Harper Lin
The golf tee has come a long way since the early days of golf in the 1500s, when golfers would use a club or their shoe to dig up a mound of turf or shape wet sand into a tee for their ball. The first patent for a golf tee was issued in 1889 to Scotsmen William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas, but it was not until the invention of the wooden tee by Dr. George Grant, patented in 1899, that the golf tee as we know it today came into being.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | 12 December 1899 |
| Inventor | Dr. George Franklin Grant |
| Profession | Dentist |
| Description | A wooden peg that the golfer pushed into the ground, and atop which he balanced the golf ball |
| Patent Number | 638,920 |
| Country | United States of America |
| Material | Wood and rubber |
| Modern Golf Tee | Dr. William Lowell's Reddy Tee |
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What You'll Learn
The first golf tees
The use of golf tees dates back to the 1500s, when golfers would use a club or their shoe to dig up a mound of turf to place the ball on. This practice continued for around 300 years, with golfers using either sod or sand to create tees.
The late 1800s saw the introduction of artificial tees. The first patent for a golf tee was issued in 1889 to two Scotsmen, William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas. Their invention was a small rubber plate with a raised ball support in the form of upright prongs or a hollow cylinder. However, this tee did not pierce the ground and was unstable in windy conditions.
In 1892, Percy Ellis of Surrey, England, patented the "Perfectum", the first tee to be placed in the ground. It consisted of an iron spike base and round rubber pegs to hold the ball in place. Another early design was the "Vector", patented in 1897 by Scottish inventor PM Matthews. The Vector featured a metal spike and a rubber cup to secure the ball.
In 1899, Dr. George Franklin Grant, a dentist and one of the first African-American graduates of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, received a patent for "an improved golf tee". Grant's tee was made of wood and featured a flexible rubber peg for the ball, allowing for more stability. Grant's design included the "big three" elements that became standard in early 20th-century tees: wood, piercing the ground, and a peg to support the ball.
While Grant's invention was recognised as innovative, he did not promote or sell his work, and his design never gained widespread popularity. It wasn't until the early 1920s that the use of wooden tees became common, thanks to the invention of the "Reddy Tee" by another dentist, Dr. William Lowell. The Reddy Tee, made of white birch, became the standard design for golf tees and is still in use today.
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Patents for golf tees
The history of the golf tee dates back to the 1500s. The practice of getting sand wet with a towel and mounding up earth to get the ball off the ground continued for some 300 years. The late 1800s changed all that.
The world's first patented golf tee was invented by two Scots: William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas. Their patent document is dated 1889 and describes a small rubber plate with a raised ball support in the form of upright prongs or a hollow cylinder. This tee sat up on top of the ground and became cumbersome in windy conditions.
The first patent for a golf tee that could be placed in the ground was the "Perfectum", patented in 1892 by Percy Ellis of Surrey, England. It consisted of an iron spike base and round rubber pegs to hold the ball in place.
In 1897, Scottish inventor PM Matthews patented a tee called the "Vector", featuring a metal spike and rubber cup to hold the ball.
On December 12, 1899, Dr. George F. Grant, a dentist from the Boston area, received U.S. patent No. 638,920 for a golf tee. It consisted of a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. Grant's invention was the first American wooden golf tee, but he never promoted or sold it, and it remained largely unnoticed.
In the early 1920s, another dentist, Dr. William Lowell, invented the "Reddy Tee", the first modern golf tee. Lowell's design, a one-piece wooden peg with a hollowed-out top, became the standard and common practice.
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Dr. George Grant's golf tee invention
The golf tee was invented by Dr. George Franklin Grant, a dentist from Boston, Massachusetts, and one of the first Black graduates from Harvard Dental School. He was also the first Black faculty member at Harvard University. Dr. Grant was an avid golfer and often played in a meadow near his home in Arlington, Massachusetts.
On December 12, 1899, Dr. Grant received U.S. patent No. 638,920 for his invention of the golf tee. His design consisted of a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. The tee was designed to be less rigid at the top and more stable at the bottom, allowing it to be easily driven into the ground.
