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Well, it probably won’t find a home in any golf equipment museum, but the invention is interesting nonetheless. The ground breaking invention at hand is found in a patent application that recently published as US Pub. No. 20130276211 titled….

It is hard to believe that it has been 20 months since I reported on a ridged score line patent awarded to Bridgestone Golf. This week an interesting variation of the ridged score line concept was disclosed in a patent application that published as US Pub. No. 20130281226, which….

That club is so ugly that it is cute; just what every manufacturer wants to hear. Actually, when confronted by a jaw-dropping ugly golf club I am more likely to think “there must be something to that club because no one would make something look like that if it didn’t perform, let me give it a try.” Soak in the beauty of these designs…. What do you think, would it work?….

Limited information can be found on the popular golf forums regarding PING’s upcoming I25 driver (here), fortunately a design patent that issued today provides us with a better perspective of the overall shape and design of the club head. Check it out…. Looks like the new driver will be adjustable and include a swing weight port. Baby steps that PING loyalists will love….

Earlier this summer a post titled “Adjustable Bounce; Who Did it Better” pitted Acushnet against Bridgestone in a death match concerning the best adjustable bounce wedge (perhaps slightly overly dramatic). Today we tackle a different issue, perhaps a sensitive issue for some (not me, of course), regarding men and their desire to have things appear larger than they actually are. Come on; I am talking about grooves and today the competitors are Cobra Golf and Karsten (aka PING)…. So, who did it better?…. Now I am off to purchase a muscle suit to wear during my round tomorrow because I am sure it will make me hit the ball further (and with improved accuracy)!

Cue the cheesy game show music. Can you guess the golf company that was awarded a design patent this week for the following wedge design?…. I will give you a hint, the…. Now the million dollar question, is it an upcoming product or simply a design that never made it out of R&D? I suspect the later since the patent application was filed back in October 2012, but either way it is different enough from past products that there must be a good story behind it….

This week the company associated with the popular SuperStroke grips, namely Technique Golf, L.L.C., filed a trademark application seeking registration of a trademark that consists of the shape of a golf club grip. The application includes the following drawing of the grip shape that they are trying to register…. Other grip manufacturers should take notice. Unfortunately for Technique Golf, my gut tells me that they have roughly a zero percent chance of registering this product design as a trademark via this application….

A patent application recently published that lists a major champion as one of the inventors. Take a guess who invented this “golf putting training device and method.”…. I will go out on a limb and say that this invention would probably improve any golfer’s handicap. Reading between the lines, the inventors clearly believe that a golfer should be focused a few inches in front of the golf ball while putting. So, who is the inventor? Drum roll please….

I wonder if it is just a matter of time before each pro golfer has their own custom dimple pattern and/or profile; similar to how they all have their preferred wedge grinds. Why am I thinking about such nonsense? Simple, because a Nike patent application that published this week leads me to believe that the concept may not be outside the realm of possibility….. Not exactly the artistic personal touch of grinding a player’s wedge, but pretty darn cool. I wonder how long each ball would take, not to mention the final cost of a ball with laser cut dimples….

The simple fact is that it is easy for a golfer to tweak the settings on a modern adjustable golf club, yet 90%+ of golfers will never change a setting. What does that tell us about the likely market for golf balls that have to be tweaked/assembled by a golfer in order to use the product?…. Can you imagine spending the time to assemble this golf ball puzzle and then lose it on your first shot? I would go nuts. I think the more accurate representation of a golfer assembling their custom golf ball is something like this…. Crazy stuff! It may be time for someone to shorten the leash on the crew in golf ball R&D….

You saw it here first!…. Um, 3-putt machine! I am not convinced that my scores would improve by playing archery golf!

Drum roll please. The next PING driver is …. (probably)…. Now, the million dollar question: is that some type of adjustable, or interchangeable, sole plate?….

