BACKGROUND

The present disclosure generally relates to golf balls, and more particularly to golf balls having indicia for alignment and range-finding.

Golfers often have difficulty properly aligning a putter club head with a golf ball along an intended direction of ball travel and accurately stroking the putter club head through the ball along the intended direction. If the putter is aligned and strikes the ball true, it will follow the laws of physics and move in the direction struck. It is critical to not only strike the center of the ball with the center of gravity of the putter, but also at the correct angle. Using the tangent formula, for every one degree of deviation from perpendicular, a strike of the ball will be deviated approximately 0.209 inches per foot of travel. For a ten foot putt, this translates to 2.09 inches. Thus, performance can be improved by improving the alignment of the ball relative to the target and of the putter with the ball. Also, knowing the distance to the hole and thus the amount of force needed to strike the ball to travel the necessary distance can further increase the performance of the golfer.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a golf ball alignment device generally comprises a golf ball having an exterior surface. Indicia is disposed on the exterior surface of the golf ball. The indicia comprise first and second line segments extending along a portion of the golf ball at a spaced interval. The spaced interval is narrower at a first end of each line segment than at a second end of each line segment such that the line segments converge from the second end of the line segments to the first end of the line segments. The indicia provide an alignment reference on the golf ball for a user to align the line segments with at least one of an intended direction of travel of the golf ball and a club head used to strike the ball in the intended direction of travel.

In another aspect, a golf ball range-finding device generally comprises a golf ball having an exterior surface. Indicia is disposed on the exterior surface of the golf ball. The indicia comprise first and second line segments extending along a portion of the golf ball at a spaced interval. The indicia are configured to measure a distance from the golf ball to a target by aligning the target between the first and second line segments and rotating the golf ball until sides of the target are positioned at inner edges or tips of the first and second line segments. A location along the first and second line segments where the sides of the target are positioned at the inner edges or tips of the first and second line segments indicates the distance from the golf ball to the target.

Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

