Swing analyzer

• US 8,944,932 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2009
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mizuno Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mizuno Corporation
• Inventors: Sato, Fuminobu, Nagao, Hiroshi, Kimura, Takashi
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, BACH V
• Application Number:
  US12/414,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20090247312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,136 Days
• Field of Search: 473/200
• US Class Current: 473/223
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/10 Positions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/54 Torque
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/833 Sensors arranged on the exercise apparatus or sports implement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3632 Clubs or attachments on clubs, e.g. for measuring, aligning A63B69/3614 takes precedence; clubs for swinging exercises in general A63B15/00

Abstract

A calculating unit of a swing analyzer calculates, assuming that a golf club is in a uniform circular motion about a virtual center of rotation O during a swing, a virtual speed Vh at a central point R of a golf club head, based on a distance between first and second acceleration sensors, a distance between the first acceleration sensor and the central point R of a golf club head and outputs from the first and second acceleration sensors, and calculates the speed of central point R of a golf club head utilizing the virtual speed Vh.

Claims

1. A golf club shaft selecting system comprising:

a swing analyzer capable of outputting information that can be used for analyzing a swing of a user, comprising;

first and second acceleration sensors provided on a swing member swung by a user and having a longitudinal direction, spaced apart by a distance in said longitudinal direction for measuring a virtual speed of the swing member;

a calculating unit comparing the measured virtual speed of the swing member with a table of predetermined actual speeds to obtain an actual speed of a portion of the swing member positioned apart from said first and second acceleration sensors in said longitudinal direction;

a strain gauge attached to said swing member; and

a display unit for displaying the actual speed;

wherein, assuming that said swing member is in circular motion during a swing, said calculating unit calculates a virtual speed at said portion based on the distance between said first and second acceleration sensors and calculates the actual speed of said portion utilizing said virtual speed;

wherein said calculating unit calculates the actual speed of said portion by correcting said virtual speed at the time of measurement with predetermined speed correction data stored in said calculating unit;

wherein the predetermined speed correction data is based on an actual measured value from a secondary measuring device;

wherein said calculating unit calculates an amount of deflection of said swing member based on an output from said strain gauge;

wherein said calculating unit stores in advance correction data for approximating said actual speed from said virtual speed based on predetermined data from the secondary measuring device; and

wherein said selecting system selects a golf club shaft based on the actual speed of said portion and the amount of deflection of said swing member.

2. The golf club shaft selecting system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an elastically deformable buffer member provided on a circumferential surface of said swing member; and

a board provided on said buffer member;

wherein

said first and second acceleration sensors are provided on a first main surface of said board.

3. The golf club shaft selecting system according to claim 2, wherein

said calculating unit and said display unit are provided on a second main surface opposite to said first main surface on which said first and second acceleration sensors are provided.

4. The golf club shaft selecting system according to claim 1, wherein the time of impact is determined by measuring an abrupt change in acceleration in at least a portion of the swing member using one or more of the first and second acceleration sensors.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said selecting unit selects the flex of the golf club shaft based on the actual speed of the portion and the amount of deflection of the swing member.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said selecting unit selects one or more of the mass and kick point of the shaft based on the actual speed of the portion and the amount of deflection of the swing member.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said calculating unit calculates a maximum amount of deflection of the swing member based on the output from said strain gauge; and

said selecting unit selects one or more of the mass, kick point, and flex of the shaft based on the actual speed of the portion and the maximum amount of deflection of the swing member.

5. A method for selecting a golf club shaft comprising:

measuring the virtual speed of a swing member using one or more accelerometers mounted thereon;

measuring an amount of deflection of the swing member using one or more strain gauges mounted thereon;

detecting an impact between the swing member and an object using one or more of the first and second acceleration sensors;

calculating the actual speed of the swing member immediately preceding impact by comparing a measured virtual speed of the swing member with a table of predetermined actual speeds with a processor to obtain an actual speed of the swing member; and

selecting a golf club shaft based on the actual speed of the swing member immediately preceding the impact and the deflection of the swing member.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the impact between the swing member and the object is detected by the one or more accelerometers detecting an abrupt change in the acceleration of the swing member.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the impact between the swing member and the object is detected when the accelerations from two or more accelerometers all fluctuate more than a predetermined amount in a predetermined time.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising calculating the speed of a head of the swing member based on the speed calculated for the swing member.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the deflection of the swing member is measured using a first strain gauge mounted on the x-axis of the swing member and a second strain gauge mounted on the y-axis of the swing member.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing one or more swing speeds in a memory.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein a stiffness of the golf club shaft is selected based on the speed of the swing member preceding the impact and the amount of deflection of the swing member.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein one or more of a mass and a kick point of the golf club shaft is selected based on the speed of the swing member preceding the impact and the amount of deflection of the swing member.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein a maximum amount of deflection of the swing member is measured, and one or more of the mass, kick point, and flex of the golf club shaft is selected based on the maximum amount of deflection of the swing member and the speed of the swing member.