When it comes to really outside-the-box golf inventions, bordering on wacky, Nike Golf is the leader in the field. While some may argue that such a distinction is not a compliment, I think that it is and demonstrates that they are not tied down by conventional thinking. Now with that said, it sure would be nice if they brought one of their really odd designs to a commercial product instead of just dreaming and filing patent applications! The latest unique golf ball invention is disclosed in a patent application that published recently as US Pub. No. 20130165270 titled “Golf Ball With Material-Filled Grooves,” which describes the invention as….. Come on, if Nike would bring a ball like this to the market I promise to purchase at least 10 dozen, and I suspect there are millions of golfers like me willing to try something a little unconventional….

Check out the golf glasses disclosed in a patent application that recently published as US Pub. No. 20130150173 titled “Golf Training Glasses and Method of Use Thereof.”…. What do you think, any chance these would help your game?

Forget about Google Glass! Golfers need to dream of Nike’s Golf Glass. A recent Nike patent application published as…. Wicked cool! How many years before this is reality?….

Well, it just makes sense. As I stated in a prior post, everything I read in their patent applications about hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings seems like such a good idea (albeit one that sounds much easier to say than do) that I am left wondering whether it has been done before. As you may recall, back in 2010 I posted about one of their patent applications directed to a golf club having hydrophobic and hydrophilic portions. Then, in 2011 I posted about a patent application directed to a golf ball with a hydrophilic coating such that when the ball gets wet the dimples become shallower and the coating becomes softer. This week the love affair with hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings continued as a patent application published as….

This week Acushnet had a patent application published directed to a “reversible sole” iron design that allows a golfer to adjust a club head’s bounce. This is not a new concept, as evidenced by these prior posts about similar attempts by Bridgestone Golf and Nike Golf. So, who did it best? There is no question in my mind….

Some golfers are meticulous about the elevation of their golf ball on a tee. Personally I love watching these golfers when they arrive at a tee box that is just a little bit uneven. Are you “that guy?” You know, the one that gets to the tee box and tees up on the far right edge, takes a practice swing, decides that the ball is too low, raises the tee, then tries to tilt the tee slightly forward to gain that extra six inches on the drive, the ball falls off the tee, tees up again, takes another practice swing, and then decides that the tee box is not level on the right side, or too spongy, and proceeds to repeat the process on the left side of the tee box. Don’t be ashamed; scratch that, you should be ashamed, however you are not alone…

A design patent issued last month to Cobra Golf suggesting they may launch a line of putters. I suspect a lot of golfers would welcome more players in the putter market; I just hope the initial product line has a little more sizzle than this design. Check it out…. Yawn; a pass for me unless it was wittled by Ian Poulter and finished by Rickie Fowler….

You know who you are. The guy at the club that has an index of 5, doesn’t post any scores over 85 although 75% of their scores are over 85, plays to an index of 20+, is always “working through” a swing change, and insists that he needs a forged iron because he likes to “work” the ball and can feel the difference in a cast head, or even the feel of a grain-flow forged head versus a form-forged head versus a traditional forged head. As annoying as this vanity-handicapping, swing-coach obsessed, flat-bill wearing, collar-popping group of golfers is, the golf industry needs them. They are the cash cows of golf consumers. A recently published Acushnet patent application will have these players salivating, and for good reason, the invention sounds great (particularly for such highly skilled golfers). Unfortunately I suspect this may be one of those inventions that is a lot easier to explain on paper than it is to carry out in the factory…. Are you buying the statement “post manufacturing machining causes bad feel?” Not me, but it has the potential of being a pretty unique iron (if they can pull it off). Place your bets, will a co-forged Titleist iron make it to the market in the next 5 years?

Today Nike Golf had a rather interesting patent application publish as US Pub. No. 20130137533 titled “Golf Club Head Or Other Ball Striking Device Utilizing Energy Transfer.” It reminds me of a post from 3 years ago regarding a PING dynamically variable MOI driver. Check this out!…

Timing is everything! Check out this chipper…. The sad thing is that until recently there was probably a niche market for such a club.

Turbulator; we don’t need no stinking turbulator! Well, unless golfers believe that it will help them add a few yards to their drives. Check out the PING driver design found in a patent application that published last week…. While I wouldn’t even notice the turbulators, I wonder what PING purists would say.

