Articles of sports equipment, such as striking implements (e.g., sticks) and wearable articles (e.g., skates, helmets) for playing hockey or other activities, in which at least one of the characteristics (e.g., stiffness) of the articles of sports equipment is adaptable and can be altered during use of the sports equipment, such as by comprising an alterable component coupled to a controller, by comprising an alterable component that is autonomously alterable, and/or by an alterable component that can be altered in response to a command of a remote device.

A golf club head includes a golf club body including a crown, a sole, and a skirt connected between the crown and the sole, the golf club body including a front including a leading edge and a back including a trailing edge, and a hosel connected to the golf club body; a face connected to the front of the golf club body, the face including a geometric center, the golf club head including modifiable boundary conditions.

A tunable insert is provided that may be placed within a baseball/softball bat at or near its sweet spot. The insert may allow for fine tuning of the bat's compressive strength, and thus the bat's performance. Two opposing inner sleeves may be received within a tapered inner core and may be drawn together with a threaded fastening member. When the inner sleeves are pulled together, the insert segments are pushed outward. The segmented outer piece of the insert may be directly in contact with a ring member or inner barrel that is positioned between the barrel and the tunable insert. When torque is applied to the threaded fastener, the segmented outer piece expands, thus also expanding the ring member. As the ring member expands, it gets nearer to the bat's inner surface. The relative distance of the ring member to the bat's inner surface tunes the stiffness of the bat.

A shaft has a weight of 50 g or less. A forward flex is 110 mm or less. A backward flex is 100 mm or less. A shaft torque is 4.0° to 6.5°. The shaft includes a first hoop layer, a second hoop layer longer than the first hoop layer, and a third hoop layer longer than the second hoop layer. An outer diameter at a position 550 mm apart from a tip end is D5. An outer diameter at a position 950 mm apart from the tip end is D9. A crushing strength at the position 550 mm apart from the tip end is F5. A crushing strength at the position 950 mm apart from the tip end is F9. F5/D5 is 1.5 or greater and 2.5 or less. F9/D9 is 1.0 or greater and 2.0 or less. A difference (F5−F9) is 4 kgf or less.

A device for practicing hitting a ball may comprise a bat and a flag portion. The bat may comprise a bat stick comprising a bat handle and a bat barrel coupled to the bat handle; and a weight coupled to the bat barrel. The bat may comprise a rigid material. The flag portion may comprise a flag coupled to the bat barrel, wherein the flag is configured to extend from the bat barrel. The flag may comprise a flimsy material.

A copper tape has an elongated copper foil element with a thickness between about 0.01 mm and about 0.2 mm and an adhesive backing. The backing has a strength between about 3.9 N/cm and about 10 N/cm. A method of adjusting aggregate weight and weight distribution of sporting equipment includes cutting a portion of the copper tape to a length and width that adds a predetermined weight and that fits within a region of the sporting equipment and adhering the copper tape to the sporting equipment.

A system including a computing device and camera is disclosed; the system configured for measuring three-dimensional attributes and associated performance measurements of a mechanical device. Some embodiments comprise a camera configured to capture images of the mechanical device and a computing device in communication with the camera. In some embodiments, the computing device is configured to access a first set of pixels associated with a first plurality of fiducials to calibrate a spatial resolution of the camera. A second image from the camera can be converted into a second set of pixels associated with each of the plurality of fiducials, which are attached to the mechanical device. The computing device can be further configured to compare the first and second set of pixels to determine the location of the plurality of fiducials on the mechanical device.

A ball bat configured for impacting a ball. The ball bat extends along a longitudinal axis and includes a bat frame and a pivot joint. The bat frame includes a handle portion coupled to a barrel portion. The barrel portions has a distal region. The pivot joint is coupled to the distal region of the barrel portion. The pivot joint movably supports the barrel portion relative to the longitudinal axis such that the distal region of the barrel portion may pivot towards and away from the longitudinal axis about the pivot joint.

A putter head having an upward-facing surface portion and a diffusely reflecting area of at least 5% of a total upward-facing area, which is also has a low gloss value and preferential CIELab L* value, an alignment feature delineating a transition between a first portion of the upward-facing surface having an area of contrasting shade or color with a shade or color of a portion of the face adjacent the upward-facing surface, and a face with at least a portion adjacent the upward-facing surface having a diffusely reflecting face surface area with a low gloss value and preferential chroma value. The alignment feature may have a preferential contrasting color difference between the first portion of the upward-facing surface and a portion of the face, and preferential CIELab ΔL difference value between a portion of the face and the diffusely reflecting surface of the upward-facing surface.

A system including a computing device and camera is disclosed; the system configured for measuring three-dimensional attributes and associated performance measurements of a mechanical device. Some embodiments comprise a camera configured to capture images of the mechanical device and a computing device in communication with the camera. In some embodiments, the computing device is configured to access a first set of pixels associated with a first plurality of fiducials to calibrate a spatial resolution of the camera. A second image from the camera can be converted into a second set of pixels associated with each of the plurality of fiducials, which are attached to the mechanical device. The computing device can be further configured to compare the first and second set of pixels to determine the location of the plurality of fiducials on the mechanical device.