Golf Tee Collecting

The earliest tees were the work of caddies who took a pinch of sand from the preceding hole, moistened it and formed a small mound.  This became much cleaner and more uniform with the invention of the “sand tee mold”, its cup packed with damp sand and inverted onto the teeing ground.  (That by H.G. Alexander in balsa wood was the earliest in 1890). Others followed in brass, steel, aluminum and eventually Bakelite with spring assisted plungers becoming the norm. 

More above ground examples followed with flat bottomed plastic or rubber tees, and cone shaped foldable paper tees. 

Finally, ground piercing tees were invented, including one by Thompson and Co in the 1890’s with a solid India rubber top anchored by a steel peg into the ground called the “Perfectim” (though apparently of questionable durability and negative effect on the strike). Tyler & Smith devised a simple angled wire with a circular loop to suspend the ball above the ground.  Others followed with hinged tees and spinner tees to avoid breakage or interference.  Also, to avoid loss of the small metal or celluloid pegs in the ground, numerous examples were created with tethers to lead weights or to tassels or to other tees of varying height. 

It was in 1899 that a dentist from Boston (the first black graduate of Harvard’s dental school), Dr. George F. Grant, patented the first wooden tee peg (having a flexible rubber head), though he received little recognition.  In 1925, another American dentist, William Lowell, hand carved small wooden tees, initially with a head of gutta percha that he was using for root canals.  They were soon manufactured as THE REDDY TEE popularized by Walter Hagen (attempts at green colored or degradable versions were abandoned when golfers simply picked them and reused them).  There were many ensuing shapes (trumpets, funnels, goblets, classics, etc.).  With the advent of tees professed to add distance or accuracy, there are now distinct rules on designs.

Not to be ignored are desirable associations including Tee Boxes (colorful tee containers) and Tee Holders.