What was golf like before the invention of the golf tee in 1899? Golfers had to carry a bucket of sand from hole to hole. They would scoop the sand out and build a little mound, placing the ball on top like a cherry on an ice cream sundae.
Well that's certainly inefficient. So someone came up with the idea of a little piece of wood that you stick in the ground. And the guy has quite the story besides that:
Then along came Dr. George Grant (1847-1910) to completely revolutionize the game by inventing and patenting the modern version of the golf tee. But Dr. Grant was used to being a revolutionary. Born in Oswego, New York, this son of former slaves was the first African-American to receive a scholarship to Harvard University Dental School. Two years after graduating, Dr. Grant became the first black faculty member of Harvard, where he was a highly respected professor for nineteen years.
How random is that? The inventor of the golf tee was the first black guy to attend Harvard Dental School. Wasn't that worth 30 seconds of your day?
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