Golf? Yep — Black History — More Hidden Figures
Tiger — I really miss that young man. He was such an inspiration to up and coming young people thinking about playing golf, especially young Black children. So golf, let’s see who’s giving it a swing these days.
First we have Mr. Lee Elder, the first African American to play in the Masters as well as the first to play in the Ryder Cup.

1896: John Shippen, whose father was African-American and mother was Shinnecock Indian, plays in the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he worked as a caddie, at the age of 17. Some of the professional players threaten to boycott the event when they discover his race, but back down when USGA President Theodore Havemayer defends Shippen and another entrant, Shinnecock Indian Oscar Bunn. Shippen ties for sixth and wins $10. He goes on to play in five more U.S. Opens. He was the first African American to play in the U.S. Open.

1899: George Grant, a dentist in Boston, invents the modern wooden golf tee. In 1870 Grant graduated with honors, becoming just the second African-American graduate of the Dental School. His hobby and passion became golf in that time.
Dr. Grant was unhappy with the mess that came with the tee shot. The process of teeing the ball up involved pinching moist sand to fashion a tee. Doing that 18 times a round was enough to annoy Dr. Grant, so he came up with an invention that would forever have an impact.
On Dec. 12, 1899, he received U.S. patent №638,920, the world’s first patent for a golf tee. But Grant was an inventor not a businessman and he never marketed his golfing innovation. It would be hard to imagine that any piece of sporting equipment has been used more often, but Dr. Grant had them manufactured locally and simply gave them, by the handful, to friends and playing partners.
We’ll talk about the girls next time!

