Clubs So Ugly That They are Cute!
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.
Before going off the deep end just consider golfers initial reactions to square drivers, colored club heads, and flashy crown-graphics. Plus, the lower two designs look pretty nice.
The drawings above come from a patent that issued this month to Nike Golf as USPN A golf club head with a body and an asymmetrical visual swing indicator is provided. The asymmetrical visual swing indicator may be formed to represent an apparent backswing path outward of an actual backswing path. In certain configurations the asymmetrical visual swing indicator is positioned such that a portion of the asymmetrical visual swing indicator closest to the hitting surface of the golf club is closer to a heel end plane of the golf club head then a portion of the asymmetrical visual swing indicator closest to a rear surface of the golf club head. The swing indicator is integral with the body of the golf club head.
The application goes on to explain:
Referring to FIG. 10A, the visual swing indicator 1000 may be oriented as described herein, such that the path 1015 of the swing indicator 1000 is outward (runs rearward at an angle towards the toe 130 and towards the rear 140) of a swing path 1010, such that an angle 1020 may be formed between the path 1010 and the path 1015. In such a configuration, the visual swing indicator 1000 may be described as pointing from proximate a front of the golf club head 100 rearward toward an area generally between the rear 140 and the toe 130 of the golf club head 100. As described above, the outward positioning of the visual swing indicator 1000 encourages a golfer having certain swing tendencies to follow a take away path along the path 1015 that is generally outwards towards the area between the rear 140 and the toe 130 of the golf club head 100. A golfer 10 in an addressing state looking downward at the top surface 110 of the golf club head 100 will view the visual swing indicator 1000 as a reminder and a pointer as to the direction that the golfer 10 should begin the take-away, or backswing, of the golf club head 100 from the addressing state. Thus, when the golfer 10 begins the take-away of the golf club head 100, the golfer 10 will bring the golf club head 100 back along the trajectory of the indicator 1000, e.g., along the path 1015. By following the path 1015 during the take away, or backswing, it has been determined that the golfer 10 can more easily drop the golf club head 100 back to a more inside swing path in the downswing wherein the golf club head 100 will be positioned such that the ball striking surface 125 will be generally in a square orientation to the path 1010 as shown in FIG. 10A and to provide for an optimum ball-striking configuration. Accordingly, by following the indicated path of the visual swing indicator 1000, which acts as reminder and guide as to which direction to take-away the golf club head 100 from the initial addressing state, a golfer can more easily position the golf club head to an inside path for the downswing of the golf club head 100. There is an increased likelihood the golfer 10 will be able to return the golf club head 100 in a proper path through the hitting region and contact the golf ball 201 in a proper and preferred fashion including an ending downswing path such as a path corresponding to path 320B as described above with reference to FIG. 3B rather than an undesirable ending downswing path as previously described. Thus, the indicator 1000 is a visual reminder for the golfer to follow the inside path in the downswing of the golf club head 100.
What do you think, would it work?
As I have said before, kudos to Nike Golf for coming up with some crazy unconventional designs that some may consider hideous. Unconventional thinking is good, but now it is time to actually bring one of these designs (1, 2, 3) to the market!