12-12-1899

[953 nut 58,654]

 

                                               12-12-1899         

                   Patent for the first golf tee.

Golf's most under-appreciated invention.

The first wooden peg golf tee was invented and patented by Dr. George Grant of Boston. His patent was issued on December 12, 1899 and was given number 638,920. Dr. Grant was not only a golfing genius but a dentist and a professor at Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts as well. He was Harvard's first African-American professor which I mention only as an aside as it may have had something to do with the invention of the golf tee.  Prior to the invention of Dr. Grant's "peg tee", golf tees were little mounds made of mud or sand by the player or the his caddie for the purpose of elevating the ball from the ground for the first shot on each hole.

 

·         "To all whom it may concern, I, George F. Grant of Boston, county of Suffolk, state of Massachusetts, have invented an improvement in golf tees......."

·         "The invention has for its object the production of a simple, cheap and effective tee for use in the game of golf, obviating the use of the usual conical mounds of sand or similar material formed by the player.

·         "......and the annoyance and sometimes discomfort attendant upon the formation of a sand tee are obviated." 

Although its potential "game improvements" are glossed over they are summed up as "....will not in anyway reflect or stop the proper swing of the club."