Trevor Ng
The use of wooden golf tees dates back to the late 1800s, with golfers previously having to mound up earth or sand to elevate their ball. The first golf tee patent was issued to Dr. George Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, on December 12, 1899. Grant's invention consisted of a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. However, it was not until the early 1920s when William Lowell, another dentist, invented the Reddy Tee, that the use of wooden tees became common practice.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | The history of the golf tee dates back to the 1500s. |
| Inventor | Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, received the first patent for a golf tee in 1899. However, the modern golf tee is attributed to William Lowell, who invented the popular "Reddy Tee" in the early 1920s. |
| Materials | Golfers initially used sand, water, and towels to create mounds for teeing. Over time, reusable materials such as paper, cork, rubber, and wood were introduced. |
| Design | Early golf tees had various designs, including small rubber slabs with vertical prongs or hollow tubes, wooden pegs with flexible rubber pegs, and variations with cup-shaped rubber tops connected to ground spikes. |
| Standardization | The first designated teeing grounds were introduced by Old Tom Morris at St. Andrews in 1875, standardizing the teeing area and speeding up play. |
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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 get sand wet with a towel and mound up earth to elevate the ball slightly. This practice continued for about 300 years until the late 1800s when the first golf tees were invented. The original rules of golf from 1744 state that the ball must be "teed" from the ground, and golfers were allowed to go within one club length of the original hole and use elements from the ground to tee it up.
In 1875, Old Tom Morris created separate teeing areas at St Andrews, which became commonplace. This was likely done to speed up play and reduce the time golfers spent waiting for other groups to finish teeing off. The designated teeing ground was typically within a 'circle' of one club length around the hole, which may be the origin of the term "tee."
The first portable golf tee was invented by William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas, members of the Tantallon Golf Club at North Berwick, in 1889. It was a small rubber slab with three vertical rubber prongs or a hollow rubber tube to hold the ball in place. This design was patented in April 1890. The first tee to penetrate the ground was the "Perfectum" tee, patented by Percy Ellis in 1892. It consisted of a rubber circle with a metal spike that was pushed into the ground.
In 1899, Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, received the first United States patent for a golf tee. His design included a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. However, Dr. Grant never capitalised on his invention, choosing instead to make prototypes for personal use and to give to family and friends. It is important to recognise the contributions of Dr. Grant, who was also the first African-American professor at Harvard, in the evolution of the golf tee.
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Golf tee patents
The use of golf tees dates back to the 1500s, when golfers would get sand wet and mould it to elevate the ball slightly above the ground. This practice continued for about 300 years until the late 1800s when reusable alternatives were sought. The first golf tees were made of paper, followed by cork and rubber.
On December 12, 1899, Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, received U.S. patent No. 638,920 for the world's first golf tee. The patent describes a golf tee as:
> " [A] tapering base portion to be driven into the ground point first, and a flexible tubular head, the lower end of which embraces the upper tapering portion of the base."
The patent also includes a drawing of the golf tee, showing it inserted into the ground and supporting a ball. The base was preferably made of wood and tapered to a point at the lower end, with a reduced diameter near the upper end. A piece of rubber tubing formed the flexible head, stretched over the upper tapering portion of the base.
Despite receiving the patent, Dr. Grant never capitalised on his invention. Instead, he had prototypes made for personal use and distributed them to friends and family. It was not until the early 1920s that the use of wooden tees became common practice, with the invention of the Reddy Tee by Dr. William Lowell.
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Dr. George Grant
The golf tee was invented by Dr. George F. Grant, a Boston-based African American dentist. Born in 1847 in Oswego, New York, Grant began working for a dentist in his hometown at a young age, first running errands and later becoming an assistant. At 19, he moved to Boston, where he worked as a dental assistant while pursuing his education. In 1870, he graduated with honours from Harvard Dental School, becoming the second African American to earn a dentistry degree.
