Tee

Last updated
Golf ball on peg placed in the ground Golf Club at Wescott Plantation (9321187216).jpg
Golf ball on peg placed in the ground

A tee is a stand used in sport to support and elevate a stationary ball prior to striking with a foot, club or bat. Tees are used extensively in golf, tee-ball, baseball, American football, and rugby.

Contents

Etymology

The word tee is derived from the Old Scots teaz, of unknown origin, possibly Scandinavian; apparently a plural form, or one incorrectly assumed to be so. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Golf tee

Golf tees Golf tees selection.jpg
Golf tees
A novelty golf tee of a human tooth Novelty human tooth golf tee.jpg
A novelty golf tee of a human tooth

In golf, a tee is normally used for the first stroke of each hole. The area from which this first stroke is hit is in the rules [5] known as the teeing ground. Normally, teeing the ball is allowed only on the first shot of a hole, called the tee shot, and is illegal for any other shot; however, local or seasonal rules may allow or require teeing for other shots as well, e.g., under "winter rules" to protect the turf when it is unusually vulnerable. Teeing gives a considerable advantage for drive shots, so it is normally done whenever allowed. However, players may elect to play their tee shots without a tee. This typically gives the shot a lower trajectory.

A standard golf tee is 2.125" (two and one eighth inches = 5.4 cm) long, but both longer and shorter tees are permitted. Ordinary tees can be made from wood or from durable plastic. There are also many biodegradable and recyclable golf tees that diminish the number of trees cut down to manufacture the tees and allow golf courses to lower costs by not having to deal with the broken wooden tees on their courses.[ citation needed ]

According to the R&A and USGA rules of golf, for a tee to be legal, "It must not be longer than 4 inches (101.6 mm) and it must not be designed or manufactured in such a way that it could indicate the line of play or influence the movement of the ball." [6]

History

The development of the tee was the last major change to the rules of golf. Before this, golf balls were teed up on little heaps of sand that were provided in boxes. This explains the historical name tee boxes for what is today known as teeing ground.

The earliest golf tees rested flat on the ground and had a raised portion to prop up the ball. The first patent for this kind of tee is dated 1889, and was issued to Scotsmen William Bloxsom and Arthur Douglas. [7] The first known tee to pierce the ground was a rubber-topped peg sold commercially as the "Perfectum." This was patented in 1892 by Percy Ellis of England. [7] In 1899, an African-American dentist, Dr. George Franklin Grant, obtained a patent for an "improved golf tee". [8] This tee consisted of a wood cone with a rubber sleeve to support the ball, but it is not known to have ever been marketed.


These and other variations failed to catch on, as most golfers—whether because of tradition, habit, or concerns about the rules—continued using heaps of sand. It took a strong marketing effort by Dr. William Lowell, Sr. in the 1920s to bring manufactured tees into widespread use. Sales of his "Reddy Tee," a simple wooden peg with a flared top, took off after Lowell hired professional golfers Walter Hagen [9] and Joe Kirkwood, Sr. to promote the product during exhibition matches. It was copied around the world, and remains the most common type of golf tee.

Tee-ball tee

Tee-ball is based on baseball, with the main difference being the use of a tee in the place of a pitcher. Much larger than a golf tee, the tee-ball tee is a durable rubber stand attached to the home plate which supports the baseball at a suitable height for the batter to hit. It is adjustable to allow for variations in batter height.

Baseball tee

A baseball hitting tee Baseball tee.jpg
A baseball hitting tee

While a tee for baseball is very similar to a tee in tee-ball, the uses for the tee may differ. In baseball, a tee is used as a training device. This allows the hitter to simulate a pitch that will be thrown in many different locations. Using a tee, the hitter can set up a pitch that may be thrown inside, down the middle, and outside as well as high and low. Unlike tee-ball, where the ball is sitting on the tee, in baseball the pitch is being thrown by another player, resulting in the ball crossing the plate in several different areas. As a batter, using a tee as a training aid will help the hitter perfect his swing no matter where the pitch is thrown. A tee may also be used for batting drills. Drills are used to strengthen the players hitting motion and to get them used to hitting baseballs in different locations.

These tees may also be used in softball as a training device.

Kicking tee

A rugby league ball on a kicking tee Super League XVI match ball.jpg
A rugby league ball on a kicking tee

A kicking tee is a rubber or plastic platform, often with prongs and/or a brim around an inner depression.

In American football and Canadian football, a tee may be used on kickoffs to raise the ball slightly above the playing surface (up to one inch, by NFL and NCAA rules). The first use of the tee is attributed to Arda Bowser, a member of the Canton Bulldogs NFL championship team of 1922. The CFL and some high school leagues also allow the use of another sort of tee on field goal and extra point kicks, where another player (the holder) places one end of the ball on this "tee" (which is not a tee in the strictest sense of the term, but instead a rubber block; such "tees" come in 1" and 2" types) and holds the opposite end; in college and the NFL, all extra point/field goal attempts can only be made off the ground.

Tees may also be used for place kicks in rugby league football and rugby union football.

Tees are used for kick-outs in Gaelic football. In 2006, Shane Curran devised an adjustable tee on which the ball rested on brush hairs to replicate kicking from grass; [10] the design went on to be used by most goalkeepers. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rounders</span> Bat-and-ball team sport originating in England

Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a rounded end. The players score by running around the four bases on the field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Softball</span> Team ball sport

Softball is a popular variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball on a smaller field and with only underhand pitches permitted. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tee-ball</span> Childrens team sport

Tee-ball is a team sport based on a simplified form of baseball or softball. It is intended as an introduction for children to develop bat-and-ball game skills and have fun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catcher</span> Defensive position in baseball and softball played behind home plate, facing the field

Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher is also called upon to master many other skills in order to field the position well. The role of the catcher is similar to that of the wicket-keeper in cricket.

