The Harvard Dentist Who Invented the Golf Tee — And Never Got Credit for It

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Before we talk about what a golf tee is made of in 2026, we need to talk about the man who invented it in 1899.

Because the story of the golf tee is not the story most golfers have heard. It's not a simple story of a practical invention by a practical person. It's the story of a man born to formerly enslaved parents in upstate New York who rose to become the first Black professor at Harvard University, a pioneering surgeon who...