Golf club fitting apparatus, method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10773143-B2
Application number	US-201615256001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2016
Priority date	Sep 3, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

Provided is a fitting apparatus for selecting a golf club suited to a golfer, including: an acquisition unit configured to acquire a measurement value obtained by measuring a swing action of a test club by the golfer, with a measurement device; a calculation unit configured to calculate a first swing index and a second swing index related to the swing action, based on the measurement value; a determination unit configured to determine an optimal swingability index, which is a swingability index of the golf club suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the first swing index, and determine an optimal stiffness index representing stiffness of a shaft suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the second swing index; and a selection unit configured to select at least one of a golf club and a shaft matching the optimal swingability index and the optimal stiffness index.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fitting apparatus configured to select a golf club suited to a golfer, comprising:
an acquisition unit configured to acquire a measurement value obtained by measuring a swing action of a test club by the golfer, with a measurement device, wherein the measurement device includes at least one of an acceleration sensor for measuring grip accelerations, an angular velocity sensor for measuring grip angular velocities, a geomagnetic sensor for measuring grip geomagnetisms or a three-dimensional measurement camera for capturing the swing action of the test club by the golf; and a communication device connected to the acquisition unit of the fitting apparatus and configured to transmit measured data that represent the swing action of the test club by the golfer from the measurement device to the acquisition unit;
a calculation unit configured to calculate a first swing index and a second swing index related to the swing action, based on the measurement value;
a determination unit configured to determine an optimal swingability index, which is a swingability index of the golf club suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the first swing index, and determine an optimal stiffness index representing stiffness of a shaft suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the second swing index;
a selection unit configured to select at least one of a golf club and a shaft matching the optimal swingability index and the optimal stiffness index; and
a display control unit and a display, wherein the display control unit is configured to generate a fitting result based on the determination of the optimal swingability index and optimal stiffness index, and display the fitting result on the display,
wherein the fitting result includes the selected at least one of a golf club and a shaft along with information respectively representing the golfer's optimal swingability index and optimal stiffness index, thereby providing a golf club suited to the golfer with an improved fitting precision to achieve a maximized carry distance and a superior left-right shifting.

2. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the calculation unit is configured to calculate a plurality of types of the first swing indices, and
the determination unit is configured to determine the optimal swingability index according to magnitudes of the plurality of types of the first swing indices.

3. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first swing index includes at least one of an index representing power that is output by arm of the golfer during the swing action, an index representing power that is input to the test club during the swing action, an index representing energy that is exerted by the golfer during the swing action, and an index representing torque that is exerted by the golfer during the swing action.

4. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first swing index includes head speed during the swing action.

5. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determination unit is configured to determine the optimal swingability index to take a larger value as the first swing index increases or decreases.

6. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a storage unit which stores correspondence data defining a correspondence between the magnitude of the first swing index and the magnitude of the optimal swingability index for each type of the test club,
wherein the determination unit is configured to determine the optimal swingability index according to the type of the test club, by referring to the correspondence data in the storage unit.

7. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the swingability index includes at least one of a moment of inertia about a shoulder of the golfer, a moment of inertia of the golf club, and a weight of the golf club.

8. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement value includes at least one of acceleration, angular velocity, and geomagnetism at a grip end of the test club.

9. The fitting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determination unit is configured to determine a distribution of stiffnesses at a plurality of positions on a shaft, suited to the golfer, as the optimal stiffness index.

10. The fitting apparatus according to claim 9 ,
wherein the calculation unit is configured to calculate first and second feature amounts as the second swing index, and
the determination unit is configured to determine first and second stiffness values indicating stiffnesses of a shaft suited to the golfer at first and second positions arranged in this order from a butt end to a tip end of the shaft, as the optimal stiffness index, according to magnitudes of the respective first and second feature amounts.

11. The fitting apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the determination unit is configured to determine the optimal stiffness index in accordance with a predetermined equation representing a relationship between the second swing index and the optimal stiffness index.

12. A fitting method for selecting a golf club suited to a golfer, comprising:
measuring a swing action of a test club by the golfer, with a measurement device, wherein the measurement device includes at least one of an acceleration sensor for measuring grip accelerations, an angular velocity sensor for measuring grip angular velocities, a geomagnetic sensor for measuring grip geomagnetisms or a three-dimensional measurement camera for capturing the swing action of the test club by the golf;
transmitting measured data that represent the swing action of the test club by the golfer from the measurement device to an acquisition unit by a communication device;
calculating a first swing index and a second swing index related to the swing action, based on the measurement value;
determining an optimal swingability index, which is a swingability index of the golf club suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the first swing index, and determining an optimal stiffness index representing stiffness of a shaft suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the second swing index;
selecting at least one of a golf club and a shaft matching the optimal swingability index and the optimal stiffness index; and
generating a fitting result based on the determination of the optimal swingability index and optimal stiffness index, and displaying the fitting result on the display,
wherein the fitting result includes the selected at least one of a golf club and a shaft along with information respectively representing the golfer's optimal swingability index and optimal stiffness index, thereby providing a golf club suited to the golfer with an improved fitting precision to achieve a maximized carry distance and a superior left-right shifting.

13. A non-transitory recording medium storing a fitting program for selecting a golf club suited to a golfer, the fitting program causing a computer to execute steps of:
acquiring a measurement value obtained by measuring a swing action of a test club by the golfer, with a measurement device;
calculating a first swing index and a second swing index related to the swing action, based on the measurement value;
determining an optimal swingability index, which is a swingability index of the golf club suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the first swing index, and determining an optimal stiffness index representing stiffness of a shaft suited to the golfer, according to a magnitude of the second swing index;
selecting at least one of a golf club and a shaft matching the optimal swingability index and the optima

Assignees

• Dunlop Sports Co Ltd
• Sumitomo Rubber Ind

Inventors

• Okazaki Kousuke
• Ueda Masahiko

Classifications

• G06F2218/12

  Classification; Matching · CPC title

• A63B69/3605 Primary

  Golf club selection aids informing player of his average or expected shot distance for each club · CPC title

• G09B19/0038 Primary

  Sports · CPC title

• A63B2220/40

  Acceleration · CPC title

• A63B2220/30

  Speed · CPC title