WO2007095666A1

WO2007095666A1 - An improved golf tee and method of manufacture

Info

Publication number: WO2007095666A1
Application number: PCT/AU2007/000098
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrew Kongas
Original assignee: Safe-Tees Down Under Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2006-02-24
Filing date: 2007-02-01
Publication date: 2007-08-30

Abstract

A single piece golf tee formed from a fibrous material and impregnated with at least one soil nutrifying material.

Description

An Improved Golf Tee and Method of Manufacture Field of the Invention.

This invention relates to golf tees and is particularly directed to an improved golf tee which is fibrous and impregnated with a soil amending or minifying substance.

Background Art.

Golf tees are conventionally made of plastic or wood. These materials provide the tee with strength and rigidity. The material also enables the golf tees to be manufactured quite inexpensively. One disadvantage with these conventional golf tees is that the tees are often lost or broken and therefore left on the ground by a golfer. These tees are not biodegradable and become a hazard. For instance, discarded tees can become a striking hazard during mowing as a mower blade can strike the tee at great force and can fling the tee a great distance. Also, it is possible for the tees to damage or unnecessarily cause wear and tear to the mower. Golf tees which are biodegradable are known. One type of golf tee is made from pressed fibrous plant material such as sugarcane bagasse, wheat stalk, maize, etc. While this does provide a biodegradable golf tee, the golf tee does not cause any enrichment or any benefit to the soil.

Therefore, it is also known to provide golf tees that have impregnated materials to provide beneficial properties to the ground. For instance, it is known to impregnate a biodegradable golf tee with a chemical fertiliser and herbicide. As the tee breaks down, the fertiliser is released. A disadvantage with this arrangement is that fertilisers and herbicides are a source of toxicity to the soil and high applications and longer applications of chemical fertilisers can cause the soil to become "dead". Herbicides applied to the soil over long periods of time can also result in build-up of toxins. On a more practical note, a fertilizer-containing tee will create a patch of green grass as it degrades which can be quite unsightly.

It is also known to impregnate a golf tee with grass seed, the thinking being that as the golf tee degrades, the seed will germinate. A disadvantage with various impregnated golf tees is that in order for the impregnated material to have a beneficial effect, the amount of impregnated material must be quite large. For instance, the known golf tee with an impregnated fertiliser requires the amount of fertiliser to be quite high. This, in turn, can cause weakening of the golf tee which can only be compensated by using various binders and strengthening agents, some of which may be toxic, difficult to degrade and which may increase the cost of manufacture of the golf tee.

Therefore, there would be an advantage if it were possible to provide a biodegradable golf tee containing a soil amending or nutrifying agent but which does not contain a chemical herbicide or a chemical fertiliser of the type that destroys soil activity.

It has also been found through attempts of the present inventor and others that forming a shaped product through compaction or agglomeration of a dry powder, particularly a shaped product which is elongate and thin like a golf tee which has a cup portion for holding a ball and an elongate stem portion, that it is extremely difficult to effectively compact the powder in the elongate stem portion due to the various physical phenomenon during compaction, such as "arching".

Indeed, the inventor of the present invention has previously found that although the cup portion of the golf tee formed in this manner has an acceptable level of hardness and resists powderisation, the stem portion of the golf tee breaks easily and granulates far too easily to be acceptable as a golf tee which a user has to force into the ground surface. This led the inventor to form a two-part golf tee with the cup portion formed from compressed dry powder and having an opening into which a portion of a elongate stem could be inserted. This tee was found to work extremely well except for requiring replacement after each use as the compressed powder effectively disintegrated if struck with a golf club.

It will be clearly understood that if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.

Object of the Invention.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved golf tee that may overcome at least some of the abovementioned disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice. hi one form, the invention resides in a single piece golf tee formed from a fibrous material and impregnated with at least one soil nutrifying material.

It is preferred that the fibrous material used according to the invention is a naturally occurring fibrous substance such as bamboo, cane or similar. It is particularly preferred that the fibrous material be such that a golf tee can be formed from the material in a single piece.

Without wishing to be limited by theory, the inventor of the present invention has found whilst researching bamboo properties that bamboo has cellulose fibres which run along the length of the bamboo, ferrying nutrients between the leaves and roots. Located between the cellulose fibres is a filler material which is generally lignin. The cellulose is very strong while the lignin is relatively weak, soft but also slightly resilient. With a composite, the advantages of both materials are present.

The lignin holds the cellulose fibres in place and keeps them from buckling. Lignin alone is likely to crumble under any longitudinally applied load. The cellulose takes the role of reinforcing bars. Cellulose on its own would buckle. The conbination of the two materials provides bamboo with high strength and exceptional toughness. The tensile, flexural and impact strengths of bamboo along the fibres are 200.5 MN/m², 230.09 MN/m² and 63.54 kJ/m² respectively. The golf tee of the present invention will typically take the shape of any of a number of conventional golf tees. For example, the golf tee of the present invention will generally have an elongate stem portion and a ball support portion. The stem portion will preferably be approximately 3mm to 5mm in diameter and between approximately 15mm and 10cm in length. A first end of the stem portion will typically be tapered in order to allow a user to more easily press the golf tee into the ground. The ball support portion will generally be located at an upper end of the stem portion and will typically be enlarged so that a golf ball of standard size (42mm diameter) can be rested thereupon.

The tee of the invention may include at least one thickened area along the stem portion.

The thickened area enables an additional amount of impregnated mineral composition to be used in the manufacture of the golf tee which provides better beneficial results to the soil. Another advantage is that the thickened area provides a visual identifier to this type of biodegradable golf tee so that a groundskeeper does not pick up the golf tee; he simply leaves it to degrade. Another advantage is that the thickened area can be positioned on the spike-like portion to provide a depth indicator when pushing the tee into the ground. For this reason, the golf tee may be provided with a plurality of thickened portions which may be spaced apart. Suitably, the length of the golf tee is such that one or two thickened portions can be spaced along the golf tee.

