The First Golf Tee
On 12th December 1899, an American dentist, Dr George F Grant, one of the first black graduates of Harvard College, was the first American to patent a tee that he had invented in 1898. It was a peg with a rubber top and was pushed into the ground, and is very close to the modern tee, but but it did not have a concave head. He did not market it and neither this nor any other previous tee inventions caught on.
The first commercial golf tee, which is the one we know today, was the Reddy Tee.
Invented at Maplewood Golf Club in 1921 by another American dentist William Lovell. First manufactured in wood and painted with red tops so that they could be seen easily, they were soon produced in a variety of styles and materials.
The “Reddy Tee” made of white celluloid by the Nieblo Manufacturing Company, was patented in 1924. Although plastic tees are available, simple wooden tees similar to those made in the 1920s are still the most common type.
By Mike Hallee “History With Hallee”
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