First Draft of the Brochure. Please note that the device has changed since these first pictures were taken. The device is a perfect fit on any club face and comes in the models: Beginner, Amateur and Professional. They all attach with simple Velcro and can be removed easily after any practice round. It is best if you attach to an old six or seven iron that you do not use very often so you can practice anytime with our plastic balls in your back yard.

Please call Dave or Scott @ 888-646-5462 for a free set of samples and practice balls, or email scott@traxsales.com

When using the Sweet Spot Trainer it is important that you experience a true ball to Sweet Spot Trainer feel so you can get instant feedback on any slight miss hits. We suggest that you tee the ball up (like on any tee box) to accomplish this initially.

The examples below are for right handed players.

Take the ten shot test...If you can hit ten perfect shots with the profession model why aren't you on the tour? Our Bet is that you cannot hit your first ten shots straight and that you learn something important about your game in these first few moments with this trainer.

Use a tee and go hit 10 half swings with plastic balls and then let us know what you think.

Please email Scott@TRAXsales.com and let us know if you like what you saw.

If the ball does not leave the ground... HIT THIN at bottom of club face. Does your spine angle or head position change at impact? Does your overall height change (look in a mirror and insure your head stays behind the ball at impact and you are staying reasonably steady through the downswing and impact.
If Ball Pops straight up... HIT HIGH at top of club face
Ball Flies to the right of target line... HIT LEFT of Sweet Spot towards toe of club
Ball Flies to the left of target line... HIT RIGHT of Sweet Spot towards heel of club

Of course any variation of these combinations are possible IE: Consistent High left trajectory indicates impact above the sweet spot and too far out towards the toe of the club. The degree of errant trajectory is determined by how far from the Sweet Spot impact occurred.

The beauty of the Sweet Spot Trainer is that once you become accustomed to your typical trajectory you can begin to improve your performance. Then when you play again with a normal club you will be much more likely to hit the sweet spot, more often. If you can not correct this issue seek a PGA Professional and take a quick lesson.

Always begin with the Beginner model then progress to the more difficult versions as your skill level improves.

Professional, Intermediate and Beginner Models

Page 1 and 4 of Brochure

Please note that the name of the Device is the Sweet Spot Trainer (Not Finder) as indicated in the original brochures

Page 2 and 3 of Brochure

Testimonials and Comments

Dave,

Thanks for showing me your new training aid. I think that you have something that is potentially a very effective and beautifully simple golf training aid.

As a teacher, I am usually working on any number of things in my students full swing in order to get them to hit the ball in the sweet spot of the club. Posture, spine angle, arm position and its relationship to the body, shoulder angle, hip position, etc. etc. I think that you have hit on an item that when used in earnest can help the student self correct by naturally adjusting their body to enable them to hit the sweet spot.

Like I tell my students; "The sweet spot is roughly the size of a nickel, the portion of the golf ball that we initially make contact with is the size of one of the dimples. So we are trying to hit a dimple with a nickel on a 38 inch stick, good luck!"

Your training aid will help any golfer with their ball striking.

Good Job!

Jim A. Hardy

PGA Teaching Professional

Southern Texas Section

*****************************************************************

Rich, forward this on to Dave......while your concept is solid and I like your sweet spot finder....your drawings are not precise......Hitting the inside quadrant has nothing to do with making the ball curve.....because the ball has a compression factor the inside quadrant must be hit so the ball will leave the clubface SQUARE at separation.......this must be addressed by every player for every shot.....refer to chapter 2 of the golfing machine for clarification.....good luck I think your on to something..........elk

Neighborhood Golf

The most fun you ever had on your street. (Not designed for use with hard - real golf balls.)

Included:

2 Beginner Sweet Spot Trainers (Largest Sweetspot) 3/4 inch

2 Amateur Sweet Spot Trainers (Medium Sweetspot) 1/2" Flat Spot on Center

2 Professional Sweet Spot Trainers (Hardest to hit on center)

8 TRAX foam golf balls

24 2 way tape 1" securing squares

12 Velcro (reusable) Binders

Pkg. of 50 Neighborhood 9 hole score cards.

Please insure that all 2 way tape is secure and all Velcro binders are tightly attached to the clubface. See diagrams...

Sweet Spot Neighborhood Golf is a game designed for the whole family to be played in the front or back yard or any rural park in the world.

The Sweet Spot Trainer can be easily attached to any golf club from a 1 iron or Driver, to Pitching Wedge but works best with between a 3-7 iron.

The object of the game is to select random targets in the yard... (base of trees, fire hydrants, flag poles, big rocks) (if your neighbor has them you can play off the pink flamingo and the washing machine) (you get the idea) and try to hit the target in as few shots as possible. It is very fun to select holes (targets that are 50 yards or less which can be considered par 3's)

Play 9 holes around the neighborhood and get to know your neighbors again like in the old days when we all knew each other and hung out on the street.

