Since when did the tee become the "tee box"?

[Shorty]

I have noticed a lot of posts where people refer to the tee as the "tee box".
The tee box was a box next to the tee which was filled with sand that players used to use to build a little mound of sand before golf tees as we know them came about?

Does anyone know how or why this bizarre habit started?

[iacas]

I don't know. TaylorMade "owns the tee box" though, according to their ad.

"Tee box" even made the USGA"s list of top 10 misused terms in golf:
http://www.usga.org/news/2009/April/...Terms-In-Golf/

[mhodar13]

Hmm... never new that little bit of history. Thanks for sharing that.

[Shorty]

I don't know. TaylorMade "owns the tee box" though, according to their ad.

Ha!

I'm guessing that players think of the tee as being roughly box shaped. Still - I'd rather have TM owning the "tee box" than Titleist (or whoever it is) having the "winningest" ball.

[Chilli Dipper]

Probably when rectangular-shaped teeing grounds became the norm on most championship courses.

[Zeph]

I never knew the sand box was called tee box, but assumed that "tee box" was the rectangular area where you tee off.

[$2 Nassau]

I will continue to call the teeing ground the "tee box" and there's nothing you can do to stop me!

[enduro]

It isn't unusual for words to change their meaning over time to something relevant. This is simple a case of it happening. If it takes on this new meaning in the golf vernacular then the word will simply lose its old identity and adopt this new one. This is common in linguistics and I'm sure many of us can think of many examples and there are likely words we use we didn't realize had a different meaning at some time.

[David in FL]

I have noticed a lot of posts where people refer to the tee as the "tee box".

Probably about the same time that people stopped using a little mound of sand in the first place and replaced it with a "tee"! As with most speech, there are regional colloquialisms, but I've heard "tee-box" used for at least the last 45 years or so that I've been around this silly game.

[running-8-iron]

I've only ever know the term to be "tee" until recently when "tee box" has been used by (what seemed to me) all. As I did in a recent post, I reluctantly used the word "tee box" to conform and asked myself the same question of when "tee" became "tee box."

[sean_miller]

Can I still say that I hit my tee ball, "off the deck", even though the teeing ground is not made of planks?

[microcrayfish]

I don't know. TaylorMade "owns the tee box" though, according to their ad.

No. 6, "Trap" Continuing with bunkers, let's get another misnomer out of the way. A bunker is not a "trap." By definition, a bunker is a prepared area of ground, often a hollow, from which turf or soil has been removed and replaced with sand or the like. Many golfers like to refer to them as traps or sand traps. Now, the last time I checked, a "trap" is not something anyone or anything wants to be in (i.e., bear traps, rat traps, speed traps). What's more, if one attempts to look up the word "trap" in the Rules of Golf, the search will be fruitless, as the word is not there. A bunker, on the other hand, has a much less punitive connotation and is the proper term as defined in the Rules of Golf. Might be due for a name change for the site?

[TheLauncher]

No. 6, "Trap" Continuing with bunkers, let's get another misnomer out of the way. A bunker is not a "trap."...

Never! Very gracious of Eric to post that interesting and important link despite how it might reflect on his URL. I for one will be more careful to refer to the "flag" instead of the "pin" and now I can use "through the green" with confidence (and probably be chastised for pedantry by my playing partners for doing so). Anyway, information like this only serves to make the game better. To the OP, I credit where your sentiments are coming from, but for me I just like "tee box" in reference "teeing ground" too much to stop using it.

[Titleistgolf16]

It isn't unusual for words to change their meaning over time to something relevant. This is simple a case of it happening. If it takes on this new meaning in the golf vernacular then the word will simply lose its old identity and adopt this new one. This is common in linguistics and I'm sure many of us can think of many examples and there are likely words we use we didn't realize had a different meaning at some time.

Like gay it used to mean happy but now it means well you know. And I just call it the tee. Even though that's not right either.

[John Kyle]

i say tee box

[leo3]

Who cares??

[lordhamster]

Language "ain't" static.

[madcityscott]

"Tee box" even made the USGA"s list of top 10 misused terms in golf:

The guy who wrote that must be a real hoot at dinner parties. He probably speaks with a faux Scottish accent and carries a vintage niblick and mashie.