Grant's passion outside of dentistry was golf, which he played in a meadow near his home in Arlington, Massachusetts. This hobby, combined with his inventive skills, led him to develop the golf tee. Before the invention of the golf tee, golfers used mounds of sand or earth to elevate the ball slightly above the ground. This practice, dating back to the 1500s, was often messy and inconvenient.
Dr. Grant's innovation, patented on December 12, 1899, was a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. This design provided a reusable and stable solution for golfers. However, despite being the first to patent a golf tee, Dr. Grant did not capitalise on his invention. Instead, he had prototypes made for personal use and shared them with friends and family.
It was not until the early 1920s that wooden tees became common practice, thanks to the efforts of another dentist-turned-inventor, Dr. William Lowell. Lowell's design, known as the "Reddy Tee," gained popularity when professional golfer Walter Hagen used them during his 1922 tour. Lowell's marketing skills and the endorsement of a golf legend helped establish the standard for golf tees that is still followed today.
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Wooden tee popularisation
The wooden golf tee was patented by Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, on 12 December 1899. Grant's invention was a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. However, Grant never capitalised on his invention, instead choosing to make prototypes for personal use, which he gave to friends and family. As a result, his design went largely unnoticed by the golfing community.
In the early 1900s, golfers began experimenting with reusable tees made from cork, paper, and rubber. The first portable golf tee was invented in 1889 by two members of the Tantallon Golf Club in North Berwick, William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas. It was a small rubber slab with three vertical rubber prongs or a hollow rubber tube to hold the ball. The first tee to penetrate the ground was the "Perfectum" tee, patented by Percy Ellis in 1892. It consisted of a rubber circle with a metal spike.
It wasn't until the 1920s that wooden tees became commonplace, thanks to the efforts of Dr. William Lowell, another dentist. Lowell first used gutta-percha, a material used for making false teeth and golf balls, but found it too brittle. He then switched to white birch and created the "Reddy Tee", which became popular when professional golfer Walter Hagen used them during his 1922 tour. Lowell also paid Hagen and his partner, Joe Kirkwood, to use and promote the "Reddy Tee".
The Reddy Tee's popularity led to the widespread adoption of wooden tees, marking a significant shift from the ancient practice of using mounds of sand and water to elevate the golf ball. Lowell's design was simple, effective, and easily replicable, making it the prototype that all subsequent golf tees have followed.
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Materials used
The earliest golf tees were made from sand. For centuries, golfers created tees by getting sand wet with a towel and mounding up earth to elevate the ball. This practice dates back to the 1500s and continued for about 300 years.
In the late 1800s, golfers began to search for reusable alternatives to sand tees. Materials such as paper, cork, and rubber were used to create these early reusable tees.
The world's first patented golf tee was invented by Dr. George Grant and patented in 1899. It was made of wood with a flexible rubber peg for the ball. Dr. Grant, however, did not commercialise his invention, and it remained largely unknown outside his circle of friends and playing partners.
In the early 1900s, various designs for golf tees were created, including the \"Perfectum\" tee invented by Percy Ellis in 1892, which comprised a rubber circle with a metal spike that was pushed into the ground. The \"Victor\" tee, patented in 1897, featured a cup-shaped rubber top connected to a ground spike.
It wasn't until the early 1920s that wooden tees became commonplace, thanks to Dr. William Lowell's invention of the \"Reddy Tee.\" Dr. Lowell first experimented with gutta-percha, the material used for making false teeth and golf balls, but found it too brittle. He then switched to white birch, creating the first wooden tees. The "Reddy Tee" gained popularity when professional golfer Walter Hagen used them during his 1922 tour.
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Frequently asked questions
The first golf tee was invented by Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, and patented on December 12, 1899. It was a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball.
While Dr. George F. Grant invented the first golf tee, it is widely believed that Hoboken’s own William Lowell invented the modern golf tee in the early 1920s. He called it the "Reddy Tee".
For centuries, golfers made tees from sand. They would mound up earth or wet sand with a towel to get the ball off the ground. In the late 1800s, golfers began trying to create reusable tees using cork, paper, or rubber.
