History · LEITH LINKS · 1744

Golf's first rule said to tee up next to the last hole.

Golf's oldest known rules, written at Leith in 1744 for a Silver Club competition, say to tee the ball within a club's length of the hole, on a little mound of sand, often scooped out of the hole. In 1899 a Boston dentist, George Franklin Grant, patented a wooden tee and gave his tees away.

The one to remember

He gave them to family and friends.

Facts and sources

  • The earliest known written rules of golf, the 13 "Articles & Laws in Playing at Golf", were drawn up in 1744 by the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith (later the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers) for a new annual competition on Leith Links. The prize was a Silver Club from Edinburgh Town Council (National Library of Scotland; the Honourable Company; The R&A and USGA).
  • Article 1 reads "You must Tee your Ball, within a Club's length of the Hole." Article 2: "Your Tee must be upon the Ground." The first competition was played on 2 April 1744 and won by John Rattray, an Edinburgh surgeon, who hung a silver ball on the Silver Club.
  • Tees were little cones of sand shaped by hand. Caddies often scooped the sand out of the bottom of the hole, which wore the holes out; clubs asked players not to take sand from the holes, and courses later put a box of wet sand at each tee (Scottish Golf History; USGA).
  • George F. Grant of Boston, a dentist, was granted U.S. patent No. 638,920 for a golf tee on 12 December 1899: a tapering wooden peg with a head of rubber tubing.
  • Grant joined Harvard's dental school as an assistant in 1871; his appointment as an instructor in 1884 made him the first Black faculty member at Harvard (Harvard Gazette, 2023).
  • He never capitalized on the tee. He had them made for his own use and handed them out to family and friends (USGA Museum).

Illustration: Leith Links in 1744 (the links, its holes, the town, its kirk and harbour, the ships, Edinburgh's skyline and Arthur's Seat gathered into one view), the golfers and their dress, the caddies, the minute book's handwriting and the Silver Club's look, the sand box, the patent sheet (redrawn), Grant's desk and the field near Boston are drawn to tell the story, not reconstructed.

Sources

  1. Early moments in Scottish golf: 1744, first golf rules written in Edinburgh · National Library of Scotland checked 11 October 2026
  2. The Club: history · The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (Muirfield) checked 11 October 2026
  3. A Brief History of Revisions to the Rules of Golf: 1744 to 2016 · The R&A and the USGA checked 11 October 2026
  4. Origin of golf terms: Tee · Scottish Golf History checked 11 October 2026
  5. Dr. George Grant and Evolution of the Golf Tee · USGA (Kylie Garabed, USGA Museum), 3 July 2018 checked 11 October 2026
  6. US 638,920 A, Golf-tee (George F. Grant, Boston) · United States Patent Office, via Google Patents checked 11 October 2026
  7. George Grant takes his place in history · Harvard Gazette (Heather Denny, HSDM Communications), 10 July 2023 checked 11 October 2026

The narration is AI-generated. Sources last checked 11 October 2026.

Script

The first written rule of golf said to tee off right next to the hole just played. It comes from 1744, when the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith wrote down 13 rules for a competition with a silver club as the prize. Rule one says the ball must be teed within a club's length of the hole. There were no wooden tees. Golfers made a little mound of sand, often scooped from the bottom of the hole. That wore the holes out. Later, courses put a box of wet sand by every tee. In 1899, a Boston dentist named George Franklin Grant patented a wooden tee. He was also the first Black faculty member at Harvard. He never made money from his tees. He had them made for himself, and handed them out to family and friends.