Golf tee

A golf tee, which is decomposable in the soil, comprises a lower penetration portion with a sharp cone-shaped tip and an upper carrier portion connected with the penetration portion for carrying a golf ball thereof on top. The penetration portion further has a plurality of exterior reinforce ribs located length-wise to the tip. The carrier portion further has a round hollow cross section and has a plurality of interior radial reinforce thin walls to divide the interior space of the carrier portion into several sub-spaces. The golf tee is characterized in that, while in a driving operation, the carrier portion will deform elastically and accordingly to a club strike.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
(1) Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to a golf tee, and more particularly to a golf tee 
which can firmly stand on the ground and can deform accordingly while 
being teed off, for reducing the driving resistance to a minimum. 
(2) Description of the Prior Art 
Conventional golf tee is made of plastics or wood, usually manufactured by 
extrusion or by machining, respectively. Plastic golf tee in the art is 
shaped as a solid cylinder with a sharp lower end and an enlarged top end. 
While driving a golf ball using a club, the club head will hit the ball 
and the top end of the tee at the same time. As a result, the top end of 
the golf tee will react to the club head and generate a resistant force. 
Such a resistant force will result in a dampening in the driving force 
and, will shorten the driving distance of the golf ball. In addition, the 
configuration of the conventional golf tee is a cylinder which makes the 
golf tee unstable in the ground. Sometimes, the golf tee will shake or 
tilt during a driving operation, which will affect the driving accuracy 
and make the flight of golf ball unpredictable. 
To overcome aforesaid disadvantage in conventional golf tee, the effort to 
develop a new golf tee is definitely necessary. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a 
golf tee which can steadily in the ground and cause a minimum interference 
to a club strike. 
The golf tee in accordance with the present invention comprises a lower 
penetration portion and an upper carrier portion. The penetration portion 
is used to pierce into the soil and steadily sustain the golf tee. The 
carrier portion is elastic for minimizing the effect of the reaction 
resistance on a golf ball while in a driving operation. 
According to the present invention, the penetration portion of the golf tee 
has a lower sharp cone-shaped tip, and extends upward to connect with the 
carrier portion of the golf tee which is used to carry a golf ball above 
the ground. On the exterior of the penetration portion, a plurality of 
reinforcing ribs are located length-wise and extend from the bottom of the 
carrier portion all the way to the tip of the penetration portion. 
The carrier portion connecting with the penetration portion has a round 
hollow cross section with a plurality of interior radial reinforcing thin 
walls to divide the interior space of the carrier portion into several 
subspaces. Such a design of interior sub-spacing in the carrier portion 
allows he golf tee to be elastic in its upper portion. While in a driving 
operation, the carrier portion will deform in response to a club strike 
for reducing the resistance to the club head and making a longer driving 
distance possible. 
While inserting the penetration portion into the soil, the reinforcing ribs 
thereof will prevent the golf tee from tilting and make it stand. 
The radial reinforcing thin walls inside the carrier portion provide both 
the reinforcement of the structure and the necessary elasticity to the 
golf tee for minimizing the resistance to a club strike. 
The golf tee in accordance with the present invention not only has improved 
strength for practical application, it can also minimize the ill-effect on 
the driving distance of the golf ball during a ball driving. 
All these objects are achieved by the golf tee described below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The invention disclosed herein is directed to a golf tee. In the following 
description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough 
understanding of the present invention. It will be appreciated by one 
skilled in the art that variations of these specific details are possible 
while still achieving the results of the present invention. In other 
instance, well-known components are not described in detail in order not 
to unnecessarily obscure the present invention. 
The golf tee 10 in accordance with the present invention comprises a 
penetration portion 11 having a lower sharp cone-shaped tip for piercing 
into the soil, and a carrier portion 12 connecting with the penetration 
portion 11 for providing a golf ball carrying space thereof on top. 
The penetration portion 11 according to the present invention further 
includes a plurality of exterior reinforce ribs 13 located length-wise and 
extending from the bottom of the carrier portion 12 all the way to the tip 
of the penetration portion 11. The carrier portion 12 connecting with the 
penetration portion 11 has a round hollow cross section with a plurality 
of interior radial reinforce thin walls 15 to divide the interior space of 
the carrier portion 12 into several sub-spaces 14. The sub-spaces 14 and 
the interior radial reinforce thin walls 15 make the golf tee 10 deformed 
upon a strike of a club head 30. 
The upper portion of the exterior reinforce ribs 13 are formed as curve 
shapes 17 to smoothly connect with the carrier portion 12. The carrier 
portion 12 is a cylindrical shell with a bottom and with a larger upper 
portion. On top of the carrier portion 12 is a concave surface for 
carrying a golf ball 20. Preferably, the interior radial reinforce thin 
walls 15 form a cross shaped division inside the carrier portion 12 and 
forms four subspaces 14. By providing the radial reinforce thin walls 15 
and the subspaces 14, the carrier portion 12 will deform accordingly upon 
a strike of a club head 30 for minimizing the resistance to a club strike. 
Preferably, the penetration portion 11 and the carrier portion are made as 
a whole, and can be made of material decomposable to the soil. Therefore, 
a golf tee 10 left in the golf field will be consumed by the insects or 
bugs, or by the naturally decomposed into the soil. 
The decomposable material can be a decomposable starch resin or the like. 
The decomposable starch resin is composed (by weight) of 40-60% starch, 
5-15% fat, 0.5-2% water, 3-10% PE, 2-8% protein, 10-25% EAA, 5-10% 
mountain soil, and resin. 
According to the present invention, the carrier portion 12 can further 
comprise corresponding grooves 16 to indicate the exact position of each 
sub-space 14 inside the carrier portion 12. While piercing the golf tee 10 
into the soil, arrange the markers 16 as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 for 
aligning one of interior sub-spaces 14 with the strike line, so that the 
club head 30 will hit the carrier portion 12 right outside a sub-space 14. 
This reduces the resistance to a minimum and consequently drive the golf 
ball 20 to a farther place. 
By providing the reinforce ribs 13 and the reinforce walls 15, the strength 
of the golf tee 10 in accordance with the present invention can be 
increased. Furthermore, by providing the hollow inside of the carrier 
portion 12 (i.e. sub-spaces 15), the carrier portion 12 then can be 
elastically deformed for enhancing the striking effect. In addition, the 
decomposable material used for the golf tee 10 is also oriented toward the 
environmental protection. 
In the aforesaid description, the corresponding locations of the reinforce 
ribs 13 and the reinforce walls 15 can be arranged at an 45 degree angular 
offset, so that the club head 30 will strike right at one sub-space 14 
inside, while aiming at one reinforce rib 13 outside. 
In the aforesaid embodiment of the golf tee 10 in accordance with the 
present invention, four reinforce ribs 13 and four reinforce walls 15 are 
included. However, in another embodiment, the number of the reinforce ribs 
13 and the reinforce walls 15 can be 2, 3, 5, or any above. 
The configuration of the penetration portion 11 and the carrier portion 12 
is in accordance with the tooling. For example, the cross section and the 
length can be adjusted accordingly. 
While piercing the penetration portion 11 of the golf tee 10 into the soil, 
the reinforce ribs 13 thereof will prevent the golf tee 10 from tilting 
and make the standing steadily. 
The carrier portion 12 of the golf tee 10 has not only enough strength 
(provided by the reinforce walls 15) for practical application, but also 
minimize the ill-effect on the flight distance of the golf ball 20 
(provided by the interior sub-spaces 15) during a ball driving. 
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with 
reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled 
in the art that various changes in form and detail may be without 
departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.