GOLF TEE TURNS 100

GOLF TEE TURNS 100

FREEPORT, Fla. (Wireless Flash) -- Golfers will have a good reason to get teed off this Sunday: it's the 100th anniversary of the golf tee. On December 12, 1899, Boston dentist George Grant received the first patent for the modern-day golf tee. Before Grant's invention, golfers were forced to place their balls on a mound of sand before teeing off. But Dr. Grant -- who was African-American -- isn't widely recognized for creating the golf tee, according to Dr. Calvin Sinnett, author of "Forbidden Fairways: African-Americans And The Game Of Golf" (Sleeping Bear Press), Sinnett says the golf tee didn't become popular until the 1920s when a white dentist marketed a tee amazingly similar to Grant's invention. These days, golf collectibles expert Roger Gilchrist says one of Grant's original golf tees is worth $150.