Its a terribly long title! Would you throw away your shoe?glove?grip?shaft?club? What in the world are we talking about? It must be tees!
Its time the little tee becomes more valued, its time to shift the thinking! A tee is not insignificant, it is part of the whole ensemble of golf. Think about this scenario. The night before your big game, what often do we do? We clean our clubs, we check our grips, we make sure we have enough golf balls, we clean our shoes, we get our whole bag ready for our game. And in your bag, you have perhaps your golf tees, or you use what the club or course provides. First tee box is a par 4, and its your turn. You align yourself, you mentally turn off the non-sense, and you focus on envision where your going to strike it, and where the ball is going to go, and you relax and your ready now, and you motion begins, and boom the ball is gone, on its way and its a great shot. You look down, and oh well, there is a broken tee, so you pick up a piece that you see and toss it to the side, and away you go. Hey now, why not toss your glove in the trash? Oh, better yet, take off a shoe and toss it? How about the grip, take it off and toss it? Well now, how about the shaft and the club itself, just toss it. You used it once, just throw it all away. Drive to your ball, its in the fairway, 282 yard drive… pick up the ball and just toss it to the side. No , we don’t throw away the tools that enable us to golf after one hit or two or three or four, in fact our clubs, our tools that we use that we love we use for months, in some cases years. Our ball, it has the shortest of lifespans. No one wants to toss or throw away any of our golf equipment or golf accessories, so why then are we ok with throwing away golf tees? Because we are programmed to accept it. We need to shift this thinking. The tee is viewed as an accessory, however, the science of golf has come so far, and now gps launch monitors capture so many incredible facets of what happens when a golf ball is hit/compressed and on its way. Spin ratio? Ball speed? Ball flight? Arc? Distance? Roll? and other cool facts. What does this information prove? Well, very simple – the club head is what makes contact with the ball, however, the ball is sitting on surface that can affect how much spin happens, and that surface though small, has an impact on the ball flight, though this maybe very micro, it is a scientific (proven fact) and thus that tee no matter what it is, whether its rubber, wood, plastic, composite or corn starch, or bamboo, that tee head is part of the equation that makes a shot happen. This venting of thoughts is focused more on what generally happens to that little tee, not what the tee actually did or did not do to help the ball flight, that is another day, another venting of thoughts. We add that little scientific gem to make it clear the tee is more then just an accessory. It really is part of the golfers equipment. We at Tee 4 Life, are happy we have PGA Tour Manufacturer Credentials. As our tees are used by PGA/LPGA Tour Professionals, and our tees are Confirming to the USGA and R/A Regulations for golf. So here we go, why in the world is it ok to have so many broken tees? Its really stupid, for a whole bunch of reasons:
#1 – We live in a time in history where we need to think about what we waste, what we use, how it is used, who is affected? Why use it now? Where did it come from?
#2 – Money is important, we all need it. We don’t want people to lose a job, because we are advocating not using wood tees, however for the good of the tree, its not in the math, and no longer a good purpose. We are not saying trees should not be cut to make furniture, to build houses, we are saying do not let the poor tree be used to make something that is used once and then tossed in the trash.
#3 – Cleaner tee boxes. Its stupid to see broken tees all over the tee boxes. Its a waste of time, energy and resources to pick up broken tee parts.
Tee 4 Life is advocates of making products that last for years, maybe forever. Our tee never breaks. The tee head can wear out, and we have a few PGA Pros who hit well above 115 miles per hour, and they may use a tee for one round or a few rounds and the tee head may get pummeled and they give the tee away, just like they give away a ball. Most people, their tee will last 5 years or more. How is that formula. Using the same tee for 5 years! That is what we hand in mind, and we are thrilled to now begin the process of shifting the paradigm, that its ok to have broken tees. Its not ok.
Thankfully there are a few wood tees that have been made that may last a round or two, but the majority of wood tees break every hit or after two or three. Plastic tees – were definitely created to promote a longer life, and there are a few really good plastic tees on the market, and they may last 4 or more rounds which is so much better. However, are we going to throw anything away after 4 or 5 rounds? No, that still is not acceptable. So let’s end this story. Its time to use tees that are good for the planet, good for people and that means a tee that lasts a very long time, maybe even forever. Tees should not break after one or two hits…. The Birch Tree just called and said thank you.
Stay tuned on why the tee head matters.
