This invention relates to a golf club grip.

The game of golf has been played for hundreds of years and has produced numerous technical advances in the ball, the golf course and the club in an effort to lower scores and add to the enjoyment of the game. One area of particular importance is the golf club grip which is the region of contact between the player and the club. A large number of grip improvements have been proposed. Some of these relate to the shape or contour of the grip and others relate to the materials from which the grip is made. Grips made from leather, rubber and a variety of synthetic materials have been proposed.

Mechanical advancements have also been made to promote club placement and to abate slippage. In some grips, randomly and precisely placed grooves are used to promote a beneficial mechanical coupling. Mechanical coupling is promoted by either scheme. However, known grips still suffer to some extent from slippage, particularly in wet conditions or if perspiration is applied to the grip from the golfer.

The object of this invention is to provide a golf club grip which reduces the likelihood of slippage during use of a golf club.

The invention may be said to reside in a golf club grip for a golf club, including: a grip portion for engagement by the hand or hands of a user; and a plurality of fibres adhered to the grip portion.

Preferably the fibres cover the entirety of the grip

portion and are adhered substantially at right angles to the surface of the grip portion.

Preferably the fibres are applied to the grip portion by electrostatic flock coating of the fibres onto the grip portion.

Preferably the grip portion comprises a generally cylindrical sleeve member having an open first end and a closed second end, the sleeve portion tapering inwardly from the second end to the first end, the grip portion being removably attachable to a golf club shaft by locating the shaft through the first open end of the grip portion so that the shaft locates in the cylindrical sleeve member, the cylindrical sleeve member having an internal diameter which is substantially the same as the diameter of the golf club shaft so as to frictionally engage with the golf club shaft.

In a second aspect, the invention may also be said to reside in a method of forming a golf club grip comprising the steps of: flock coating a plurality of fibres to a grip portion of the golf club grip so that the grip portion is covered with a plurality of fibres which extends substantially at right angles to a surface of the grip portion.

In one embodiment of the invention, the grip is a generally cylindrical sleeve member and intended to be located on a shaft of a golf club. In another embodiment, the grip may be an existing grip on a golf club which is intended to be renewed. In the latter embodiment, an old grip may be removed or cleaned prior to flock coating the fibres to the grip portion.

The invention in a further aspect may be said to reside in a pad attachment for application to a user's hand,

including: a substrate having a first surface and a second surface; an adhesive applied to the first surface to enable the substrate to be releasably adhered to a user's hand; and wherein the second surface is intended to, when the pad attachment is applied to a user's hand, contact a sporting article to prevent slippage of the user's hand relative to the sporting article.

The substrate can be formed from any desirable material including plastics material, leather or the like and preferably the adhesive layer is provided with a peel-off sheet which can be peeled from the adhesive layer to expose the adhesive layer for application to a user's hand.

Preferably the second side of the substrate is provided with a grip surface or the substrate itself is formed from a material which matches the material of a grip portion of a sports article the user intends to use so as to provide strong mechanical engagement between the user's hand and the grip of the sports article and to prevent slippage.

Thus, according to this embodiment of the invention, the substrate can be formed from a material which matches the material on the grip of the sports article to provide good mechanical coupling or the substrate can be provided with a layer of material which is the same as that on the grip portion of the sports article which is to be used.

The invention in a further aspect may be said to reside in a pad attachment for application to a user's hand or a glove, including: a substrate; a plurality of fibres adhered to one side of the substrate; and

a contact adhesive layer on the other side of the substrate.

The pad attachment according to this aspect of the invention can be applied direct to a user's hand or on to an existing glove and used to grip a golf club or other sports article to prevent slippage.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the pad attachment is for use with a grip as described above.

Preferably the substrate comprises a closed cell ABS foam and is generally square in shape.