Since the sole thickness and topline thickness are a close match to the i25, I am going to guess that this is either the new i25 irons or Anser irons. The cavity design appears more consistent with the i-series of irons. What do you think?….

Could it be? I would bet on YES. Check out these irons!….

Perhaps. Check out the club head found in a design patent that issued today….

Golf equipment companies come up with a lot of club head designs in the process of developing one commercial product, majority of which golfers never get to see. Fortunately their patent applications often reveal some of the hidden gems that for one reason or another did not survive the process, or may be a glimpse of a future generation product. Check out these Covert driver designs!…. My favorite is…. Which one would you have brought to the market?

Three years ago I wrote about an interesting variable MOI driver design disclosed in a Karsten (aka PING) patent application (read about it here); but this week I want to examine what Acushnet has in mind for a variable MOI golf ball. Yep, you read that correctly, a variable MOI golf ball! Get past all the words that most of us can’t pronounce let alone spell and there is some interesting disclosure in the application. For instance…. Interesting for sure, but would such a ball be “conforming”?

It takes a certain mojo to pull off the use of this golf invention. Perhaps Charles Barkley could do it, but few others need try….

Guess which golf equipment company filed a patent application directed to a “thermoreactive face.” The answer is at the bottom of this post. The patent application published as US Pub. No. 20130085012 titled “Golf Club Head or Other Ball Striking Device with Thermoreactive Face.” Think about the moment of impact between a club head and a golf ball; all that energy transferred so quickly. Ever wonder about the temperature increase of the club face?….

How many yards would you gain with this driver? More appropriately, “would it work?”….

How long would it take you to kick a golf ball around 9 holes? More importantly, could you do it without ending the round with a distinct limp? A long time, and no! Regardless, it would be fun to try this golf invention at least once…. Looks fun, but it would be more fun playing a round in which the penalty for taking a double-par or worse would be that you had to play the next hole only using your feet….

As I have said before, PING drivers are known for their classic simple designs. Purists love the designs, but some would suggest they are old-school (ahem, not loaded with technology). Nonetheless, they always seem to perform, even without 10 different technology acronyms plastered to the product. That may soon change. Today an interesting patent application published…. Now the million dollar question, is this technically and economically feasible or is it just another R&D project that will never see the light of day?….

Check out these dimple patterns and take a guess as to the year that the patent issued…. Unlike most modern dimple pattern patents this patent is not directed to flight aerodynamics but rather to a method of improving the visibility of the ball in flight. Specifically, the patent discloses a flexible “mirror-like metallic film” within the dimples….

Time for a new addition to the “Would it Work” category of posts. Check out this “Force Focusing Golf Club” patent (USPN 3,817,522) from 1974 and come to your own conclusion. The patent describes the invention as…. My prediction….

Cobra Golf believes the battle is on. While I want to smugly say “ridiculous,” they may be onto something (ignoring for the moment that I have yet to play with a golfer that regularly adjusts their club settings)….. The application had my attention because it isn’t very often that we see a major club OEM filing patent applications on grips. The application goes on to explain…. Interesting, very interesting.

Golf purists often argue that the modern golf ball has ruined the game. Is it just a matter of time before the football analysts are making the same arguments and demanded that the football’s performance needs to be rolled back?….. Oh no, more spin, increased stability, longer and more accurate travel; sounds familiar. Is this the end of the “prolate spheroid body” that we know and love?….

Don’t pull this invention out while playing a round of golf with me unless you want to see my head explode (and learn how fast I can turn my pitching wedge into a deadly accurate spear). The invention looks like a foolproof way to annoy everyone in your group and have the ability to bring play to a screeching halt is found in…. I try not to give unsolicited advice, but if you ever utter the words “guys go ahead and hit, I have a tough lie and need to get a second opinion from the call center,” please remove yourself from the golf course and destroy your clubs. Thank you…..

Nike Golf had an interesting patent application publish this week as US Pub. No. 20130017898 titled “Golf Clubs and Golf Club Heads Having Adjustable Characteristics.” The application describes the invention as…. What do you think, will we ever see irons with piezoelectric adjustable grooves?….

Will we ever see clubs from Nike Golf with grooves that look like this?….

