap  33  so as to relatively form a recessed section adapted to be wound around with a grip strap between the stopper  32  and the sleeve cap  33 . The stopper  32  is provided with an annular receiving gap  321  for receiving a distal end of the grip strap so as to prevent the distal end from turnup. 
     Because the receiving gap  321  is so narrow that it&#39;s difficult to put the distal end of the grip strap thereinto, it&#39;s very inconvenient for a user to widen the gap  321  sweatily to put the distal end of the grip strap into the gap  321 . In addition, the gap  321  is so shallow that the distal end of the grip strap fails to be completely received therein, thereby preventing the distal end from turnup ineffectively. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved golf club grip sleeve, which preferably covers a distal end of a grip strap wound around the grip sleeve and prevents the distal end of the grip strap from turnup. 
     The secondary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved golf club grip sleeve, which holds a golf club shaft tight that fitted thereinto. 
     The foregoing objectives of the present invention are attained by the improved golf club grip sleeve, which is formed of a sleeve member and an annular skirt member. The sleeve member is composed of a sleeve body and an annular stopper. The sleeve body is provided with an opening at an end thereof. The stopper is located at an external periphery of the sleeve body and is extended for a predetermined length from an end beside the opening of the sleeve body towards the other end of the sleeve body. The skirt member is integrally extended outwards from the end beside the opening of the sleeve body and is longer than the stopper so as to be turned back to cover the stopper. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a first conventional grip sleeve; 
     FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of a second conventional grip sleeve; 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view of the second conventional grip showing that the annular skirt member is turned back; 
     FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of a third conventional grip sleeve; 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention showing that the skirt member is turned back to cover the stopper of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention in use. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 5-6, a grip sleeve  1  of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is integrally made of rubber and is formed of a sleeve member  40  and an annular skirt member  50 . 
     The sleeve member  40  is composed of a sleeve body  41 , and an annular stopper  42 , and a sleeve cap  43 . The sleeve body  41  has an end closed by the sleeve cap  43  and the other end having an opening  411 . The stopper  42  is located at an external periphery of the sleeve body  41  and is extended for a predetermined length with an increasing outer diameter from the end beside the opening  411  of the sleeve body  41  toward the sleeve cap  43 . 
     The annular skirt member  50  is composed of a first skirt portion  51  and a second skirt portion  52 . The first skirt portion  51  is extended outwards with an increasing outer diameter from the end beside the opening  411  of the sleeve body  41  and has substantially the same length and increasing rate of the outer diameter as those of the stopper  42 . The second skirt portion  52  is extended outwards for a predetermined length from a distal end of the first skirt portion  51  with a constant outer diameter. 
     Referring to FIG. 7, the grip sleeve  1  is made of rubber having excellent resilience such that the skirt member  50  can be turned back and then the first skirt portion  51  covers the stopper  42  and the second skirt portion  52  covers the external periphery of the sleeve body  41  in proximity of the stopper  42 . 
     Referring to FIG. 8, while the grip sleeve  1  is to be wound around with a grip strap, first, keep the skirt member  50  away from the stopper  42  without covering the stopper  42 , and then press an initial end of the grip strap  70  to the sleeve body  41  in proximity of the sleeve cap  43  before the grip strap  70  is spirally wound around the external periphery of the sleeve body  41  toward the stopper  42  until a distal end of the grip strap  70  approaches the stopper  42 . After the grip strap  70  is completely wound around the sleeve body  41 , turn back the skirt member  50  to enable the first skirt portion  51  and the second skirt portion  52  respectively to cover the stopper  42  and to cover the distal end of the grip strap  70 . Finally, fit the grip sleeve  1  wound around with the grip strap  70  onto a golf club shaft  60 . 
     The grip sleeve of the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes advantages as follows: 
     1. Because of having the stopper, the grip sleeve is provided with a preferably great thickness at the opening thereof so as to have a great bond by which the grip sleeve can hold the golf club shaft at the opening thereof, thereby preventing the grip sleeve from slipping away from the shaft. 
     2. After the grip strap is wound around the grip sleeve, the skirt member of the grip sleeve is turned back to completely cover the distal end of the grip strap at the second skirt portion thereof, thereby effectively preventing the grip strap from disengaged from the grip sleeve. 
     3. The turnback skirt member strengthens the bond of the grip sleeve such that the grip sleeve holds the golf club shaft tight and is prevented from slipping away from the shaft. 
     4. Because the outer diameters of the first skirt portion of the skirt member and the stopper are enlarged increasingly at the substantially same increasing rate in directions opposite to each other, while the skirt member is turned back, the first skirt portion and the second skirt portion can respectively smoothly cover the stopper and the distal end of the grip strap wound around the grip sleeve, thereby resulting in excellent covering effect.