Preferably the contact adhesive has a peel-off sheet applied to it for covering the contact adhesive, the sheet being removed in order to enable the pad attachment to be applied to a hand or a glove.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view of a golf club including a golf club grip according to the preferred embodiment; Figure 2 is a more detailed view of the golf club grip of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line III-III of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the method of formation of the golf club grip according to the preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 5 is a view of a glove which may be used with the golf club grip of the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 is a plan view of a pad attachment according to a further embodiment of the invention;

Figure 7 is a side view of the pad of Figure 6;

and

Figure 8 is a view of the pad applied to a user's hand.

With reference to Figure 1, a golf club is shown which has a shaft 9 and a head 10. A golf club grip 7 is provided on the shaft 9 and is intended to be held by the hands of a player in order to swing the golf club.

As is best shown in Figures 2 and 3, the grip 7 includes a generally cylindrical sleeve 8 formed from elastomeric material which has an internal diameter which generally matches the diameter of the end of the shaft 9 so as to be a friction fit on the shaft 9. The sleeve 8 has an open inner end 14 for receiving the shaft 9 and a closed butt end 13. The butt end 13 is closed by a rigid cap 11 which may be integral with the sleeve 8 or merely fitted into the end of the sleeve 8. The cap 11 has a breathing aperture 12.

The sleeve 8 has an enlarged outer diameter 13 at the butt end 13 which tapers inwardly for a short distance to an intermediate point 15. The elastomeric sleeve 8 continues to taper inwardly from the intermediate point 15 to the open end 14. As is clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3, the degree of taper from the intermediate point 15 to the open end 14 is somewhat less than the taper between the butt end 13 and the intermediate point 15.

Outer surface 17 of the sleeve 8 has applied to it fibres 15 which adhere the outer surface 17 of the sleeve 8 and which are oriented substantially at right angles with respect to the surface 17 of the sleeve 8. The fibres 17 are most preferably applied to the sleeve 8 by electrostatic flock coating as will be described in more detail with reference to Figure 4.

Figure 4 shows a diagram illustrating the preferred method of forming the golf club grip according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. An insulated container 20 containing flocking powder (ie the fibres 15 to be applied to the outer surface 17 of the sleeve 8) has within it a board 22 for receiving the flocking powder 15. The board 22 may be located in a tray 24 which is supported on insulated supports 26 within the container 20. An electrostatic generator 30 is provided and is coupled to the metallic board 22 by cable 32.

The flocking powder 15 has been previously treated so as to react to an electrostatic charge. This treatment is conventional and may include application of a particular coating to the fibres to make them suitable for flock coating. The fibres 15 may be formed from various materials including nylon, polyester, polypropylene, rayon, metallic fibres, natural fibres or the like.

The hand grip 7 is coated with a suitable adhesive to form an adhesive layer 25 on the grip 7. The hand grip 7 is then located in the container 20 above the metallic board 22 and is earthed by being located on a metal shaft 34 and being held by an operator so that when power is supplied to the electrostatic generator 30, an electrostatic charge is applied to the fibres 15 via the metallic board 22 to make them fly to the grip 7 suspended above them. The fibres 15 embed into the adhesive layer 25 applied to the grip 7 normally at right angles to the surface 17 of the grip 7. The fibres which do not adhere merely return to the tray 24 and are recharged. This process continues until the fibres 15 have covered the entire surface 17 of the grip 8 and can no longer adhere to the surface 17.

The grip 7 may then be removed from the shaft 34 and placed in a warm area to dry and is then cleaned of any loose fibres. The grip 7 may then be applied to the shaft 9 of

the golf club as described with reference to Figures 1 to 3.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 4, the shaft 34 is merely an insulating shaft used by the operator to ensure that the grip 7 is insulated during flock coating of the fibres 15 onto the sleeve 8. In other embodiments, the shaft 34 may in fact be the shaft 9 of the golf club so that the sleeve 8 is applied to the butt end of the golf club prior to flock coating of the fibres 17 onto the sleeve 8.