Sometimes the drawings in a patent just draw you in and make you want to learn “the rest of the story.” That was the case when I came across USPN 8,342,983 titled “Golf Putter.” Check out the following figures and description of how this putter will improve your putting, then decide “would it work?”….

Forget about all the corporate press releases, the PGA Show, and the buzz in the forums about the deluge of new golf equipment for 2013, this may be the most unique golf product of the year. Well, probably not…. I smell an endorsement deal for Steve Williams (yes, he has his own Wikipedia entry)!….

I am sure the golfers in your foursome would love a gift from you consisting of a head cover with a bobblehead that resembles your mug! Check this out….

PING drivers are known for their classic simple designs. Purists love the designs, but in today’s market a little more pizazz may be necessary to maintain their market share. This morning two design patents issued that may give us a glimpse of some new styling queues for PING drivers in 2013. What do you think?…. Party on the sole, business on the crown! Baby steps. Will they have the nerve to paint-fill the grooves with a splash of color, or is going to be black on black?….

Recall my recent sarcastic post titled “Clearly the World’s Most Aerodynamic Golf Club Head”? Well, check out Nike Golf’s twist on this old concept…. Think this will be Rory’s new driver?….

I don’t find myself reading patent applications filed by Microsoft very often, but this one caught my eye. Take a look at this drawing and guess what they are trying to patent (it is golf related)…. Did you guess that Microsoft is essentially trying to patent a method of….. Perhaps “peer-to-zoom” is the next “pinch-to-zoom.” Never underestimate the value of something so beautifully simple (and logical)…..

And the winner is ____________ with his application to register the trademark ARM ANCHOR filed on November 30th. Congratulations! Do I think it will become a registered trademark? I wouldn’t hold my breath, but you can’t fault a guy for trying……

Check out the golf shoes disclosed in a patent application that recently published as US Pub. No. 20120266498 titled “golf shoe.”…. What do you think, is the listed inventor a man or a woman?…. The application goes on to explain some of the benefits (besides looking cute) as…. Heck, with those benefits maybe we will start seeing men wear high-heel golf shoes! Now the answer….

Patent applications directed to golf shirts don’t come along everyday. Check out this beauty. Would you be a purchaser?….

An inventor has received a golf figurine patent just in time for Christmas. Stop laughing; these figurines would sell. Check them out!…. I can easily imagine these beauties for sale in the gift shops of Harbour Town, Pinehurst, or any other destination golf course. Never underestimate the market for golf knickknacks!….

Clearly the golf marketing hype machine has influenced the title of this post. Check out this beauty of a club head found in USPN 5,700,208, which issued in 1997…. Surprising it never made it to the market….

Golfers are pretty gullible people but would the perception of larger grooves, even though you know they aren’t any larger, actually make you play better? Would I run any faster if I used a stopwatch that ran at half speed so it seemed like I was running twice as fast, even though I knew the stopwatch simply ticking the seconds off twice as slow? I wouldn’t bet on it…. The engineers at Cobra Golf probably know a little more about sports psychology than I do, OK a lot more, so I read one of their patent applications that published this week with an open mind. The application published as US Pub. No. 20120264537 titled “Golf Club Heads with Enlarged Grooves,” which describes the invention as…. Interesting for sure but I don’t think it would have my confidence so high that I would be zipping balls off any greens. As a true golf geek, one thing about the disclosure caught my attention; the loft examples. Wouldn’t you love to know the last time they made a set that had a 29 degree 5-iron?….

Come on, would Callaway really save money on R&D by borrowing design elements from the famous Burrow’s Golf MAC Powersphere? Of course not; well…. you decide…….. Let me start by saying that I was blown away last week by the look of the 2013 Callaway X Forged Irons; simply beautiful. Unfortunately, this week I was blown away, and not in a good way, by the iron design found in a design patent that issued as USPN D669,947. The circular “eye” in the back just screams “powersphere” to me. Check this out!

