AU632455B2 - - Google Patents

Description

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4 Name of Applicants Actual Inventors Address fo Service

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 RUSSELL JAMES DAKIN and EARL ELLIOTT RUSSELL JAMES DAKIN and EARL ELLIOTT GRANT ADAMS COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 9, Nat,.onal Mutual Centre, 144 Edward Street, BRISBANE. QLD. 4000

AUSTRALIA.

GOLF GAME APPARATUS Invention Title Details of Associated Provisional Applications Numbers The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it known to me.

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Fl *r *00 044 0 004 *o 0tt THIS INVENTION relates to a golf game apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus enabling the game of golf to be played on a table top.

Various table top games have been proposed to simulate the game of golf, but a totally satisfactory board game has not yet been produced.

Usually, miniature golf games are provided with up to eighteen holes on boards resembling a golf course to a certain degree, but they generally lack any real resemt.ance to a normal golf course in response, playing conditicns or appearance.

An attempt to overcome this problem is disclosed in AU-A-40085/85 M. P. Cole) where the playing surface had a number 'of different textures, and colours, to represent a different area of the course, eg. fairways, greens, rough, water hazards and the like.

S-tacles, including trees and rock, could be optionally located on the board to vary the difficulty of the game.

While this game was an advance on the prior art games, it suffers from two major limitations. The eighteen holes must be compressed onto two game boards (ie. nine holes each) and the general layout of the holes is fixed, ie. the location of the toes, bunkers, fairways, greens, etc.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a golf game apparatus where each hole is selectively created by combining two or more board sections together.

It is a preferred object to provide an apparatus where the tee and the green (with its cups) can be selectively positioned on the board sections so that any given combination of boards can provide a number of different holes.

It is a further preferred object to provide an apparatus where at least one of the board sections has

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i r i I .u l ;-r -K27 /2- 3 at least one end at an angle to the sides to enable "dogleg" or like holes to be created.

It is a still further preferred object to provide an apparatus where different hazards (eg.

bunkers, watertraps) are provided on the board sections.

It is a still further preferred object to provide an apparatus where hazards (eg. trees, rocks) can be optionally placed on the board section.

Other preferred objects will become apparent from the following description.

In a broad aspect, the present invention resides in a golf game apparatus including: a plurality of board sections, each having a °o playing surface to form a portion of a golf hole, arranged to be placed end-to-end to form a continuous o board surface for a golf hole; :o of, a tee means to be placed on, or at one end i 0 of, one of the board sections; a green means, incorporating a cup means, to be placed on a second of the board sections; o the board sections, tee means and green 0 means being selectively arrangeable to simulate a plurality of different golf holes.

The game is played with a ball. Preferably, 25 the ball is played on the board using a figurine or toy S.o player who holds a miniature club.

Preferably, the toy player has pivotally mounted arms, holding the club, the arms being swung 0 through the stroke by a manually-operable knob on the back of the player.

Preferably, at least thr-e or four board sect. *ins are provided.

It is preferred that at least one board section has one angled end and that at least one other board section has both ends angled to the sides to enable, eg. "dogleg" or "zigzag" holes to be created.

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YP~I~P~F~ 4 Preferably, each board section has a pair of side borders, which may be separated from the playing surface by a respective gutter or channel. Detachable end strips may be fitted to the end of the board section, adjacent the green, spaced from the tee.

1. The playing surfaces may be moulded or have a fabric applied thereto and different surfaces can be zprovided to simulate fairways and the rough.

Different surfaces, and colours, may be provided to del.neate bunkers and water traps and bristles may simulate reeds adjacent the water traps.

Miniature trees, rocks, hedges, bushes and the like can be selectively placed on the playing surfaces to simulate the different hazards.

l. 15 The board sections may be releasably connected 0. by aligned holes and spigots at their ends, by clips, catches or the like.

Preferably, the green is slightly raised, with inclined sides, to a planar area with the cup. The cup 20 may be provided with a marker flag. To assist retrieval of the balls from the cup, it is preferred that the balls are steel bearings which may be powder coatel in ifferent colours, which can be attracted by a magnet.

Preferably, the tee means has a raised portion 25 on which the toy player is placed, and a tee to hold the ball at the commencement of the game.

The playing surfaces on the board sections may be planar, inclined and/or undulating, and spacers may be used to raise at least one end of a board section; or the adjacent ends of two board sections, to generate a non-planar hole.

To enable the invention to be fully understood, a number of preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: CI e~T~I~Ufl-Ys~L-YiI~LWI FIG 1 is a perspective view of the game apparatus, with a hole created from three board sections; FIG 2 is a perspective view showing the toy player on the tee means; FIG 3 is a rear perspective view of the toy player; FIG 4 is a perspective view of an inclined board section; FIG 5 is a perspective view of a bunker trap board section; FIG 6 is a perspective view of a water trap o °board section; FIG 7 is a perspective view of the green; FIG 8 is a perspective view of two board sections with additional hazards; and FIG 9 is a plan view showing possible hole layouts for an 18-hole course using only two or three board sections.

