History of the Aero-tee™

Little Known Fact: American Dentists have long held an odd affiliation in the development of the golf tee. It is a natural progression that the Aero-tee™ is designed and developed by two golfing dentists, continuing a tradition that can’t help but have a successful end.

"A curious sport whose object is to put a very small ball in a very small hole with implements ill designed for the purpose…" Winston Churchill.

The Golf Tee was thought to have had its beginnings in the sixteenth century by the Dutch. They were given the credit of teeing up on a mound of sand. With the addition of water, it allowed for the pinching and the sculpting of the tee for personal height preferences and size. This was the accepted standard until 1899 when a Boston dentist, Dr. George Franklin Grant was issued a patent for a golf tee. It was truly a remarkable achievement. The tee addressed depth placement, least resistances to displacement, flight trajectory of the ball and aerodynamics. The golf community was not made aware of this tee and the invention died with the inventor in 1910. In 1925, a New Jersey dentist, Dr. William Lowell received a patent for a golf tee. This tee became the standard of practice though Dr. Grant was credited by the USGA in 1991 as the original inventor of the wooden tee.

The standard of practice of teeing on a mound of sand or wet sand lasted from the sixteenth century to the 1920s. Why?

Many of the advances were directed to the ball and to the so-called implements of which the tee was not. In fact their thoughts of design creativity never included the tee. For example: A Mr. Eugene Saraceni, "Gene Sarazen," made very careful observations of an airplane lift. From which, he designed the implement having "a sloped flange to allow the front edge of the club face to remain above ground at the moment of impact." He was credited with designing the sand wedge. But, he was still teeing off on a mound of wet sand.

Thanks to Dr. Grant, Dr. Lowell, and et al that the golf tee has deserved the right to be recognized as a valuable member of the implements

References:
Golf Digest — Oct. 2000 "Birth of a Tee" by Peter McDaniel, author of "Uneven Lies: The Heroic Story of African-Americans in Golf"
PGA World — Golf Hall of Fame Book by Gerald Astor with Professional Golfers Association of America

Venanzio Cardarelli