Grip guide apparatus and method of using the same

#This disclosure relates to a guide for properly gripping sports equipment. More specifically, it relates to a material that is placed on sports equipment to aid in proper hand or grip placement.

#When using sports equipment, such as a golf club, tennis racquet, baseball bat, etc., one of the most fundamental aspects of the sport is the correct placement of one's hand(s) on and the amount of pressure applied the equipment (e.g., the handle). While hand placement and the amount of pressure are two of the most fundamental aspects of any sport, they are also two of the most difficult to properly achieve because they are often overlooked and under-practiced by players. The proper hand placement and pressure on the handle or grip of sports equipment can greatly increase one's chances at being a better player, but bad habits are easy to develop and hard to break. Therefore a variety of guides and devices have been developed to assist both beginners and experienced players with improving proper hand placement and pressure.

#Since proper hand placement and pressure are important, countless books have been written and videos have been produced showing a player how to properly grip the handle in question. A player can read or view the books and/or videos and mimic the proper hand placement and pressure as described or otherwise illustrated in the book or video. While this can be a successful approach, one problem is that the player does not have any feedback as to whether he/she has followed the directions and has actually achieved proper hand placement and pressure. Because of this, there is room for error. Continuously practicing with the wrong grip reinforces bad habits of an improper grip.

#The disclosure will be more readily understood in view of the following description when accompanied by the below figures and wherein like reference numerals represent like elements:

#FIG. 1 depicts a grip guide apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the disclosure having a substrate including chromic regions, positional indicators and hand placement indicators on a front surface of the substrate indicating the correct right-hand grip for a golf club;

#FIG. 2 depicts a grip guide apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the disclosure having a substrate, positional indicators, hand placement indicators and guideline indicators on a front surface of the substrate indicating the correct right-hand grip for a golf club;

#Preferred features of the present disclosure will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the disclosure. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate, the drawings are described in reference to a golf club and, more particularly, to a grip or handle for a golf club. However, the drawings equally apply to other types of sports equipment. The grip guide apparatus may not only be applied to clubs, racquets, fencing swords, lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, etc., but it may also be applied to gloves (and mitts), socks, sleeves, and other materials such as leather, synthetic leather, textile, etc.

#FIG. 1 depicts a grip guide apparatus 1 in accordance with a first embodiment of the disclosure having a substrate 2 including chromic regions 16 comprising positional indicators 5 and hand placement indicators 28, 30 for the right hand and the left hand on the front side surface of the substrate. Chronic regions 3, positional indicators 5 and hand placement indicators 28, 30 are disposed on or into substrate 2 (e.g., by printing) at the front surface 3 thereof. In the example of FIG. 1, right hand placement indicators 28 may include indicators for the palm of right hand 4, right thumb 6, right ring finger 22, right middle finger 24, and right index finger 26 as described below. Similarly, left hand placement indicators 30 may include indicators for left index finger 8, left middle finger 10, left ring finger 12, left pinky (or little) finger 14, left thumb 17, left heel pad 18 and left palm 20 as discussed below.

#In the example illustrated, grip guide apparatus 1 is dimensioned to cover at least a portion of a golf club and, in particular, a handle or “grip” of a golf club. More particularly, the grip guide apparatus 1 indicates the correct right-hand grip for a golf club. One of skill in the art will recognize that a grip guide apparatus similar to the grip guide apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 may be used with different articles of sports equipment. As such. the grip guide apparatus 1 may be dimensioned to cover at least a portion of any article of sports equipment. The article of sports equipment may include, for example, a golf club, a baseball bat, a softball bat, a racquetball racket, a tennis racquet, a squash racquet, a badminton racquet, a cricket club, a croquet club, a hockey stick, a lacrosse stick, a fencing sword, a golf glove, a baseball glove, a softball glove, a racquetball glove, a tennis glove and a badminton glove.