The newly patented golf tee - circa 1899
Prior to the golf tee being invented, golf balls were set upon damp sand, pinched into a small mound to get them up off the ground. This method of teeing the ball was both inconsistent and tedious. There was no reliable way of teeing the ball exactly to the height that one required of it but more importantly, to the gentleman Duffer, the constant bending to form the little launch pad was physically taxing and messy, particularly while golfing during inclement weather.
Enter the golf tee, invented and first patented in 1899 by Dr. George Grant, a dentist, and then apparently, invented a second time in 1920 by Dr. William Lowell, another dentist of Maplewood , New Jersey .
Necessity, being the Mother of Invention, these two Duffers both came at the game from the same leisurely perspective.
Unlike Dr. George Grant, who with the official patent in hand, dispensed numerous tees to friends and playing partners, but failed to market the newly minted tees to any degree, the good Dr Lowell, a keen entrepreneur, shrewdly persuaded the great Walter Hagen to use his tees during some barnstorming exhibitions. The second patent went out in 1925 but Dr Lowell cut a deal with the A. G. Spalding Company which purchased twenty-four dozen tees. The tees proved highly profitable initially but the competitive advantage soon disappeared as a flood of other brands hit the market soon after.