Some inventions are just way ahead of their time. Perhaps in 10 years we will all be playing golf balls that provide a readout of our last shot’s ball speed, launch angle, spin rate, carry, and roll; but I am not going to bet on it (although it would be legen-“wait-for it”-dary). This week’s amazing golf ball patent application comes from Nike, no surprise, and is directed to a golf ball that incorporates a data display on the outer surface. Yes, check this out!…. Technically feasible? Perhaps. Feasible in a performance golf ball? Unlikely. Economically feasible? Absolutely not!….

Ignore your initial gut feeling that a smoking golf ball is ridiculous and just think about how much time it could shave off a round of golf. I think Nike Golf is on to something here, although the golfers that could benefit most from it would be the ones that wouldn’t use it because it couldn’t possibly feel the same as their tour balls. Nike Golf had a patent application publish this week as US Pub. No. 20120264540 titled “Method And Apparatus For Smoke Emitting Golf Ball,” which describes the invention as…. Brilliant! Although, it does seem like the golf ball would eventually be slightly out of balance. Just prove to me that it can perform almost as good as a conventional ball and I would be happy to purchase a few dozen…..

Any chance these glasses would actually improve your game?…. While I don’t have much faith in the usefulness of these glasses, I would be happy to let my opponents wear them during a match….

Nike Golf has no shortage of interesting patent applications, I just wish some of the more unusual designs would actually make it into a product. This week they had a patent application published directed to an air channel extending through a driver from the heel side to the toe side. Regular readers of the blog know that air channels through a club head are nothing new (see THIS post and THIS post), but they generally just extend from the front to the back of the driver….. Check out this club head design!…. Sign me up, I would give it a try (although that is true of just about any unusual golf invention). My only suggestion is that the club should come with interchangeable whistles to insert into the channel to provide some feedback on club head speed. Yes Nike you are free to use that suggestion, just send me a complimentary driver!

For those of you that are too young to know what “jump the shark” means, click HERE to brush up on some classic TV history! Today a Scotty Cameron patent application published as US Pub. No. 20120252596 titled “Golf Club with Bezeled Jewelry” leading me to believe the shark has been jumped. Now before you fire off an email about me being a Cameron hater, I am not. I do actually like his products but there is simply no place for jewelry on a golf club (although Bridgestone seems to agree with Scotty, not me; see the post titled “Bridgestone Hosel Bling! What Are They Thinking”)……. Wow, can’t wait to go to the launch party and see his new grille! Sooner or later someone is going to be smart enough to bring back some classic looking iron designs filled with all of today’s technology hidden inside. Sign me up for a set of irons as beautiful as vintage Ben Hogan blades, scaled up a bit of course, hollow, and loaded with modern technology. Mark my words, the day is coming sometime in the next 3 years….

I has been a while since covering a good head cover patent. Does this one make you want to reach for the wallet?….

The new Titleist 913 driver….

At this pace Lefty may surpass Lee Trevino in career patents, a much more valuable stat than career majors! In the past I have written that Phil may have a fallback career as a club designer. This week Callaway was issued USPN 8,272,974 directed to a hybrid with the center of gravity in front of the hosel. Check it out….. Who wants to be the first reporter to stump Phil during Ryder Cup week by asking him for a technical explanation of his most recently issued patent?….

Fitting, who needs fitting? My practice has just been to buy at least 2 or 3 drivers per season and let survival of the fittest play out. In the end I think that it worked fairly well and I have kept the same driver in my bag as my gamer for at least 3 years. While this strategy is fun, especially for a golf equipment geek, it is expensive and always has you looking for the next winning lottery ticket….

How tacky do you prefer your balls? Nike Golf has eyes on allowing golfers to adjust the tackiness of their balls. Today a patent application published as US Pub. No. 20120231899 titled “Golf Ball With Adjustable Tackiness,” which describes the invention as…. I can’t decide whether this is a great idea or a crazy idea; probably because I have images floating around in my head of flies getting stuck to a tacky golf ball, and a really tacky ball landing in a bunker full of soft dry sand….

I almost fell out of my chair this morning when I realized that the following design comes from a Karsten Manufacturing Corporation (aka PING) patent that issued today as USPN D667,068. Aside from the pink driver they haven’t been known for bold designs, just nice classic looking clubs that perform. It would be nice to see them shake things up a bit….. The patent application was just filed in April along with a “request for expedited examination.” Humm, what’s the rush? Perhaps an actual product with….

