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Durable golf tee

Durable golf tee description/claims

The present disclosure relates to a golf tee that is easily molded, easy to use and designed to avoid damage or breakage.

The following features are of interest to golfers with respect to golf tees. This list is roughly ordered according to importance. 1. It should provide for easy, repeatable, constant tee height. 2. It should be durable so that only one need be carried. 3. It should fly less far and should be easy to find for worst cases of tee flight. 4. It should be easy to insert into the turf. 5. It should be easy to carry. 6. It should provide for making height adjustment. 7. It should be easy to make so cost is low. 8. It should not damage mowers to an extent significantly worse than wooden tees.

Conventional wooden tees do not meet all of these desirable features, even though they have been widely used for many years. They require close attention to depth of insertion into the turf to achieve constant tee height. They are often hard to find after a hit. They are often broken and the pieces are left to clutter the teeing ground. These effects result in tees or parts of tees frequently being lost, left on the teeing ground, or nearby. In turn, this is not only unattractive, but can also damage the mowing machinery and necessitates carrying extra tees, which are inexpensive, but tend to be a bother when a tee is lost or broken. Breakage of the stem is very common, particularly with modern long wooden tees. Care is required to insert a wooden tee with its stem nearly vertical or the ball will fall off. An indication of golfers' concern and extent of the problem is evident in the very large number of patents for tees, reaching back to year 1900 or earlier.

Rules of the United States Golf Association require that the tee shall not have any features that could help in aiming the shot in the right direction. It is understood that this includes a lanyard since it could be laid out as a direction guide. These requirements are at odds with some tee designs. A tee is also limited to a maximum length of 4 inches.

The prior art is extensive. Pertinent U.S. patents include the following:

U.S. Pat. No. 648,956, W. Herrrick, shows a cone shape like the horn end of a trumpet. It includes a lanyard attached to the tee. The cone is made of rubber for durability. Large shape and minimum weight are suggested to provide large aerodynamic drag and minimize flight distance of the tee when it happens to be hit by the driver head.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,142,997, H. True, shows a frustum of a cone in the mathematical meaning, which is made of paper having been folded with many creases from bottom to top for stiffness. It is intended for single use.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,413,496, J. Sibbald, shows a flat base and a screw with vertical axis to accept the vertical part of the tee and to provide height adjustment.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,535,181, B Sawyer, shows a partial conical device of thin resilient material having an open side to facilitate collapse of tee when hit. It may have a convex, concave, or irregular surface shape (column 2, lines 39-44).

U.S. Pat. No. 1,599,310, W. Wiley, shows a metal frustum of a cone with portions cut out of the large end.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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