The seeds of thought for Tomahawx™ Golf Tees were planted on a hot and humid day following what seemed like months without rain. Typical of late summer weather in the Midwest. The tee-box conditions were less than ideal with large areas lacking even a blade of grass and the soil was like concrete.
Hole after hole we struggled in the heat. Our standard wooden tees were breaking just trying to place them into the ground. And when we were lucky enough to find a "sweet" spot or a previous shooter's excavated hole it became an expected given that the tee we were using was about to see it's last swing.
After that day I became obsessed with what effects those tees were having on my drive. Images came to mind like a hammered nail in a two by four, or simply placing my ball on a tree stump. Unless I could pick it clean, certainly resistance of the tee itself had to be effecting the most critical point of my swing...The IMPACT!
That set me on an exhaustive course of internet searches and trips to local sporting goods stores. What I found surprised me. There were a few tees which seemed to address my issue to some degree. The only problem I found was that they were so overpriced I couldn't bring myself to even try them. Two, three, even four dollars for a golf tee is crazy! And many of them used soft bristles, rubber tops, hinged heads, or multi-component internal springs. Those perhaps would be great for the horizontal impact of my driver through the ball/tee. But I couldn't imaging them being used in the rock-hard soil, the conditions which originally started me on this quest. And unless you have a repeatable robot-like swing, any fat hit will demolish those tees.
Thus began my attempt to design my own resistance-free performance tee. Fortunately my background in design and 3D modeling gave me a toolset with which to explore a myriad of potential solutions (several dozen to be exact). My first lightbulb moment came after realizing that virtually every tee since it's conception in 1899 utilized the same standard point. In fact most of today's solutions focus on the head of the tee. Three prongs, four prongs, bristles and rubber. But I knew the solution to true release had to be where the problem was – at the point of breakage.
The ORIGINAL Prototype
Thus became the idea of a quarter-round tapered knife-edge. From a front profile view Tomahawx™ looks like any other tee. But looking at from a side reveals the difference.
The front face is flat creating a natural point of pivot for the bottom to rotate thru. The tapered knife-edge creates it's own unique cavity in the ground. Tomahawx™ are very easily inserted vertically just like an ordinary standard tee. But rotate forward horizontally resistance-free.
See video below of the first Tomahawx™ prototype...
“Over the years we have seen a fair
number of new designs for the golf tee.
This is one of the best that we have seen.”
PIES-XII Evaluator, Dr. Jerry Udell, Ph.D.
Innovation Institute
(December, 2007)
By the fall of 2008 the Tomahawx™ Golf Tee with the flanged bottom which guarantees optimal positioning for rotation and consistent height control is retail ready. They have been sent to USGA for evaluation and declared as "Conforming to the Rules of Golf" meaning they are legal for all tournament play.To purchase online or find a retailer near you click here!
Tomahawx™ are made out of polycarbonate plastic. You may be familiar with this material if you've ever owned or used an iPod. They are guaranteed UNBREAKABLE! And we back that up with a replacement program called "TEED" for Life! This is a an industry exclusive promise of durability you won't find from any other tee. For more information click here!
Milestones... in 1899, a Boston dentist, Dr. George F. Grant was issued a patent for the golf tee. It was truly a
remarkable achievement. The tee addressed depth
placement, less resistance to displacement and
flight trajectory of the ball.
Twenty six years later in 1925, a New Jersey dentist,
Dr. William Lowell received a patent for his golf tee.
This tee became accepted as the industry standard.
But Dr. Grant was credited by the USGA in 1991 as
the original inventor of the wooden tee.
In 2007, St. Louis product designer, Mark Schneider
develops the first unibody golf tee with an innovative
new point that pivots forward upon driver impact.
A patent is currently pending...
In October 2007, our first Stereolithography (SLA)
prototypes are made from 3D geometry .stl files.
A process of building one micro-thin layer upon
another. These prototypes are about $85 each!
In January 2008, several additiional prototypes were
created in an attempt to offer a variety of choices
for the conserative, trendy and progressive player.
Thus became versions code-named Earth, Sun, & Moon.
In June 2008, final geometry was finalized after coming
to the realization that a myriad of versions and various
sizes would be a major financial and logistical hurdle.
The current version incorporates the best aspects of the previous three.