There is no doubt that this invention would greatly reduce the number of golf cart related injuries, but can you imagine the number of complaints a general manager would have to field! Check it out….. Great invention, beautifully simple and effective; just don’t put it on the carts at my course!

Can you guess which major champion is the inventor of this patented club head alignment system?….

Probably not, but a pretty cool invention by Nike Golf nonetheless (even if it screams…. “much easier for a patent attorney to write than it will be to produce”). The invention is found in a patent that issued this week as USPN 8,251,837 titled “Floating Golf Ball,” which describes the invention as…. Kudos for thinking green, now prove me wrong by actually bringing it to market!….

There is no denying that this golf invention looks fun, yet totally impractical and probably dangerous…. Brilliant!….

Check out this iron invention!…. I understand that Furyk is breaking in a set of these at Bethpage this week!….

Obviously I am a golf nut. I love my clubs; some more than others. Most rarely stay in the bag for more than a year, but occasionally there is a bond that just can’t be described. I have a 3 wood that has been with me for at least 3 years and I would do just about anything for it. The club has given me the opportunity to 4 putt more par 5’s for a bogey than any golfer deserves. Even with my fondness for golf clubs I am still not sure that I would invest in a….

Check out this beauty!…. Do you think it is the short putts slowing down the group in front of you? I don’t, it is the guy not willing to just take a drop rather than spend five minutes looking for a ball in a hazard that he won’t be able to play even if it is found. It is just a golf ball, move on!….

You will definitely make a name for yourself around the links if you start using this invention; although I am not sure it is a name that you desire. Check out this “clip-on golfing wedge holster”!….

Three months ago I would have dismissed this invention as ridiculous. Since that time I took my first “on-course” lesson with the local teaching pro and another hacker. Turns out the other hacker had a tendency to flair out the toes on his rear foot and roll his back foot during the backswing. The pro had him square up his back foot and all of a sudden half his problems disappeared. That tip alone was worth the price of the lesson. After seeing such a dramatic change in a golfer based solely on foot orientation I suspect there may be some merit to the simple invention disclosed in a recently published patent application US Pub. No. 20120108352 titled “Golf Shoe Marking Device.”….

Check out the PING driver design disclosed in a patent application that published this week as US Pub. No. 20120178550 titled “Golf Club Heads with Apertures and Methods to Manufacture Golf Club Heads.”…. Do you think this will make it to the market?

I suppose every hosel is adjustable given the right tools. Check out the hosel design found in a recently published Callaway patent application (US Pub. No. 20120115632)….. Interesting, but I don’t expect to see this one on store shelves anytime soon….

Oftentimes simpler is better. Is shaft fitting one of those situations? Bridgestone recently had a patent application publish as US Pub. No. 20120157220 titled “Golf Club Shaft Selection Device,” which describes the invention as…. So, do you view this as an advancement or a step backward in golf club fitting? Regardless, it would be fun to try!….

This is a special post for all my female fans (I actually chuckled out loud typing that). Many fashionistas scoff at the idea that patent protection can be very valuable in the field. Fortunately Nike is full of people that are too smart to be confined to such narrow thinking. For example, Nike recently had a patent application publish as US Pub. No. 20120090076 titled “Convertible Golf Garment With Integrated Belt Loops.” Boring enough, right? Well, read on. The application goes on to describe the invention as…. Any chance these will be on Holly’s Christmas list?

Check this out!…. That’s right, a tribute to CaddyShack’s Danny Noonan and the “father of amateur golf” Francis Ouimet on the front page of a patent. What are the odds? OK, it might be a different Noonan and Quimet; and yes I realize it is pretty sad that I notice these things….

You have seen the pictures of the faithful caddy holding a club so the grip is against their player’s head as the pro beats balls on the range. The following training product is for all of us that can’t find someone crazy enough to carry our sticks in exchange for a percentage of our on-course earnings. You be the judge, would this golf training product help your game?…. My prediction….