Golf Club with Adjustable Shaft

Abstract

A golf club adjustable for use by right handed or left handed golfers is provided comprising a club head defining a club head cavity and a ball striking face. The golf club further includes a shaft and a club head connecting mechanism disposed within or proximate the club head cavity and connectable to the club head and to the shaft, the club head mechanism being adjustable to facilitate translation of the vertical orientation of the shaft relative to the club head, in a plane parallel to a striking surface, while the shaft remains connected to the club head, and angle of the striking surface with respect to the ground remains unchanged.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A golf club adjustable for use by left handed or right handed golfers, comprising:
 a) club head defining a ball striking face;   b) a shaft; and   c) a club head connecting mechanism connectable to the club head and   to the shaft, the connecting mechanism being adjustable to facilitate selective translation of the vertical orientation of the shaft relative to the club head, in a plane parallel to the striking face, while the shaft remains connected to the head.   
     
     
         2 . The golf club as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the connecting mechanism is operative to translate the relative orientation of the shaft and the club head independent of any need for tools. 
     
     
         3 . The golf club as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the club head defines a common ball striking face for any relative orientation of the shaft and the club head. 
     
     
         4 . The golf club as recited in  claim 3 , wherein the connecting mechanism is operative to the translate the relative orientation of the shaft and the club head between left handed and right handed orientations, independent of any need to disconnect the shaft from the club head. 
     
     
         5 . The golf club as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the club head defines a club head cavity, and wherein the connecting mechanism is disposed within the club head cavity, rearward of the ball striking face, at about the horizontal center of the club head. 
     
     
         6 . The golf club as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the club head is triangular in a horizontal plane, the ball striking face defining one side of the triangle. 
     
     
         7 . The golf club as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the club head further defines second and third sides that join to form an apex rearward of the striking face, at about the horizontal center of the club head striking face. 
     
     
         8 . The golf club as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the club head defines an equilateral triangle. 
     
     
         9 . The golf club as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the club head defines a center of gravity and wherein the shaft is connected to the club head proximate a club head center of gravity. 
     
     
         10 . The golf club as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the shaft remains connected to the club head proximate the club head center of gravity as the shaft translated between the right handed and left handed orientations. 
     
     
         11 . The golf club as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the club head remains in a constant orientation to an adjacent ground area when the shaft translates between the right handed orientation to the left handed orientation. 
     
     
         12 . The golf club as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the club head defines a lower surface. 
     
     
         13 . The golf club as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the golf club is self-supporting along the lower surface. 
     
     
         14 . The golf club as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the lower surface maintains a constant angle of the ball striking face with respect to a field of play while the connecting mechanism facilitates selective translation of the vertical orientation of the shaft relative to the club head. 
     
     
         15 . The golf club as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the lower surface curves inwardly toward the striking face to minimize grounding of the club head when striking a ball. 
     
     
         16 . The golf club as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the connecting mechanism comprises:
 a) at least one locking member, the locking member having an engageable locking surface;   b) wherein the shaft is selectively translatable relative to the locking surface, and engageable to the locking surface for maintaining the shaft and the locking member in a selected relative position; and   c) wherein the shaft is disengageable from the locking surface so as be translatable between right handed and left handed orientations, independent of a need to disconnect the shaft from the club head.   
     
     
         17 . The golf club as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the connecting mechanism comprises:
 a) a retractable locking member disposed along the shaft, proximate a club head;   b) an arcuate surface connected to and extending from the club head, the arcuate surface defining a plurality of locking member receiving apertures disposed therein; and   c) wherein the shaft is translatable relative the arcuate surface, and the locking member is selectively engageable to one of the plurality of apertures to fix the orientation of the shaft relative to the club head, independent of any need to disconnect the shaft from the club head.   
     
     
         18 . The golf club as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the angle of the shaft relative to the club head is selectively translatable from 30 degrees to 150 degrees above the horizontal plane of the club head. 
     
     
         19 . The golf club as recited in  claim 18 , wherein the shaft is selectively translatable relative to the club head in 10 degree increments. 
     
     
         20 . The golf club as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the club head defines a guide grove disposed parallel to the striking face along the horizontal plane of the club head for indicating the angle of the shaft relative to the club head. 
     
     
         21 . The golf club as recited in  claim 7  wherein the club head is a putter club head.