On December 12, 1899, George F. Grant, a dentist, received a U.S. Patent No. 638,920, on a golf tee:

The golf tee comprises a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg supporting the ball. Dr. Grant was a better inventor than a marketer, he never reaped the benefits of his invention.

A few weeks earlier, on November 21, 1899, received U.S. Patent No. D31878 on a Golf Tee, and while it would certainly hold a golf ball for striking with a club, it was nothing like modern golf tees:

A few months later, William Herrick received U.S. Patent No. 648956 on a Golf Tee more like Atherton Sewall’s:

It wasn’t until December 16, 1924, almost exactly 25 years after Grant’s patent, that another patent issued on the type of golf tee that wad imbedded in the ground:

U.S. Patent No. 1,522,544, issued January 13, 1925, shows a tee that would be recognizable by modern golfers:

U.S. Patent No. 1,542,505, issued five months later on June 16, 1925, shows a tee very close to the modern product:

Finally, William Lowell, a dentist like Grant, and an avid golfer, received U.S. Patent No. 1,670,627 for a “Golfing Tee” made of wood:

The gutta percha tip was dropped, and the shaft refined, but his “Reddy Tee” marked the era if the modern golf tee.