US 6,672,977 B1Granted

Multi-functional golf accessory

OwnerKenneth G. Colbo, Marvin L. Zsupnikinventors

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Abstract

A multi-functional golf accessory includes an elongated shaft, a handle attached to an upper end portion of the shaft, a ball teeing mechanism mounted to a lower end portion of the shaft, a trigger mounted to the handle, a motion transmitting rod extending through the shaft and coupling the handle with a pair of pivotal arms of the ball teeing mechanism for operating the arms for placing and releasing a ball and tee in a teed position on the ground, a tee height setting device and a ball retrieving device mounted on opposite sides of a housing of the ball teeing mechanism, a lying tee retrieving device and a standing tee retrieving device mounted to the ball retrieving device, and a quiver element removably storing a ball marking element mounted to the shaft.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A multi-functional golf accessory, comprising:

(a) an elongated shaft having spaced apart upper and lower end portions;
(b) a handle attached to said upper end portion of said shaft;
(c) a ball teeing mechanism mounted to said lower end portion of said shaft and including a pair of arms being movable toward and away from one another between capture and release positions and having respective outer end portions defining respective elements extending in opposing relation to one another for capturing and holding a golf ball and a tee therebetween when said arms are moved toward one another to said capture position and for releasing the golf ball and tee therefrom when said arms are moved away from one another to said release position;
(d) an actuating mechanism including a finger-actuatable trigger movably mounted to said handle and extending outwardly therefrom and means for movably coupling said trigger to said arms of said ball teeing mechanism such that in response to movement of said trigger in a first direction said arms are moved from said release position to said capture position whereas in response to movement of said trigger in a second direction opposite to said first direction said arms are moved from said capture position to said release position;
(e) a tee height setting device mounted to a side of said ball teeing mechanism and being operable to preset the height at which the tee can be implanted into ground by said ball teeing mechanism;
and
(f) a ball retrieving device mounted to said ball teeing mechanism opposite to said side thereof mounting said tee height setting mechanism, said ball retrieving device being pivotally movable between an upper storage position in which said ball retrieving device extends along said shaft and a lower retrieving position in which said ball retrieving device extends beyond said ball teeing mechanism for inserting into a cup to retrieve a ball therefrom.

4 more elements

A multi-functional golf accessory, comprising:

(a) an elongated shaft having spaced apart upper and lower end portions;
(b) a handle attached to said upper end portion of said shaft;
(c) a ball teeing mechanism including a housing attached to said lower end portion of said shaft and a pair of arms having respective inner end portions disposed interiorly of and pivotally mounted to said housing interiorly thereof such that said arms are movable relative to said housing and toward and away from one another between capture and release positions, said arms also having respective outer end portions disposed exteriorly of said housing and defining respective elements extending in opposing relation to one another for capturing and holding a golf ball and a tee therebetween when said arms are moved toward one another to said capture position and for releasing the golf ball and tee therefrom when said arms are moved away from one another to said release position;
(d) an actuating mechanism including
(i) a finger-actuatable trigger movably mounted to said handle and extending outwardly therefrom,
(ii) an elongated rod extending through said shaft and having opposite upper and lower ends, said rod at said upper end movably coupled to said trigger, and
(iii) means for movably coupling said lower end of said rod to said inner end portions of said arms of the ball teeing mechanism such that in response to movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in a first direction said arms are moved from said release position to said capture position whereas in response to movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in a second direction opposite to said first direction said arms are moved from said capture position to said release position, said inner end portions of said arms each also having an elongated slot defined therein, said movably coupling means being attached to said lower end of said rod and having a pin slidably engaged with said inner end portions of said arms through said slots therein such that upon movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in said first and second directions said arms are pivotally moved between said capture and release positions by said inner end portions of said arms being caused to pivot relative to said pin as said pin moves relative to and along said slots;
and
(e) a tee height setting device mounted to an exterior side of said housing of said ball teeing mechanism and being operable to preset the height at which the tee can be implanted into ground by said ball teeing mechanism.

