A golf club 2 includes a head 4, a shaft 6, and a grip 8. The club 2 has a forward club flex of greater than or equal to 170 mm. The forward club flex is measured for a golf club in the completed state. The weight of the head is denoted by Wh, and the weight of the club is denoted by Wc. Wh/Wc is greater than or equal to 0.72. With the golf club 2, a force acting on the player's body during a swing can be reduced. The golf club 2 can stabilize swing.

A baseball bat having a body with spaced ends, a barrel region at one end and a handle region at the other end. A safety assembly has an elongate member that extends through at least a part of the body and is connected at spaced first and second locations to the body. The elongate member is operable to at least momentarily exert a restraining force on a fragmented part of the barrel region to thereby avoid unimpeded movement of the fragmented part of the barrel region away from the handle region.

A baseball bat having a body with spaced ends, a barrel region at one end and a handle region at the other end. A safety assembly has an elongate member that extends through at least a part of the body and is connected at spaced first and second locations to the body. The elongate member is operable to at least momentarily exert a restraining force on a fragmented part of the barrel region to thereby avoid unimpeded movement of the fragmented part of the barrel region away from the handle region.

A golf club includes a golf club head, a shaft adapter secured within a hosel of the golf club head, and a shaft secured within the shaft adapter. The golf club shaft is formed from a fiber reinforced polymer and extends along a longitudinal axis between a tip end and a grip end. The golf club shaft includes a tip end section, a grip end section, and a tapered section between the tip end section and the grip end section. The tapered section of the shaft includes a reference portion within the upper half that has a frustoconical shape with a near-constant taper rate, and a narrowed portion within the lower half. The narrowed portion is recessed relative to a reference surface extrapolated from the frustoconical shape.

An improved racquet handle, such as for a tennis or racquetball racquet, comprised of a flex control device that enables a user to adjust the flexibility of the racquet handle. The increased flexibility of the racquet handle enables a user to impart greater force on a ball, such as a tennis ball, and also dampens or reduces the amount of vibration and/or shock otherwise imparted to the racquet user when the racquet strikes the ball. The flex control device of the present invention is comprised of a fixed insert portion and an interchangeable, removable insert that enables a user to control the amount of the flexibility of the racquet.

A hockey stick apparatus may include a hollow shaft structure having a proximal end and a distal end, and a blade structure coupled to the proximal end of the hollow shaft structure. The blade structure may include a top edge spaced apart from a bottom edge by a blade height, a heel spaced apart from a toe by a blade length, a front face spaced apart from a back face by a blade thickness. The blade thickness may vary along the blade height, and the top portion of the blade may have a greater blade thickness than a blade thickness of the bottom portion, and a stiffened top portion of the blade may have a first stiffness and a flexible bottom portion of the blade may have having a second stiffness, and the second stiffness may be less than the first stiffness.

A golf club 2 includes a head 4, a shaft 6, and a grip 8. The club 2 has a forward club flex of greater than or equal to 170 mm. The forward club flex is measured for a golf club in the completed state. The weight of the head is denoted by Wh, and the weight of the club is denoted by Wc. Wh/Wc is greater than or equal to 0.72. With the golf club 2, a force acting on the player's body during a swing can be reduced. The golf club 2 can stabilize swing.

A shaft 6 includes a tip end Tp and a butt end Bt. If a shaft length is defined as Ls, a distance between the butt end Bt of the shaft and a center of gravity G of the shaft is defined as Lg, and a ratio of the distance Lg to the shaft length Ls is defined as a ratio of the center of gravity of the shaft, then the ratio of the center of gravity of the shaft is equal to or less than 47%. The shaft length Ls is equal to or less than 991 mm. If a forward flex is defined as F1 (mm) and a backward flex is defined as F2 (mm), a flex point ratio C1 of the shaft calculated by the following formula (1) is equal to or less than 39%:
C1=[F2/(F1+F2)]100](1).

A sports product may include a support member and an impact region configured to impact an object. The impact region may be coupled to the support member. The sports product may also include a shear thickening material in at least one of the support member or the impact region. The shear thickening material may be configured to exhibit shear thickening behavior when an impact occurs between the impact region and the object.

A shaft 6 has a forward flex of equal to or longer than 130 mm and equal to or shorter than 178 mm. When the forward flex is represented by f1, and a backward flex is represented by f2, f2/(f1+f2) is equal to or greater than 0.46 and equal to or less than 0.50. When a distance between a butt end Bt and a center of gravity Gs of the shaft is represented by L (centimeter), and a weight of the shaft is represented by Ws (kilogram), a butt end GLL is calculated by the following formula:

butt end GLL=WsLL,

wherein the butt end GLL (kg.Math.cm.sup.2) is equal to or less than 110 kg.Math.cm.sup.2.