Did you know that Ulysses S Grant invented the golf tee?
But his recreational passion was golf, which he played in a meadow near his home in Arlington, Mass. Even though the patent for his tee, issued on Dec. 12, 1899, was the first in the country, Dr. Grant never capitalized on his invention. Instead, he had prototypes made for his own personal use and handed them out to family and friends.
Who was George F Grant?
The next time you reach into your pocket or the zippered lining of your golf bag for a wooden tee, think of Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston. Yes, the ancient practice of preparing a pinched mound of damp sand to elevate a golf ball was trampled without fanfare thanks to Dr. Grant.
Where are the original golf tees now?
Some of Dr. Grant's prototype wooden golf tees are now on display in a temporary exhibit at the USGA Museum. (USGA/Kylie Garabed) Prior to the invention of the wooden tee at the turn of the 19th century, golfers made tees out of sand.
What happened to Dr Grant's Tees?
Because Dr. Grant was an inventor and not a marketer, he never reaped the benefits of his innovation. He gave some of the tees – manufactured in a small shop I Arlington Heights – to friends and playing partners. When Grant died of liver disease in 1910, the invention passed with him.
Is the golf tee patented?
The first patent for the golf tee is marked on this date in 1899 to George F. Grant. He was one of the first Black golfers in post-Civil War America and one of the first Black dentists too. His was the blueprint for today's wooden and plastic tees and also the last recognition for his invention.
What did the first golf tees look like?
The tee consisted of a wooden peg attached to a rubber tube with a cup on the top to hold the ball. Grant designed the tee to be less rigid at the top and more stable at the bottom. Grant didn't announce , promote, or sell his work and was unnoticed for a long time.
Who invented the golf tree?
He would spend many years and fortune fighting patent infringement. He died in 1954 at age 91. In 1991, the United States Golf Association recognized Dr. Grant as the original inventor of the wooden tee.
Who is Dr George Grant?
George Franklin Grant (September 15, 1846 – August 21, 1910) was the first African-American professor at Harvard. He was also a Boston dentist, and an inventor of a wooden golf tee.
Why is a tee called a tee in golf?
The word tee is derived from the Scottish Gaelic word taigh meaning house and is related to the 'house' (the coloured circles) in curling. This would make sense, as the first golf tees were within a circle of one golf club length round the hole.
Why is there sand at the tee box?
Sometimes there was also water provided, and the golfer would wet his hand, then get a handful of sand to shape into a tee. Or the sand in the "tee box" was already wet and easily shaped. Either way, sand tees were messy, and by the late 1800s, implements for teeing the golf ball started showing up in patent offices.
Who patented the golf tee?
dentist Dr. George GrantIn 1899, Boston dentist Dr. George Grant, frustrated with this tedious and messy process, invented a wooden golf tee. Dr. Grant was born to escaped slaves in 1846, eventually finding work as an assistant at a dentist's office.
Who invented the golf ball?
Robert Adams PatersonRobert Adams Paterson invented the Gutta-Percha ball, or Guttie. The guttie was made by using dried sap from the Malaysian Sapodilla tree. The sap had a rubber-like quality to it and upon heating could be formed into a sphere.
What year did the PGA of America remove its Caucasian only clause from its bylaws?
In 1962, The PGA of America removed from its bylaws- Section 1, of Article III, also known as the Caucasian-only clause.
When was George F Grant born?
September 15, 1846George Franklin Grant / Date of birthGeorge Franklin Grant earned a reputation for exceptional skill in bridge work. The son of Phillis Pitt Grant and Tudor Elandor Grant, he was born on September 15, 1847, in Oswego, New York. There, his father made a living as a barber.
Where was George F Grant born?
Oswego, NYGeorge Franklin Grant / Place of birthOswego is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 18,142 at the 2010 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in north-central New York and promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York." It is the county seat of Oswego County. Wikipedia
Who invented the tee?
Among the experimenters were two Scots, William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas, inventors of the first patented tee in the world. 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. Most early tees were similar to this one in that they lay flat on, ...
What is the modern tee?
While the turn of the 19th-20th century saw many tee inventions of various forms and materials, none of these novelties grew popular enough to threaten the centuries-old tradition of the sand tee.
Who invented the perfectum?
Its inventor was Percy Ellis of Surrey, England, who took out a British patent for his creation in 1892. The related “Victor” tee, with a cup-shaped rubber head and metal spike base, ...
What is the name of the golf tee that was invented in 1889?
Bloxsom and Douglas received British patent No. 12,941, issued in 1889 for "An Improved Golf Tee or Rest.". The Bloxsom/Douglas tee had a flat, wedge-shaped base a couple inches from end to end, with several prongs at the narrow end of the base on which to set the golf ball.
Who invented the golf tee?
Grant's patent is what caused him to be recognized by the United States Golf Association in 1991 as the inventor of the wooden golf tee. Grant's patent is United States patent No. 638,920, and he received it in 1899.
What was the name of the tee that Lowell used?
The Reddy Tee was wood (later plastic) and Lowell's first tees were green. He later switched to red, hence the name "Reddy Tee.". Lowell's tee pierced the ground and had a concave platform at the flared top that cradled the ball, holding it stably in place.
What is a reddy tee?
The Reddy Tee. A Reddy Tee (right, larger than actual size) and the retail box in which Reddy Tees were sold. Courtesy of golfballbarry; used with permission. The golf tee finally found its modern form - and its audience - with the introduction of the Reddy Tee.
What is a golf tee?
The tee is the implement that supports the golf ball, raising it above the ground, when the ball is played from the teeing ground .
Why is the top of a golf tee concave?
Typically, the top end of the tee is flared and concave to support the golf ball and keep it stable and stationary; however, the design of the top of the peg can vary. Tees may only be used when playing the first stroke of a hole from the teeing ground.
What was the first tee?
The earliest "tees" were just clumps of dirt. Golfers in the ancient mists of Scotland would use a club or their shoe to stab the ground, digging up a little mound of turf on which to set the golf ball. As golf matured and became more organized, sand tees became the norm.