0* 20 Referring now to FIG 1, the apparatus 10 is assembled to simulate playing a hole of golf. Three board sections 11, eg. 11A, 11B, 11C are placed in endto-end relationship to simulate a golf hole.

060: Each board section 11 (see FIGS 4 to 6) has a playing surface 12 bounded by side walls 13 and gutters 14 (to define "out of bounds").

0 The playing surface 12 is preferably coloured light or dark green and may be smooth or have a fine textured surface. The playing surface may be formed when the board sections 11 are moulded or by a layer of material (eg. felt or other woven material), laid or glued on the body of the board sections 11.

At each end of the board sections 11, a spigot and complementary hole 16 are provided to enable the board sections 11A to 11H to be selectively connected C 6 together.

Bunkers 16, in the form of depressions or recesses, of course surface and cream/white colour, are formed in the playing surfaces of the board sections, and the bunkers 17 being of different shapes, sizes and locations on the board sections 11. A water hazard 18, also recessed into the playing surface 12, is provided in panel 11F (see FIG 6) and is coloured blue. Bristles 19 adjacent the water hazard simulate reeds to catch the ball.

As shown in FIGS 5, 6 and 8, the board sections 11 may have planar playing surfaces 12.

However, as shown in FIGS 1 and 4 (see board sections 11IA, 11D), the playing surface 12 may be formed with 15 inclined portions or be undulating, to add a further degree of difficulty to the holes created.

*9 9 In addition, the board sections may have one end at an angle to the sides (see board section 11C) on both ends at an angle thereto (see board section 11B) to 20 enable "dogleg" or zigzag" holes to be created. (When *0 9 the angled ends of adjacent board sections 11 are brought together, the board sections remain alignedsee board sections 11B, 11C.) aoa Referring now to FIG 2, the teeing ground 25 is placed at one end of the hole (see FIG 1) and has a base 21 with spigots 15 (and holes 16) to releasably engage the adjacent board section 11.

A toy player or figurine 22 is placed on a raised portion 23 so that his/her club 24 can strike the can, ball 25 (a coloured steel ball bearing) resting on the tee 26.

As shown in FIG 3, the club 24 is secured in the player's arms 27 which are pivotally mounted in the body 27 of the player and are swung by rotation of the knob 29 extending from the rear of the player's body.

1t r at aItt 15 £6 a f,aa 20 l-a~l i Referring now to FIG 7, the green 30 is formed of plastics or rubber material with a very fine surface finish and has upwardly inclined edges 31 to a planar putting surface 3.2. The cup 33 is provided in the putting surface and has a market flag 34.

As shown in FIG 8, additional hazards, in the form of bushes 35, trees 36, rocks 37 and the like may be placed on the board soctions 11 to vary the difficulty of the holes created.

As hereinbefore described, the board sections 11 can be arranged in a wide number of patterns containing 2, 3, 4 or more board sections to create an almost infinite range of holes and FIG 9 illustrates how 18 holes can easily be created with only three board sections. By adjusting the placement of the teeing grounds 20 and the greens 30, the addition or deletion of the additional hazards 35-37, the degree of difficulty of given holes can be varied.

The Rules of the Game are as follows: TEEING OFF GROUND AND THE GREEN f t 'a.

ri Once the hole is set up the teeing-off ground and the green must not be moved until all players have completed the hole.

FLAGSTICK

Before the stroke, a player may have the flagstick removed or held up to indicate the position of the hole. This may be done only on the authority of the player before he plays his stroke. The flagstick shall not be removed while the ball is in motion. If the ball strikes the flagstick, the player incurs no penalty and the ball shall be played as it lies. If the ball rest against the flagstick when it is in the hole, the player or someone authorised him may move or remove the flagstick and if the ball falls into the hole, the player shall be deemed to have holed out at his last i YIIY~.iil- .L ii Lli I I- i i i~i-i Y i I i stroke. Otherwise, the bail, if moved, shall be placed on the lip of the hole, without penalty.

ORDER OF PLAY Tee-off order shall be decided by hitting a ball from the tee, with the ball closest to the hole going first, once the game has commenced and all players have played their ball from the tee, the player whose ball is furtherest from the hole plays his next stroke, unless a player's ball lands on the green. In this case, he continues to play his strokes until he holes the ball or plays off the green.

BALL FALLING OFF THE TEE If a ball falls off the tee or is knocked off the tee by the player in addressing it, it may be re- S 15 teed without penalty. If a player makes a stroke at the ball and it does not clear the teeing ground, the player may re-tee the ball with a one-stroke penalty.

