Could a New Handicap System Ever Take Hold?
By now you have probably all read that John Solheim, the chairman and CEO of Ping Golf, wants to rate players' clubs and balls when calculating handicaps. If not, read about it here, here, here, or here.
When was the last time you saw a press release regarding a patent application that was about to publish? Never. All the buzz inspired me to check it out the application. Surprisingly, it made me yawn and I couldn’t get motivated to even post about the application. Feel free to read US Pub. No. 20120322582 titled “Golf Handicap Systems and Methods to Calculate a Golf Handicap” and form your own opinion.
Think about it. How many golfers actually understand the current handicap system? Heck, I will never understand why a couple of good tournament rounds can artificially deflate my handicap and more than offset a lot of horrible non-tournament rounds. Nonetheless, most of us have put up a respectable score in 25 mph winds and rain, which wasn’t our lowest score, but given the conditions may have been the best round played all year; leaving one walking away from the clubhouse terminal after posting the score mumbling "I would have been under par in Palm Springs."
Anyway, I dismissed the application thinking “this concept will never see the light of day.” A recently filed trademark application has me wondering if I prematurely dismissed the idea. On December 19th Karsten (aka PING) filed a trademark application seeking to register the ECAP mark in association with:
Interesting, they must actually have some plans to bring this to the market. I smell a huge flop, although it would be fun to stand on the first tee and say “OK, my index is 9 and your index is 2, so today you have two options so that we play straight-up, you can either (A) play with these hickory shafted blades from 1947 and a reduced distance ball, or (B) allow me to use my 600 cc, 0.9 COR, driver with special curve reducing balls.”
David Dawsey – A Golfing Trademark Lawyer
When was the last time you saw a press release regarding a patent application that was about to publish? Never. All the buzz inspired me to check it out the application. Surprisingly, it made me yawn and I couldn’t get motivated to even post about the application. Feel free to read US Pub. No. 20120322582 titled “Golf Handicap Systems and Methods to Calculate a Golf Handicap” and form your own opinion.
Think about it. How many golfers actually understand the current handicap system? Heck, I will never understand why a couple of good tournament rounds can artificially deflate my handicap and more than offset a lot of horrible non-tournament rounds. Nonetheless, most of us have put up a respectable score in 25 mph winds and rain, which wasn’t our lowest score, but given the conditions may have been the best round played all year; leaving one walking away from the clubhouse terminal after posting the score mumbling "I would have been under par in Palm Springs."
Anyway, I dismissed the application thinking “this concept will never see the light of day.” A recently filed trademark application has me wondering if I prematurely dismissed the idea. On December 19th Karsten (aka PING) filed a trademark application seeking to register the ECAP mark in association with:
IC 009. G & S: Computer software for evaluating golf courses and golf equipment for a variety of factors to determine the relative difficulty of play and for organizing and conducting golf tournaments; Computer application software for mobile devices, namely, software for evaluating golf courses and golf equipment for a variety of factors to determine the relative difficulty of play and for organizing and conducting golf tournaments; Computer software and computer application software for mobile devices, namely, software for evaluating golf courses and golf equipment for a variety of factors to determine the relative difficulty of play for use in scoring systems
IC 028. G & S: Golf clubs
IC 038. G & S: Providing an on-line forum for evaluating golf courses and golf equipment for a variety of factors to determine the relative difficulty of play, for organizing and conducting golf tournaments, and for providing input on the development and use of scoring systems
IC 041. G & S: Educational and entertainment services, namely, evaluating golf courses and golf equipment for a variety of factors to determine the relative difficulty of play, evaluating golf courses and golf equipment for a variety of factors to determine the relative difficulty of play for use in scoring systems, organizing and conducting golf tournaments, and providing a web site featuring information about golf tournaments and related golf events
IC 042. G & S: Creating an on-line community for golfers for the purpose of organizing and conducting golf tournaments; providing a web site that enables users to connect with others worldwide for the purpose of organizing and conducting golf tournaments; providing a web site that enables users to connect with others worldwide for the purpose of providing input on the development and use of scoring systems
Interesting, they must actually have some plans to bring this to the market. I smell a huge flop, although it would be fun to stand on the first tee and say “OK, my index is 9 and your index is 2, so today you have two options so that we play straight-up, you can either (A) play with these hickory shafted blades from 1947 and a reduced distance ball, or (B) allow me to use my 600 cc, 0.9 COR, driver with special curve reducing balls.”
David Dawsey – A Golfing Trademark Lawyer
Posted by David Dawsey PE Esq at 12/27/2012 12:00 AM 
Categories: Woods, Balls, Trademarks, Misc Golf Products, USGA Rules, Would it Work?, Irons, Competitive Intelligence
Categories: Woods, Balls, Trademarks, Misc Golf Products, USGA Rules, Would it Work?, Irons, Competitive Intelligence
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