Site News  |   Monitor Keywords  |   Monitor Archive  |   Organizer  |   Account Info  |

Golf mat

Golf mat description/claims

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/733,806 filed Dec. 10, 2003.

The present invention relates generally to golf mats, and more particularly to a golf mat having an artificial turf including a plurality of groups of fibers, each group including both non-linear fibers and substantially straight fibers sewn into a backing through a common opening, and having infill particles adhered to the non-linear fibers and lower portions of the straight fibers.

Golf mats for use as a practice playing surface are most effective if they simulate the feel of natural turf. A variety of mat constructions have been designed for this purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,396 uses a relatively thick base pad of resilient material (foam rubber), and an artificial grass-like carpet that is slidably positioned on the base so as to absorb club force, which is more like a natural turf than a rigidly mounted carpet.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,080 by Reynolds discloses a turf simulating surface including a grass-like carpet layer placed over layers of material, each layer designed to simulate the shock absorbing nature of corresponding layers of soil.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,853 by Tomarin, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,079 by Haas, Jr. also include layers of shock absorbing material beneath a grass simulating carpet. They also place granules, such as sand and/or rubber particles, covering/coating a lower portion of the grass-like carpet, giving support for the grass-like fibers and simulating the effect of soil. A disadvantage of the loose infill covering/coating in a golf mat is that it is displaced when impacted by a club head, which can result in undesirable variations in the infill depth, and air-born particles that can be irritating to the golfer.

It is an advantage of this invention in that it provides a golf playing surface having an improved stability.

It is a further advantage of this invention in that it provides a golf mat with improved durability.

It is a still further advantage of this invention in providing a golf mat wherein a club stroke does not bottom out in the mat.

It is another advantage of this invention in providing a golf mat with improved shock absorption when a club head strikes the mat.

It is another advantage of this invention in that it provides a golf mat that will hold a golf ball tee without drilling a hole in the mat.

In one embodiment of this invention, a golf mat includes artificial grass fibers attached to and extending upward from a backing material, which may be one or more layers. The artificial grass fibers include groups of at least two different kinds of fiber sewn through a common path in the backing material. One of the kinds of fibers in each group is shaped so as to appear like a blade of grass. The other kind of fiber in each group is pre-stressed/crimped so that the relaxed shape of the fiber is nonlinear, resembling a curlicued or articulated form having lateral excursions. The lateral excursions cause portions of one such pre-stressed fiber to overlap and interfere with another, forming a mesh. The height of the pre-stressed fibers in their relaxed state in the turf is less than the height of the relatively unstressed artificial grass fiber(s). The crimped fibers form a resilient mat with impact characteristics similar to natural turf.

FIG. 1A illustrates a golf mat formed with artificial turf according to the present invention;

FIG. 1B is an enlargened view of a portion of FIG. 1A configured for illustrating the construction of the mat of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 illustrates a golf tee held by the golf mat;

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

• What Is a Patent?
• What Is a Trademark or Servicemark?
• What Is a Copyright?
• Patent Laws