In still further embodiments, an existing golf club grip can be renewed according to the method of this invention by removing part or all of the existing grip or simply cleaning the existing grip and applying an adhesive coating to it. The golf club can then be located in the container 20 as shown in Figure 4 with the grip above the tray 22 and the fibres 15 can be flock coated to the grip to form the new grip.

In still further embodiments, rather than utilise the sleeve 8, the golf club shaft 9 can be suitably contoured and diametered to act as the grip portion itself and the fibres 15 can be directly flock coated onto the shaft 9 to form the grip 7 after a suitable adhesive coating is applied to the grip portion of the shaft 9.

Once the grip has been applied to the golf club, the grip can be held by a golfer and the club swung in the usual fashion. The grip 7 according to the preferred embodiment of the invention provides an excellent non-slip grip in any conditions which will provide excellent mechanical engagement between the golf club and the golfer.

Whilst the golf club can be swung by gripping the golf club with the bare hands, further advantage may be obtained by using a golf glove 40 as shown in Figure 5 which generally

includes a palm portion 42 which has fibres applied to it in a similar manner to the grip 7. The fibres 44 may be flock coated to the palm 42 of the club in a similar process to that described above and when the fibres 44 on the glove 40 engage with the fibres 15 on the grip 7, an extremely high degree of mechanical coupling is achieved to prevent substantially all likelihood of slippage between the glove 40 and the grip 7 during swinging of the golf club.

With reference to Figures 6 to 8, a pad attachment 60 is shown which is intended to be applied direct to a user's hand or to an existing glove which does not have fibres applied direct to it. The pad 60 includes a substrate 62 which may be formed from closed cell ABS foam or any other suitable flexible material. One side of the substrate 62

(the upper side shown in Figures 6 and 7) has applied to it fibres 64 which are flock coated to the substrate 62 in the same manner as previously described. The apparatus shown in Figure 4 can be used to flock coat the substrate 62 by applying adhesive to the side of the substrate 62 to which the fibres 64 are to be adhered and flock coating the fibres 64 onto the adhesive as described with reference to Figure 4.

The bottom side of the substrate 62 shown in Figures 6 and 7 has applied to it a contact adhesive layer 64 which is covered by a peel-off sheet 66. In order to expose the contact adhesive layer 64, the sheet 66 is simply peeled from the substrate 62 and the pad attachment 60 may then be removably adhered to a user's hand or to an existing glove.

Figure 8 shows the pad attachment 60 applied to a hand 68 of a golfer or other sports person who is to hold a golf club or other sports appliance.

The pad attachment 60 is intended to be used with a grip on

a sporting article as previously described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. The contact between the pad 60 and the grip on a sporting article such as the grip 7 on the golf club described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 provides excellent mechanical contact and prevents slippage during use of the golf club. We have found that the contact between the palm portion 42 of the glove described with reference to Figure 5 and the grip 7 of the golf club is extremely good and prevents relative movement of the palm portion 42 relative to the grip 7. However, a person's hand is still able to move within the glove and provides some degree of mechanical uncoupling of the user's hand and the grip 7. The pad attachment 60 overcomes this problem because it is adhered to the person's hand and thereby prevents slippage of the hand relative to the grip 7.

However, if a user prefers to apply the pad attachment 60 to an existing glove rather than to his or her hand, this is possible although some movement of the hand within the glove may still result.

In other embodiments, the substrate 62 can be formed from a material which matches the material of a sports article which is to be used by the user to provide good mechanical coupling between the pad 60 and therefore the user's hand and the sports article. Thus, the substrate 62 could be formed from leather or plastics material or any other suitable material without providing the flock coating and in view of the attachment of the pad 60 directly onto the user's hand, excellent mechanical coupling between the user's hand and the sports article is provided. In still further embodiments, the substrate 60 could be provided with a coating or layer of additional material which matches the material of the grip portion of the sports article which is to be used.

Since modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may readily be effected by persons skilled within

the art, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described by way of example hereinabove.