Grab Your Shag Bag Full of Beat Up Golf Balls and Try to Wrap Your Head Around This Invention

As you can imagine, I browse through a lot of golf patent applications every week and see many inventions that could never make it to market simply because they are directed to such a small pool of golfers that it would never be financially viable. Golf ball heaters/warmers generally fall into this category. Yes, hitting the links on the first sunny 40 degree day in the middle of winter is great, but hitting a ball that has been sitting in your trunk for the past 2 months of sub-freezing temperatures can be a little jarring. Even still, I would not buy a ball warmer, which is why I generally don’t even look at patent applications with titles indicating that they have anything to do with heating a golf ball. For some reason yesterday I didn’t skip over an application titled “Device For Heating A Golf Ball,” and I am glad. The application immediately had my attention because it was submitted by Nike Golf. A little surprising, after all they have a lot of smart people that generally have a solid understanding of what will sell; so I read on…. OK, I buy the novelty of being able to purchase a smooth ball and do your own dimple imprinting, and I suspect most purchasers would do it a few times before deciding that it is easier to just purchase finished golf balls; but the “repair” angle…. don’t most amateurs lose a golf ball long before it is in need of repair? Also, can it really be that easy? Call me a pessimist, but this seems like an idea that is easy to say out loud or put in writing, but very hard to actually pull off. What would the final finish look like? Regardless, it would be pretty cool if they could actually pull it off (although I wouldn’t spend my hypothetical R&D dollars on it)…..

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Nike Golf’s New Tiger Ball? It Has Teeth

Corny title, but I couldn’t resist. Earlier this month I posted HERE about an unusual Nike Golf invention directed to an aerodynamic coating for a golf ball. It seems that there is no shortage of outside-the-box thinking going on at Nike R&D, as evidenced by a patent application that published today under the title “Golf Ball With Projections Adjacent Dimples.” Projections adjacent dimples, say what?…. Those are some wild looking golf balls. I have to wonder if one of these balls hitting a green from 100 yards at 10,000 rpm would do any more damage than a typical ball (so, feel free to send me one and I will test it out)…..

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Guess How Much Golf Ball Spin Drops When You Hit a Wedge from the Rough Versus the Fairway

The answer to that question comes courtesy of a Bridgestone Golf patent that issued last week directed to a groove design that reduces the drop in spin when hitting from the rough. Since I am always in the fairway I can’t really relate to this problem, but I hear that it is an issue. Now, back to reality, the stair step groove design is found in USPN 7,922,601…. There you have it, a __ to __ percent decrease in the amount of spin generated when hitting from the rough seems to be pretty standard. How much would you be willing to spend for a __% improvement?….

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Just What Every Golfer Needs

If you are concerned enough about the wind speed on a golf course (and you are not on the Tour) that you would even consider carrying a calibrated wind sock…. snap out of it! The last thing I want in my foursome is another gadget that just ends up slowing down play. It is bad enough to wait on the tee of a par 5 because one of the golfers in the group in front of you has decided to let the green is clear so they can go for it (generally after hitting a 195 yard drive). If that same person then pulled out a wind sock to really “tune-in” their 300 yard approach shot, golf may become a contact sport. The inspiration for my quasi-rant is USPN 7,921,715 titled “Handheld Windsock with Dial Indicator,” which issued yesterday….

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Adjustability is Moving Away from the Club Head

I have recently posted about several club manufacturers efforts at developing adjustable shaft stiffness systems (Nike Golf, TaylorMade). This week we get to take a look at an adjustable length system developed by TaylorMade. The design is disclosed in a patent application that published as US Pub. No. 20110081984 titled “Golf Club Shaft,” which describes the invention as…. Looks like a lot of pieces and parts, but the same could have been said several years ago about the adjustable systems on the market today….

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Another Unusual Hosel Design from Callaway; Are They Onto Something, or Searching for a Miracle

Last week I authored a post titled “The New Look of Callaway Drivers?,” which revealed an unusual hosel design. That “unusual” hosel design looks mild compared to the hosel design that is disclosed in a design patent that issued today to Callaway Golf. Check out this design….. Gulp, that is ugly; but it is a level of ugliness that I could get past if they convince me that it would somehow improve my game (you know the drill… just guarantee me 5 more yards). Actually, I hear that Phil is going to introduce this driver to the world on Thursday at Augusta…

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