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PING Golf Co. recently submitted a new vibration dampening patent featuring a design that has an insert to absorb vibration. We have seen this before in several brands and most notably to TourSpecGolf is TourStage's  Turbo Rubber which TSG  later found to be a rubber very similar to an ear plug or more specifically a material used to transport drum sets. 

We began testing and found out that it did indeed help mute vibration in Wood's, Irons, and Wedges but we were using far more than TourStage did to get the desired effect.  We also noted that the majority of golfers can't tell the difference and that it took a very discerning ear to figure out any difference between two of the same club, one with our vibration material and the other without.

Practice  Increases Awareness
Golfers who hit all sorts of new clubs and were acute to sound vibration, material, along with the  little nuances of different features appeared to have the ability to pick out the addition of ear plugs, cork or dowels used in the making of a club. What was more difficult to notice was when club companies inserted a plastic piece or some sort of material in the original club head making it difficult to test the same head without the method used. We did however get a chance to test a Ping Iron one with the material plastic like insert attached then we removed it and hit the same club and indeed it did feel more harsh.
 

Everyday is Different
A vital factor in this was a players nose and ears.  As many of you already know when you close one of your senses it affects the other and what we found in testing is that by wearing ear plugs it reduced the feedback the golf club gave back to the player.  We also noticed that being congested affected your ears so that shots didnt feel as pure.  Lot's of variables here guy's the weather, your health, allergies, not to mention the club you are using.

The Shaft + Grip + Specifications
Ok so people always wonder where the soft pure feel comes from. Of course we all know that material makes a huge difference but so does the  shaft,  grip and surprisingly the club head's sole design and loft.  The weaker loft submits a softer feel.  Now we could never prove the that but a couple of the world's top factories believe in this and so do their top designers.  There really are a variety of things you can do to your club to make it feel less harsh, things like using a vibration dampening shaft for example like NSPRO or using a thicker rubber grip like NOWON or Iomic.  In some cases we found certain winn grips to actually increase the harsh sensation by off center shots rather than reduce it as advertised. The amount of tape used under the grip also played into it as well.

PING  files New Patent
Enter the latest entry into Iron head vibration reduction.  David Dawsey at Golf-Patents.com wrote about a new patent application submitted by PING golf today showing diagrams of what could be an adjustable vibration device or static piece . Now keep in mind that many of these patents dont become a reality and that the bigger golf OEM's simply put these out to protect their future IP rights but we do know a lot of time and research went into this and Ping Golf must have seen promise to proceed to the actual filing of the application.

Click Here or Keep Reading to view Multiple Images of the Patent...

The patent application describes the invention as:

Embodiments of golf clubs with a cavity and their methods of manufacture are generally described herein. In one embodiment, a golf club head comprises: a strike face, a back face opposite the strike face; a heel region; a toe region opposite the heel region; and a cavity integral with the golf club head. Among various embodiments, the cavity: extends from the heel region to the toe region; extends along a lower portion of the back face of the golf club head; extends approximately parallel to the strike face; and is approximately symmetrical about a centerline that bisects the golf club head between the heel region and the toe region. Among various embodiments, the cavity further comprises a vibration dampening material.

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New Ping G15 Update!
The New Ping G15 & i15 appears to be inching its way closer to the real as time slowly goes by.  Yesterday David Dawsey of Golf-Patents.com gave us an update about the revisions ping has made to its patent application for what we can only assume is the G15 driver. We still have our fingers crossed that it will debut on tour during the British Open in just under 2 weeks but little new information or images have appeared since we first reported the Ping G15 weeks ago.

Nothing on i15 Hybrid...
The update is specific to what could potentially be the Ping G15 driver yet nothing new has surfaced about the hybrid seen in our previous report.

Click Here or Keep Reading to view the new updates filled on the 23rd of June.

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Listen to Tunes while you Play!

