Dr. George F. Grant, an African American dentist, professor, and inventor, was granted U.S. Patent No. 638,920 for a wooden golf tee. A Harvard-educated dentist and the first African American professor at Harvard, Grant was also an avid golfer. Tired of the messy and inconsistent methods used to tee up balls (like mounds of sand), he created an innovative, more practical solution.
Though his invention didn’t become commercially widespread during his lifetime, Grant’s golf tee laid the groundwork for the modern tees used in the sport today.
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