In manicured yards use high tees for longer shots for everyone, but especially young children who might take an accidental divot.

Try 9 holes and you will be hooked.

Long Term Benefit for everyone...

Once you learn how to consistently hit the sweet spot on your club face, increase your level of difficulty until you can consistently hit the Sweet Spot with the Professional Model. The primary goal of this very enjoyable game is to make you a better golfer. When you learn to consistently hit the sweet spot your golf game will improve.

Attach the Sweet Spot Trainer to any clean club face using the 2 way tape provided. Make sure to press the Sweet Spot Trainer firmly to the center of the club face using the lines on the face as a guide. You should have the same distance of visible lines on each side of the Sweet Spot Trainer. We understand that some clubs will have slightly higher or lower ideal centers but because you are aiming at your TRAX Foam ball (or plastic golf ball) with (in essence a half ball attached to your golf club) you will quickly learn that your best ball flights are center hits and if you (for example) consistently push shots to the right, you have uncovered a flaw in your swing and need to make the necessary adjustment.

Rules:

Establish who is the best player based on experience (these are only guidelines) (they should use the Professional Model) 0-12 Handicap. 13-20 should use the Amateur Model and 20+ Handicap should use the Beginner Model.

To determine who will go first use RoShamBo (rock-paper-scissors)

The fastest way to learn is to use a half swing. It is not necessary or advised to use a full swing. A perfectly struck TRAX (foam ball) with no wind, will travel between 30-50 yards so targets within this range are par 3 and longer targets are par 4s and par 5s. The low score on the hole gets the honors, but the high score picks the next hole.

When the ball is within a club length of the target you are finished with the hole.

Use our Sweet Spot Golf Score Cards (provided) or download them off our web site at www.SweetSpotNeighborhoodGolf.com

Please call (888) 646-5462 if you have any questions.

*********************************************

APPLICATION FOR PATENT

INVENTOR:

DAVID PAUL MINK

TITLE:

Golf Club Attachment, Sweet Spot Trainer

SPECIFICATION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and a method for optimizing training for both student and accomplished golfers who are not able to easily see if they are consistently hitting the center of the club face. The center of the club face is defined as the area ½ inch in diameter in the center of the manufactures groove lines. The center or (Sweet Spot) may vary from club face to club face, due to weighting considerations and dimensional characteristics. Training devices such as temporary gluing on paper taped to a club face, that leaves an imprint of the ball after impact do not provide the immediate error (or off center) contact response that is needed to accurately measure correct impact.

[0002] It is critical for a golfer to know an accurate consistent feel for correct contact. The Sweet Spot Trainer provides instant and accurate sensory and visual response to off center hits when attached properly to any clubface, This is ideal for use on a typical five-seven iron. The problem is that the typical golfer by nature is very unlikely to consistently hit the center of the clubface. The evidence for this is the statistic that 90 % of all golfers today have never broken 90 on a regulation golf course according to The Golf Channel, December 2006. The object of this invention is to; first, accurately demonstrate how far off center a player consistently misses, and what the typical tendency is, so that this tendency can be corrected as quickly as possible. The invention attempts to add order to the dynamic behavior of practice anywhere including the typical back yard. The invention easily affixes to any club face with two way tape and for added security has a hole so that a plastic zip tie or similar product can be affixed and secured easily in seconds then removed so that the players actual club used to practice can also be used during an actual round immediately after practice. Plastic or foam golf balls will be provided and even though a golfer may use real golf balls it will be recommended that our lighter softer balls be used for safety reasons. Plastic or Foam balls will have identical characteristics of off center or perfectly struck shots.

[0003] The present invention has numerous advantages. The invention allows for efficient interaction between a practicing golfer and natural elements in real time. The problem even with slightly off center hits is that even if a shot is only ½ to ¾ of an inch off center on a real golf shot, the ball will travel relatively straight but the fact is, that this shot will lose approximately 5-10 % of the distance and be off target by more than 5-10% assuming the club head is moving down the correct line towards the intended target. The invention allows for the logical comparison between the intended line and immediate feedback of a ball flying sometime in excess of 75% off line. This immediate (and sometimes embarrassing) feedback permits the student golfer to adjust his or her swing until consistently making good contact. The invention allows a golfer the ability to dramatically create improvement on a fundamental that is difficult for most below average golfers to grasp. This is because a slightly off center hit is still going to go a respectable distance in the eyes of an inexperienced golfer.

[0004] Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that this detailed description, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, is given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0005] This concept is similar to the concept of billiards or shooting pool, when playing billiards a direct center shot will cause the object ball to go perfectly straight, but an off center hit will cause the object ball to careen off course, the amount off course depends on how far off center the shot is at impact.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The invention is a hard plastic or light metal convex device attachment to a golf club. It may be less or more than that the depth of half a golf ball which is 1.68 inches in total diameter. It is estimated that the ideal depth is 1” high off the club face but the concept may be made with a shallower or steeper radius thereby increasing or decreasing the amount of error feedback provided to the golfer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG 1 shows the invention in its preferred embodiment.

[0008] FIG 2 shows the front view of the device.

[0009] FIG 3 shows a perspective view of the device on a typical club face.

[00010] FIG 4 Shows the Device at impact with an off center hit on the inside of the clubface towards the heal. This shot typically will result in a trajectory with a normal club face, of reduced distance and off direction to the left for a right handed golfer. Sometimes if a golfers strike is too far inside this results in contact on the hosel or shaft, resulting in contact called a shank. With the device the ball will fly to the left by approximately 1-89 degrees.

[00011] FIG 5 Shows the Device at impact with an off center hit on the outside of the clubface towards the toe of the clubface. This shot typically will result in a shot with a normal club face of reduced distance and off direction to the right of the target line, for a right handed golfer. With the device the ball will fly to the right by approximately 1-89 degrees.

[00012] FIG 6 Shows the Device at impact with an off center hit on the bottom of the clubface. This shot typically will result in a shot with a normal club face of reduced distance and off direction by going too high. With the device the ball will fly above the selected target line by approximately 1-89 degrees.

[00013] FIG 7 Shows the Device at impact with an off center hit on the top of the clubface. This shot typically will result in a shot of reduced distance and close to the ground possibly never becoming airborne.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[00014] Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments and that it can be practiced or carried out in various ways.

[00015] This device is also to be considered an additional swing weight to assist a golfer in the loosening process before a golf round. The golfer will be able to select heavier or lighter swing weights to customize this weight selection and improve the personal performance for each individual.

[00016] The Sweet Spot Trainer can be made in several versions, four of which will be described. There will be three different height devices at approximately 1 inch high off the club face, then ¾ of an inch high, and finally ½ inch high off the club face. The concept is that the shallower the device then the more forgiving and less dramatic the angle will be for a beginner golfer. The beginner golfer should begin with the shallowest model then once they feel comfortable with the easiest device; a student can progress to the professional version that has the least amount of forgiveness. It is intended that an extra heavy model can be used as an extra heavy swing weight for warming up and practice that will create better feel.

[00017] Figure 1 illustrates the principle of the accentuated departure angle of a ball from the convex face of the Sweet Spot Trainer during a golf swing. If the surface of the Sweet Spot Trainer is spherical with a radius of curvature R then the angle from this surface as a function of d/R, the ratio of the distance from the sweet spot (d) to the radius of curvature R is shown in Figure 2. It should be noted that the surface of the Sweet Spot Trainer shown in Figure 1 could include a radius of curvature center any distance from the impact surface and as shown in Figure 2 for a given distance d from the sweet spot the angle of departure can be increased by decreasing the radius of curvature R.

[00018] For illustrative purposes figures 1 and 2 assume the Sweet Spot Trainer to be a section of a sphere, but any convex surface would accomplish the angle enhancement.

[00019] The attachment to the club face can be accomplished in many ways. The Sweet Spot Trainer surface can be made a part of a custom practice club, an attachment point can be incorporated into the golf club to accommodate the attachment of the Sweet Spot Trainer, Velcro straps or metal straps can be made part of the Sweet Spot Trainer for affixing of the Sweet Spot Trainer to the golf club, or clamps can be incorporated into the Sweet Spot Trainer to clamp the Sweet Spot Trainer to the golf club. Numerous other ways can be envisioned to accomplish the conversion of an ordinary golf club into a Sweet Spot Trainer golf club.

[00020] Since the Sweet Spot Trainer increases the difficulty of a golf club drive the Sweet Spot Trainer could be kept on the golf club during play to increase the challenge and possibly create a new game where players can compete with these devices. The bottom line is that anyone who can successfully use the Sweet Spot Trainer will be an exceptional golfer indeed.

CLAIMS

What is claimed is:

1. A metal or plastic device temporarily attached to any golf club to improve learning potential for striking the center of the clubface with more consistency.

a. This semi circular device when striking a foam or plastic golf ball will immediately and clearly demonstrate any off center strikes and provide immediate feedback permitting the student to correct the discovered problem much faster than through conventional training methods;

b. Can be attached to any clubface and then easily removed so that the player can practice with their own clubs then take their learned responses to the course;

c. Most above average golfers learn that they have a tendency to be slightly off center. When you learn your tendency, you know what part of your game you can immediately improve to create more solid consistent performance and thus more enjoyment and pleasure during every round;

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The invention is a golf swing training device to help a student golfer determine the most appropriate golf swing that produces the best results for their swing type. The Sweet Spot Trainer permits any novice golfer to attach the device to any club in their golf bag and with a few swings learn where a potential flaw in their game, which may be causing undue stress and discomfort. The Sweet Spot Trainer with a minimal amount of practice will help instill an understanding of how to create a repeatable swing that will cause the student to consistently stroke the club face through the sweet spot, creating prominent, prodigious shot making not previously possible.

Figure #1.