Dead ball is a term in many ball sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it. Depending on the sport, this event may be quite routine, or more uncommon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count (baseball)</span>

In baseball and softball, the count refers to the number of balls and strikes a batter has in their current plate appearance. If the count reaches three strikes, the batter strikes out; if the count reaches four balls, the batter earns a base on balls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baseball bat</span> Club used for baseball, or as a weapon

A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than 2.61 inches (6.6 cm) in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches (1.067 m) in length. Although historically bats approaching 3 pounds (1.4 kg) were swung, today bats of 33 ounces (0.94 kg) are common, topping out at 34 to 36 ounces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baseball rules</span>

Throughout the history of baseball, the rules have frequently changed as the game continues to evolve. A few common rules most professional leagues have in common is that four balls is a base on balls, three strikes is a strikeout, and three outs end a half-inning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baseball field</span> Field on which baseball is played

A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers to less organized venues for activities like sandlot ball.

The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparison of American and Canadian football</span> Differences between the two most common types of gridiron football

American and Canadian football are gridiron codes of football that are very similar; both have their origins partly in rugby football, but some key differences exist between the two codes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparison of American football and rugby union</span>

A comparison of American football and rugby union is possible because of the games' shared origins, despite their dissimilarities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bat-and-ball games</span> Field games played by two opposing teams

Bat-and-ball games are field games played by two opposing teams. Action starts when the defending team throws a ball at a dedicated player of the attacking team, who tries to hit it with a bat and run between various safe areas in the field to score runs (points). The defending team can use the ball in various ways against the attacking team's players to force them off the field when they are not in safe zones, and thus prevent them from further scoring. The best known modern bat-and-ball games are cricket and baseball, with common roots in the 18th-century games played in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fastpitch softball</span> Form of softball

Fastpitch softball, or simply fastpitch, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist. Considered the most competitive form of softball, fastpitch is the format played at the Olympic Games. Softball was on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) program in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2020. It will not be a part of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golf equipment</span> Items used to play the sport of golf

Golf equipment encompasses the various items that are used to play the sport of golf. Types of equipment include the golf ball, golf clubs, and devices that aid in the sport.

Pinners is a Chicago neighborhood game played on the front-stoop or walls with angled bricks/stones which can be used to pop the ball up in the air. References and accounts of playing exist to 1949 or earlier. The batter would throw a rubber/tennis ball at the edge of the step or angled wall brick, and the fielder(s) would try to catch the ball as it bounces back. The ball used was a two and a half-inch hollow pink soft rubber ball called a "Pinky," that bounced well off the edges of steps. Baseball gloves were not allowed. The scoring rules is similar to baseball, but with runs being virtual determined by where the ball lands. A single, double, triple or home run would be predetermined landmarks from the batting area. A catch is an out, and a one-handed catch could be used for a "rushie." As with most neighborhood games, rules varied by the groups playing and house rules would be determined at the start of the game, including the base locations. The game utilizes traditional Chicago neighborhood row house architecture, with most houses having front stairs or a stoop that leads from the front door to the sidewalk. Many of the schools built in Chicago have a horizontal perfectly angled section of decorative brick, at the right height, that was used for the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Out of bounds</span> Concept in many sports related to the edge of the playing area

In sports, out of bounds refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. The legality of going out of bounds, and the ease of prevention, vary by sport. Sports that use this term include American football, Canadian football, field lacrosse, basketball, rugby union, rugby league, and association football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conversion (gridiron football)</span> Gridiron football scoring play

The conversion, try, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, extra point, two-point conversion, or convert is a gridiron football play that occurs immediately after a touchdown. The scoring team attempts to score one extra point by kicking the ball through the uprights in the manner of a field goal, or two points by passing or running the ball into the end zone in the manner of a touchdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Variations of baseball</span>

In sports, the term diamond sports refers to recreational variants of baseball, a bat-and-ball sport. The most popular and closely related sport to baseball is softball, with the two sports being administered internationally by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, alongside Baseball5.

References

  1. "Tee definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary".
  2. "Definition of TEE". www.merriam-webster.com.
  3. "tee | meaning of tee in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE".
  4. "Dictionaries of the Scots Language:: SND :: tee n1 v1".
  5. "Rules and Clarifications". United States Golf Association. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  6. R&A Rules of Golf: Appendix IV, Rule 11. Retrieved on 2012-08-14
  7. 1 2 Valenta, Irwin R. The Singular History of the Golf Tee, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1995. Summary at
  8. George Grant - Improved Golf Tee, Mary Bellis, inventors.about.com.
  9. Hyman, Vicki (31 July 2010). "A look at the man who invented modern golf tees". July 31, 2010. The Star-Ledger. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
  10. "Canny Curran has tee total solution for kick-outs". The Irish Independent. 7 March 2006. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  11. Keys, Colm (24 September 2022). "Static nature of modern game can be sorted with a minor tweak". Irish Independent. It was the former St Brigid's and Roscommon goalkeeper who devised the template for the kicking tee that most custodians now use...
Listen to this article (8 minutes)
Sound-icon.svg
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 11 July 2012 (2012-07-11), and does not reflect subsequent edits.