6 more elements

A multi-functional golf accessory, comprising:

(a) an elongated shaft having spaced apart upper and lower end portions;
(b) a handle attached to said upper end portion of said shaft;
(c) a ball teeing mechanism including a housing attached to said lower end portion of said shaft and a pair of arms having respective inner end portions disposed interiorly of and mounted to said housing such that said arms are movable relative to said housing and toward and away from one another between capture and release positions, said arms also having respective outer end portions disposed exteriorly of said housing and defining respective elements extending in opposing relation to one another for capturing and holding a golf ball and a tee therebetween when said arms are moved toward one another to said capture position and for releasing the golf ball and tee therefrom when said arms are moved away from one another to said release position;
(d) an actuating mechanism including
(i) a finger-actuatable trigger movably mounted to said handle and extending outwardly therefrom,
(ii) an elongated rod extending through said shaft and having opposite upper and lower ends, said rod at said upper end movably coupled to said trigger, and
(iii) means for movably coupling said lower end of said rod to said inner end portions of said arms of the ball teeing mechanism such that in response to movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in a first direction said arms are moved from said release position to said capture position whereas in response to movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in a second direction opposite to said first direction said arms are moved from said capture position to said release position;
and
(e) a tee height setting device mounted to an exterior side of said housing of said ball teeing mechanism and being operable to preset the height at which the tee can be implanted into ground by said ball teeing mechanism, said tee height setting device including
(i) a mounting bracket mounted to said exterior side of said housing for undergoing pivotal movement relative to said housing between an upwardly extending storage position and a downwardly extending use position;
(ii) a tee height adjusting element mounted to said mounting bracket so as to undergo rotation in order to move said element longitudinally along said mounting bracket, and
(iii) a pair of guide pins mounted on said mounting bracket in a generally side-by-side relation with one another and adjacent to said tee height adjusting element and extending outwardly beyond said mounting bracket and said tee height adjusting element such that said guide pins can be pushed into the ground until said tee height adjusting element contacts the ground to set the height at which the tee will be implanted into the ground by the ball teeing mechanism.

9 more elements

A multi-functional golf accessory, comprising:

(a) an elongated shaft having spaced apart upper and lower end portions;
(b) a handle attached to said upper end portion of said shaft;
(c) a ball teeing mechanism including a housing attached to said lower end portion of said shaft and a pair of arms having respective inner end portions disposed interiorly of and mounted to said housing such that said arms are movable relative to said housing and toward and away from one another between capture and release positions, said arms also having respective outer end portions disposed exteriorly of said housing and defining respective elements extending in opposing relation to one another for capturing and holding a golf ball and a tee therebetween when said arms are moved toward one another to said capture position and for releasing the golf ball and tee therefrom when said arms are moved away from one another to said release position;
(d) an actuating mechanism including
(i) a finger-actuatable trigger movably mounted to said handle and extending outwardly therefrom,
(ii) an elongated rod extending through said shaft and having opposite upper and lower ends, said rod at said upper end movably coupled to said trigger, and
(iii) means for movably coupling said lower end of said rod to said inner end portions of said arms of the ball teeing mechanism such that in response to movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in a first direction said arms are moved from said release position to said capture position whereas in response to movement of said trigger and said rod therewith in a second direction opposite to said first direction said arms are moved from said capture position to said release position;
(e) a tee height setting device mounted to an exterior side of said housing of said ball teeing mechanism and being operable to preset the height at which the tee can be implanted into ground by said ball teeing mechanism;
and
(f) a ball retrieving device mounted to another exterior side of said housing and pivotally movable between an upper storage position in which said ball retrieving device extends along said shaft and a lower retrieving position in which said ball retrieving device extends beyond said ball teeing mechanism for inserting into a cup to retrieve a ball therefrom.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract