Device for practicing golf

A golf practice device, comprising;

• a base having a front, a rear, and a pair of sides, and defining a playing surface upon which a person using the device is intended to stand during use, the playing surface being defined between the front, rear and sides of the base;
• a flexible, resilient, elongate, upstanding frame element extending upwardly from the sides of the base intermediate the front and the rear of. the base, said frame having an uppermost point;
• an enclosure having an open end and a closed end, the open end being supported by the upstanding frame;
• a free standing support;
• the enclosure being supported in the vicinity of the closed end by the free-standing support forwardly of the front of the base to apply tension to the enclosure between the closed end and the open end whereby the enclosure defines an elongate space which is divergent from the closed end to the open end;
• the enclosure having a lower portion between the closed end and the front of the base that is inclined downwardly from the closed end to enable a ball to return to the playing surface, and the open end extending rearwardly from the upstanding frame along each side of the base to adjacent the rear of the base to thereby define lateral portions rearwardly of the upstanding frame element;
• each lateral portion decreasing in height from the upstanding frame element to adjacent the rear of the base
• wherein the enclosure is formed of a membrane which, when the devices is erected, is able to be deflected when struck by a driven golf ball to thereby absorb a significant proportion of the kinetic energy of the golf ball.

A device for practicing ball sports comprising an enclosure defined by a membrane supported from a self-supporting structure, said structure comprising a base having a playing surface and having a forward edge and a support means spaced forwardly and upwardly of the base and supported at least in part from the base, said structure further comprising an upstanding frame supported from the sides of the base and extending over the base and having an uppermost point, said enclosure being supported from said structure to define a space having an open end and a closed end, said space being of a general conical configuration, said open end being supported from the base to maintain said open end in an open condition adjacent the forward edge and the closed end being supported from the support means in spaced relation to the open end, wherein the lower portion of the enclosure is inclined downwardly from the closed end to the base to enable a ball thereon to return to the playing surface and wherein the enclosure extends to each side of the base to provide lateral panels to each side of the base rearwardly of the forward edge of the base, the open end having an upper rear edge extending from the rear of the base and being inclined forwardly from the rear of the base to pass adjacent the uppermost point of the upstanding frame, wherein the open end is defined by a first resiliently flexible elongate member received in the upper rear edge of the membrane and resiliently deformed to define the open end, and wherein the open end of. the enclosure is further defined by a portion which underlies the base and which extends between the sides thereof.