GB2107594A - Golf bag hoods - Google Patents

SPECIFICATION Golf bag hood This invention relates to a golf bag hood.

More particularly it relates to a golf bag hood and a method which enable golf clubs carried in a golf bag to be kept dry more efficiently during wet weather.

Several types of golf bag hood exist which are used by golfers to cope with wet weather.

These are generally made of either a natural or polymeric, collapsible material and usually either clip on to or are elastically fitted around the mouth of the golf bag. Such hoods are almost always capable of being unzipped or unclipped so as to be opened whilst still in situ on the bag. When playing during wet weather, if an attempt is being made to keep the clubs dry, in particular the grips of the clubs, it is necessary to keep undoing the clips or zip in order to extract a required club and then to do them up once the shot is made and the club is replaced. This is a tedious procedure and many people leave the hood half undone as a compromise, not only to save effort, but also to try to prevent their hands getting wet.Whichever of these tactics is adopted, the grips of the clubs frequently do get wet and the player's golf gloves or hands also get wet during the two-handed operation necessary to undo or do up the clips or zip.

I have now devised a golf bag hood and a method which enable clubs to be kept dry in a golf bag during wet weather more efficiently. In addition, my hood and method enable the opening, closing and club-extracting operation to be carried out using one hand.

Viewed from one aspect, I provide a golf bag hood which may generally be of the type described adapted in use to fit over and be retained over the mouth of a golf bag so as in use to substantially exclude rain from the interior and contents of the bag during wet weather while allowing access to the said contents, wherein a portion of the hood is adapted to be stiffened and on stiffening the hood is caused to adopt a dome-like attitude.

In a preferred embodiment, the golf bag hood will be adapted to be stiffened by the inflation of an inflatable cushion or strip, which cushion or strip may either be integrally formed with the hood or may be separate and able to be fitted inside it. When inflated and fitted, the cushion or strip causes the hood to adopt and retain a semi-stiffened protective dome-like attitude which greatly increases the volume within the hood, and generally facilitates club selection during wet weather.

Should the hood when stiffened no longer be needed, the cushion may be deflated and the hood packed away.

Access to the interior and contents of the bag may, for example, be allowed through an aperture in the side of the hood that may, if desired, be covered by a rain-excluding flap which flap may temporarily be sealed. Such a flap is not always necessary and if the aperture is not too large, perhaps of the order of a players' hand in size, sufficient protection is provided.

The hood itself may be attached to the golf bag either using an arrangement of studs, such as press studs, or by virtue of an elasticated rim which will fit around the mouth of the bag, or using a zip fastener having complementary portions on the hood and bag respectively. Such arrangements are generally conventional.

By making the hood of a suitable collapsible polymeric material the hood may be packed and compressed when not in use so as not to either weigh more or take up any more space than existing hoods and to enable ready portability. The hood may also be made of a transparent material in order to facilitate club selection.

According to a further aspect of the invention I provide a method for substantially preventing the access of rain to the interior of a golf bag during wet weather which includes the steps of fitting around the mouth of said golf bag a hood having means allowing access to the interior of the bag when fitted, and causing said hood to be stiffened whereby a protective dome-like attitude is adopted. Said stiffening will, as mentioned above, preferably be achieved by the inflation of a cushion or strip which either forms an integral part of the hood or is separate and insertable into the hood, but it could be achieved in other ways using e.g. spring supports. It will be realized that the hood may be stiffened before being fitted over the mouth of the bag, or vice versa.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the following drawings, which are by way of Example only.

In the drawings, Figures 1, 2 and 3 show respectively a perspective view, side view and front view partially in section, of a golf bag hood of this invention.

Figure 4 shows a view of an inflatable strip such as may be used in the invention.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a golf bag hood 1 is shown substantially as it would look when stiffened mounted on top of a conventional golf bag 2 only the uppermost part of which is shown. The hood 1, formed of a durable flexible plastic material, fits around the mouth of the golf bag and in this embodiment is retained by an elasticated edge 3. The hood material may be partially or completely transparent to further assist club selection.

A strip of an air cushion 4, having a width of about 1 5cm inflated via a conventional orifice 5 having a stopper 6 forms an integral central portion of the hood and is attached to each of a pair of sidewalls 7 by a pair of curved seams 8 around a substantial part of the hood. Such a strip may typically be formed separately and then welded and/or stitched to the side walls along the seams 8 to form the hood, or the hood, including the strip 4 and seams 8 may be formed in a combined pressing and stitching operation.

The strip of cushion is shown as having a plurality of disc shaped areas 9, these being areas uninflated as a consequence of opposing sides of the cushion being heat-sealed or welded together during manufacture. These disc-shaped areas help prevent ballooning of the cushion, they assist the flexing of the cushion so that when inflated and under the constraint of the hood shape, the hood is caused to adopt a stiffened dome-like attitude which provides increased space within the hood for the heads of golf clubs being carried, and they also assist in providing a certain lateral strength. An aperture 10 in the side of the hood enables access to the interior and contents of the bag and is covered by a flap 11 welded to the sidewall at the top and which may be held down to the hood by strips of quick sealing felt 12, such as Velcro, along its sides or lower edge.

In Fig. 4, an inflatable strip of air cushion 1 3 is shown which is adapted by virtue of its dimensions to be fitted within golf bag hoods so as to carry out the method of the invention. It is possible to fit such a cushion to existing conventional golf bag hoods and still achieve the worthwhile effect of preventing access of rain to the interior and contents. The strip has similar disc-shaped areas 8 to the inflatable strip shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and is suitable either for fitting around the inside of a golf bag hood to provide the dome-like effect or for sliding into a sleeve with which a golf bag hood may be fitted expressly for the purpose so as to achieve a similar effect. A similar inflating orifice 5 and stopper 6 to those shown for Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are provided.