(source: Golf-Patents.com)
 
For anyone who plays golf alone with a carry bag or enjoys listening to their favorite tunes on while playing It appears PING Golf may have something for you in the near future.  In a patent application that published this week as US Pub. No. 20090152144 titled “Golf Bag Having Shoulder Strap With An Electronic Device.” The application described the invention as:

A golf bag having a shoulder strap with a pocket for housing an electronic device such as an MP3 player, a radio, CD player, cassette player, and like devices. The shoulder strap includes a speaker, controls, and wiring to connect the electronic device to the speaker..

 

A cassette player? Really? Click Keep Reading to view more images:

The application explains:

[0002] Typically, golfers carry their golf bags utilizing one or more shoulder straps. Golf bag shoulder straps come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Furthermore, many golfers enjoy listening to music and/or videos while playing or practicing golf. Often, golfers will listen to music and/or watch videos utilizing an MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) player.

[0003] MP3 players have been in existence for several years and golfers usually carry their MP3 players on their person while playing golf or practicing. Sometimes, the MP3 player can inhibit the golfer's ability to socialize with others because individual golfers utilize ear phones to listen to audio portions of the file. Moreover, the wiring utilized to connect the MP3 player to the ear phones can interfere with the golfer's swing as he/she plays or practices. Therefore, there is a need in the art for apparatus to allow golfers to listen to and/or watch files on an MP3 player while playing golf or practicing such that golfers are capable of interacting with other players and not substantially interfering with an individual golfer's swings.

[0009] Shoulder strap 100 includes a pocket 110 to receive and hold an electronic device 140. In one embodiment, pocket 110 has a size so that it may receive and hold an audio device such as an MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) player. In another embodiment, pocket 110 is sized such that it is capable of receiving and holding an iPod manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. In further embodiments, pocket 110 may receive and hold any type of MP3 player, radio, compact disk (CD) player, cassette player, and other electronic audio and/or audio video devices such as internet access devices, PDAs, cell phones and multi-media devices.

[0010] Shoulder strap 100 also includes one or more speakers 120 mounted on the elongated body 170 and oriented between upper end 172 and lower end 176. Speaker 120 may be any device suitably configured to receive an electronic signal and output sound waves. As such, speaker 120 may be any speaker known in the art or developed in the future. In one embodiment, speaker 120 is oriented on shoulder strap 100 such that when an individual is carrying a golf bag utilizing golf bag shoulder strap 100, speaker 120 is oriented proximate one of the individual's ears.

[0011] Additionally, speaker 120 includes circuitry such that speaker 120 may produce low volumes. In addition or alternatively, speaker 120 may include circuitry to produce medium and high volumes as well. Speaker 120 is configured to produce audio signals that are audible inside a pre-determined geographic distance such that persons outside the pre-determined distance are not substantially disturbed by the audio signals produced by speaker 120. In one embodiment, the geographic distance is less than about ten feet. In another embodiment, the geographic distance is less than about two feet. Notably, the invention contemplates that the geographic distance may be any pre-determined distance.

Interesting invention that would be nice to have on the range or when playing by yourself, but please not when playing in a group!

Dave Dawsey  - The Golf Patent Lawyer

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Spy Pic's : PING G15 or I15?

Today PING Golf co issued some pretty interesting design patents.  The first which could in fact be their G15 driver or also rumored to be named the i15 driver while the second a driving iron style design. We prefer to seperate Driving Irons from Hybrids due to their basic nature.  Hybrids we like to consider wood like while driving irons designed very iron like. Visually we cant tell to much except for the basic shape and a few asthetic features.

Thanks to patent lawyer David Dawsey of Golf-Patents.com for bringing this breaking news to our notice. David goes on to mention that this patent application was filed less than 5 months ago and could perhaps be the next generation of PING's drivers.

We will keep you posted if any new info pops up on the latest offerings from PING but for not click keep reading to view larger more detailed images of what could be the next big thing from Karsten Manufacturing.