BALL AT REST MOVED BY ANOTHER BALL 0. If a player's ball at rest is moved by another 20 ball, the moved ball must be replaced and the other ball played as it lies. There is no penalty.

PLAYING THE WRONG BALL *fO° oA player must hole out with the ball played from the teeing ground unless a rule permits him to substitute another ball. If a player plays a stroke with a wrong ball, he shall add two penalty strokes to his score and shall then play the correct ball. The player whose ball has been wrongly played'shall replace his ball as near as possible to the spot where it originally lay, without penalty.

UNPLAYABLE BALL At any place on the course, a player may declare his ball unplayable. The player is the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable. If the player deems his ball to be unplayable, he shall, under 9 pen-.. ty of one stroke, place his ball in a playable position as close as possible to the spot where the ball came to rest, but no closer to the hole.

BALL IN WATER HAZARD If a ball lies in a water hazard, the player may, under penalty of one stroke, drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the ball crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the drop ball and the hole, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped. If a ball lies in a water hazard located behind the green, the player under penalty of one stroke drops a ball as close as possible to the line where the ball entered the o water hazard, but no closer to the hole.

15 BALL LOST OR OUT OF BOUNDS ;If a ball is lost outside a water hazard or it is out of bounds, the player shall play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as close as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played or moved by e° 20 him. If a ball is struck and goes out of bounds, but °re-bounds back onto the fairway, the ball is still o declared out of bounds and the penalty above applies.

STRIKING THE BALL MORE THAN ONCE The ball shall be fairly struck at with the head of the club and must not be pushed, scraped or spooned. If a player's club strikes the ball more than once in the course of a stroke, the player 8hall count the stroke and a penalty stroke, making two strokes in all. If the ball begins to move after the player has begun the stroke or the backward movement of his club, he shall incur no penalty.

Forms of play:

SINGLES

The basic game is a combination where the players play a stipulated round or rounds with the L/ i mr~--r winner being the player who completes the round or rounds in the fewest number of strokes.

Hole play is a combination where each hole counts as a point with the winner being the player with the most number of points. A variation of hole play is to count the par as the number of points for the hole.

TEAMS

The basic game is a combination where the scores of two or more players playing as a team are added together and the team with the fewest number of strokes becomes the winner.

Single ball is a competition where a team or 44 44 :two or more players plays the one ball in alternating strokes with the team with the fewest number of strokes S. o 15 being the winner.

oi: Best ball is a competition where a team of two 4 4 or more players plays individual balls, but only counts the team members who score the fewest number of strokes for the hole. In this form of play, once a team player has holed out, his remaining team members would not be 444, required to play the hole out before going to the next fairway.

TIED SCORES o .o 404. In the case of a tie, under all forms of play, 00 25 an extra hole or holes are played until the tie is 0. broken. Draws can only be called, on mutual agreement of all players involved.

It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that the apparatus 10 provides a realistic, and entertaining, simulation of the game of golf, with an almost infinite array of holes (and degrees of difficulty) able to be created. If desired, famous holes from golf courses around the world (eg. St.

Andrews, August, Pebble Beach) can be simulated.

Various changes and modifications may be made

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to the embodiments described and illustrated without departing from the present invention.

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Claims (3)

1. A golf game apparatus including: a plurality of board sections, each having a playing surf ace to f orm a portion of a± golf hole, arranged to be placed end-to-end to f orm a continuous board surface for a golf nole; a tee means to be placed on, or at one end of, one of the board sections; a green means, incorporating a cup means, to be placed on a second of the board sections; the board sections, tee means and green means being selectively arrangeable to simulate a plurality of different golf holes.

An apparatus according to Claim 1 and further V. 15 including: a ball played on the board surfacc by a toy player or figurine holding a club in arms pivotally mounted in the body of the player or figurines and operated manually by a knob means.

3. An apparatus according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein: .4 at least one board section has a playing surface with inclined or undulation portions; and at least one board section has at least one 'end angled to its sides, to engage an adjacent end of a .0 0 second of the board sections, to enable golf holes with a "dogleg" or "zigzag" to be created. DATED this twenty-ninth day of October 1992. RUSSELL JAMES DAKIN and EARL ELLIOTT, By their Patent Attorneys, GRANT ADAMS COMPA17Y. S13 ABSTRACT A golf game apparatus (10) enables a wide range of golf holes to be simulated by the use of a plurality of interengageable board sections (11A-11C), each with a playing surface (12) which may contain bunkers (17) or like hazards. A toy player (22) tees off from a tee ground (20) and uses a club (24) to play the ball (25) into the cup (33) on the green The boara sections (11A) may have inclined or undulation portions in their playing surfaces and different finishes to represent the fairway and rough. Angled ends to the board sections (11B, llC) enable "dogleg" and "zigzag" holes to be created. O o 9