1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf glove, and more particularly to a weighted golf glove.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, golf gloves have been used to protect the skin of the hand grasping the grip of a golf club while providing an enhancement in gripping qualities, thereby allowing the golfer to stably and firmly grasp the grip of the golf club.
Known golf gloves are mainly made of soft leather. Also, a golf glove provided with a buffering material at its back section is known to protect the skin of the hand. A golf glove is also known which is provided at its wrist portion with a strap adapted to tightly secure the wrist portion on the wrist of the user.
However, such known golf gloves provide only effects of enhancing gripping qualities and protecting the skin of the hand, as mentioned above. With such golf gloves, it is impossible to expect an improvement in a golfer's golf swing in terms of swing speed and stability and an enhancement in score.
In order to provide an improvement in a golfer's golf swing in terms of swing speed and stability and an enhancement in score, a weighted golf glove has been proposed which is, for example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,943 issued to JongBok Kim.
The golf glove disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,943 includes a plurality of weight segments made of lead to have a desired weight. The weight segments are arranged on the hand and finger parts of the golf glove at the back side of the golf glove.
Where a golfer wears this weighted golf glove, an increase in inertial mass is expected when he rotates the arm and hand about the shoulder to swing a golf club grasped by the hand. The increased inertial mass would improve the head speed of the golf club, thereby tremendously increasing the flying distance of a ball struck by the head of the golf club. Furthermore, it is also possible to provide an improved stability of back swing, down swing and follow through when swinging the golf club.
In order to obtain a further increase in inertial mass upon swing the golf club, it is necessary to increase the total weight of the weight segments affixed to the golf glove as much as possible. However, it is practically difficult to affix an increased number of weight segments to the golf glove due to a limited area of the golf glove for the affixing of the weight segments. To this end, lead having a relatively high specific gravity is used for the weight segments in order to obtain an increase in weight while using a reduced number of weight segments. However, lead is hazardous to the human body and involves environmental pollution. For this reason, the current worldwide tendency is to prohibit use of lead.