Despite receiving a patent, Dr. Grant never capitalized on his invention. He had prototypes made for his personal use and gave them to his friends and playing partners. Dr. Grant did not promote or sell his invention, and as a result, his contribution to the world of golf went unnoticed for a long time. Instead, he chose to give away golf tees to friends and other players rather than pursue building a business around his invention.
It wasn't until the early 1920s that using a wooden tee became common practice, with the invention of the ""Reddy Tee" by another dentist, Dr. William Lowell. Dr. Lowell's tee became the first modern golf tee and set the standard for the familiar one-piece wooden peg with a hollowed-out top that is still used today.
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The Reddy Tee
The history of the golf tee dates back to the 1500s, when golfers would use a club or their shoe to create a small mound of turf to place the ball on. This practice continued for around 300 years, until the late 1800s when artificial golf tees started to be invented. The first patent for a golf tee was issued in 1889 by the British Patent Office to Scotsmen William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas. Their invention was a small rubber plate with a raised ball support, which sat on top of the ground.
In 1899, Dr. George Franklin Grant, a dentist and one of the first African-American graduates of Harvard's School of Dental Medicine, received a patent for "an improved golf tee". Grant's tee was made of wood and pierced the ground, with a flexible rubber peg on top to hold the ball. This design had the "big three" elements that almost all tees of the early 20th century included: wood, pierced the ground, and a peg for the ball to sit on. In 1991, the United States Golf Association recognised Grant as the original inventor of the wooden tee.
However, Grant never promoted or sold his invention, and it was not until the early 1920s that the use of wooden tees became common practice with the invention of the Reddy Tee. The Reddy Tee was invented by another dentist, Dr. William Lowell, and was the first modern golf tee. It was a one-piece wooden peg with a hollowed-out top, which became the standard tee design even to this day. Lowell used gutta-percha, the same material used to make false teeth and golf balls in the 19th century, for his first tees, but found that they were too brittle and so switched to white birch. To promote his invention, Lowell paid PGA legend Walter Hagen and his exhibition partner, Joe Kirkwood, to use the Reddy Tee while playing.
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Golf tees before the 1800s
The game of golf as we know it today is generally accepted to have developed in Scotland from the Middle Ages onwards. The game did not gain international popularity until the late 19th century, when it spread to the rest of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the United States.
The history of the golf tee dates back to the 1500s. For about 300 years, golfers would get sand wet with a towel and mound up earth to elevate the ball slightly off the ground. This practice continued until the late 1800s when various golf tee inventions emerged.
In 1889, William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas patented the world's first golf tee, a small rubber plate with a raised ball support in the form of upright prongs or a hollow cylinder. However, this tee sat on top of the ground and was unstable in windy conditions.
In 1892, Percy Ellis of Surrey, England, patented the "Perfectum," made of an iron spike base and round rubber pegs to hold the ball in place. This was the first tee designed to be placed in the ground.
In 1897, Scottish inventor PM Matthews patented a tee called the "Vector," featuring a metal spike and a rubber cup to secure the ball.
On December 12, 1899, Dr. George Grant, a dentist from the Boston area, received a patent for a golf tee consisting of a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. Grant created prototypes for personal use and shared them with family and friends, but he did not commercialize his invention.
It wasn't until the early 1920s that the use of wooden tees became common practice, with the invention of the "Reddy Tee" by another dentist, Dr. William Lowell. The "Reddy Tee" became the first modern golf tee, setting the standard for the familiar one-piece wooden peg with a hollowed-out top that is still used today.
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Frequently asked questions
The earliest golf tees were made from natural materials like sod or sand, with golfers using wet sand or a mound of dirt to tee up their ball. This practice dates back to the 1500s and continued for around 300 years.
The first patented golf tee was invented by Scotsmen William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas in 1889. Their design was a small rubber plate with a raised ball support. However, it did not pierce the ground and was cumbersome in windy conditions.
Dr. George Grant, a dentist from Boston, received a patent for "an improved golf tee" on December 12, 1899. His design consisted of a wooden peg attached to a rubber tube with a cup on top to hold the ball. Grant's tee had the "big three" elements of early 20th-century tees: wood, pierced the ground, and a peg to hold the ball.
The first modern golf tee, the "Reddy Tee", was patented and marketed by another dentist, Dr. William Lowell, in the early 1920s. It became the standard design for golf tees and was made of white birch.
