The Psychological Impact of Colors in Golf Club Design

A Bridgestone patent application published this week providing us with some insight on the impact that colors have in golf club design. The application explains:

[0015] As shown in FIG. 1, a golf club of the present invention is configured so that a head is installed on a front end of a shaft 1 and a grip 3 is installed on a proximal end thereof. In the shown embodiment, a driver is shown, the length of the shaft is 45 to 46 inches, and the head volume is 450 cc to 460 cc. The shaft 1 was divided into a plurality of color portions in the longitudinal direction except for a portion where the grip 3 was mounted. The shaft was divided into three portions in the shown example (it need not necessarily be divided into equal parts). The grip 3 side was a first painting portion 1A of darkest color (a navy blue in this example), the middle portion was a second painting portion 1B colored with a dark gray, and the head 2 was a third painting portion 1C colored with a bright silver. Furthermore, a front end side was also a dark color portion 3A of the same color of the first painting portion 1A.

[0016] When the above-mentioned golf club was gripped by a golfer (see FIG. 2), the dark color portion 3A of the grip 3 and the overall coloring of the shaft 1 is visible to the golfer, and during address, compared to a case where the overall shaft 1 is colored with a single color of the same brightness, for example, navy blue, the length of the grip is psychologically felt to be shorter. Since the front end side of the shaft 1 is bright silver, the brighter of the color, the closer it appears due to the color expansion effect, and, as a result, the shaft 1 feels short.

[0017] In an embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the first painting portion (the navy blue) was 1A, the second painting portion (the dark gray) was 1B, and the third painting portion (the bright silver) was 1C, and after the painting of the navy blue and the gray was carried out, a ring-shaped pattern 30 was applied using the navy blue color at intervals of a predetermined length, and a striped pattern 31 arranged on the circumference along the axial direction is applied between the ring-shaped patterns 30. Ground colors of the first and second painting portions 1A and 1B are seen between the striped patterns 31.

[0018] Various researches have been made regarding how the color acts on the psychology of a person. Here, there are seven colors of light: a red, an orange, a yellow, a green, a blue, a dark blue, and a violet. As to the color approaches the violet from the red, “a mind relaxation” and “relax” is provided. On the contrary, as the color approaches to the red, “the mind is energized” and “fighting spirit is encouraged.” In the present embodiment, by making the grip side navy blue, the mind of the golfer is not disturbed and relaxes, and an effect of improving the probability of good shot can be expected. Furthermore, regarding the psychology of feeling the weight, the weight is approximately the same as the actual weight with the white color, and, with respect to an actual weight of 100, with the dark gray, the weight is felt to be 155, with red, 176, and with black, 187. Thus, in the case in which the front end side of the shaft is colored with bright silver which is close to white, the shaft is felt to be light, and an image of easily swinging the club is encouraged.

[0019] A case in which a plurality of ring-shaped patterns 30 as shown in FIG. 3 are formed at regular distances also has an action of making the length of the shaft feel short.

[0020] The first and second painting portions 1A and 1B, which are seen from the gap of the striped pattern formed between the ring-shaped patterns 30, also makes the length of the shaft feel shorter than it actually is.

[0021] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment, and unlike FIG. 3, a stain portion 32 of a white water color is formed on the shaft in the shape of a circumference on the first painting portion 1A of the navy blue at a predetermined distance, and as it goes to the shaft front end side, the area of the stain portion 32 is reduced. The stain portion 32 may be formed on a surface (a front surface) of the shaft 1 which is seen at least at the time of address of the golfer. In addition, the stain portion 32 is subjected to gradation painting. Even in the embodiment, the second painting portion 1B was colored with the dark gray, and the third painting portion 1C was colored with the bright silver.

[0022] In the golf club 24 equipped with the shaft of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the shaft was felt to be shorter than it actually was by 62% of golfers among 24 golfers. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the shaft was felt to be shorter by 54% of golfers among 41 golfers.

Interesting stuff, do you buy it?

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