The thickened portion may comprise a "collar" shaped part. The thickened portion may have a "thickness" of between 1-3 times the thickness of the remainder of the stem portion of the tee. hi a preferred form, the method of manufacture of the golf tee according to the present invention will begin by cutting the fibrous material, generally bamboo, into lengths suitable for the different length tees. The lengths of bamboo will then normally be splintered into portions of approximately 13mm to 15 mm in width. The splintered portions will then be roughly turned using a turning machine or similar to form a substantially cylindrical rod or blank of between 12mm and 15mm in diameter and in the appropriate length. The rod will typically then be turned to form the finished shape of the tee.

The shape of the tee will typically be computer controlled with the turning machine or lathe controlled with precision to reproduce a well defined shape. Once the tee has been formed, the tee will then normally be impregnated by submersion into one or more baths. The tees may be immersed for impregnation purposes for between approximately 1 minute to up to 20 minutes. For coating purposes, the tees may be immersed for between 5 seconds to 1 minute. The at least one soil nutrifying material will generally include a mineral composition which may comprise one or more compounds from the group consisting of calcium, carbon, sulphur, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, magnesium, sodium, boron, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt and selenium, with the proviso that the mineral composition does not consist essentially of chemical fertilisers of the type that reduce soil activity. The amounts of each of the compounds maybe included at trace amounts.

It is also preferable that the at least one soil nutrifying material may include any one or more of chelated trace elements, fish hydrolysate, kelp or extract, saponins, or plant-derived polysaccharides and/or sugars, hi a further embodiment, the tee may even be impregnated with one or more microbial inoculum.

Thus, careful choice of the mineral composition can result in a build-up in soil fertility of feeding both the soil and plant as opposed to pure chemical fertilisers that can feed the plant but will kill the soil. Suitably, the mineral composition contains a majority of the above components and typically will contain substantially all the above components and preferably the mineral composition contains all the above components.

The amount of calcium may range from between 5-25% by weight and preferably between 10-15% and most preferably approximately 12.4%.

The amount of carbon may range from between 2-30% and preferably between 5-15% and most preferably approximately 10.4%.

The amount of sulphur may range from between 1-20% and preferably between 3-10% and most preferably approximately 5.6%. The amount of total nitrogen may range from between 1-20% and preferably between 2-10% and most preferably approximately 4.1%. The nitrogen may comprise ammonium and nitrate. It is preferred that the majority of the total nitrogen is in the ammonium form. Thus, the composition may comprise between 1- 15% ammonium and preferably between 2-10% ammonium and most preferably approximately 4.09% ammonium. The composition may comprise between 0.001-1% nitrate and preferably approximately 0.01% nitrate. The nitrates may be provided as ammonium nitrate.

The amount of total phosphorus may range from between 0.1-20% and preferably between 1-10% and most preferably approximately 2.1%. The phosphorus may be in the form as phosphate, water soluble phosphorus, citrate soluble phosphorus and citrate in soluble phosphorus. It is preferred that the majority of the total phosphorus is in the phosphate form. The phosphorus may be provided as a superphosphate.

The amount of potassium may range from between 0.1-10% and preferably between 1 -5% and most preferably approximately 2.1%.

The amount of iron may be between 0.1-10% and preferably between 0.5-5% and most preferably approximately 1.4%.

The amount of magnesium may be between 0.1-5% and preferably between 0.5-2% and most preferably approximately 0.8%. The amount of sodium may be between 0.1 -5% and preferably between

0.1-1% and most preferably approximately 0.3%.

The boron, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt and selenium may comprise trace elements and may be present in trace elements amounts. The trace elements amounts may be between 1 ppm-5000 ppm. Typically, the amount of boron may be between 100 ppm -500 ppm and preferably about 336 ppm, the amount of copper may be between 500 ppm -1500 ppm and typically about 790 ppm. The amount of zinc may be between 300 ppm -1000 ppm and typically about 753 ppm. The amount of manganese may be between 100 ppm -800 ppm and typically about 392 ppm. The amount of molybdenum may be between 1 ppm -100 ppm and typically about 38 ppm. The amount of cobalt may be between 1 ppm -20 ppm and typically about 6 ppm. The amount of selenium may be between 10 ppm-200 ppm and typically about 83 ppm. An amount of urea may be added. The mineral composition may have a particle size suitable to enable it to be impregnated or form part of a golf tee. Typically, the mineral composition will be relatively finely ground and may have a particle size of between 0.001-5 millimetres.

The mineral composition may be created by any suitable method including co-grinding, mixing and any other suitable technique. It is not considered that the invention should be limited by any method by which the mineral composition is formed.

The mineral composition will typically be at least partially dissolved in a transport media to facilitate impregnation of the mineral composition into the golf tee. The fibrous material used to form the golf tee will generally be porous and absorb the transport media together with the dissolved mineral composition. It has been found that fibrous materials containing lignin are particularly well-adapted for impregnation with the dissolved mineral composition in the transport media, as the porosity of the lignin is generally approximately 0.23 - 0.42 mL/g. Bamboo consists of 50-70% hemicellulose, 30% pentosans and 20-

25% lignin. Ninety percent of the hemicellulose is xylan, with a structure intermediate between hardwood and softwood xylans. Bamboo is also known to be rich in silica (0.5-4%), but the entire silica is located in the epidermal layers with hardly any silica in the rest of the cell wall. Although bamboo also has minor amounts of resins, waxes and tannins, none of these have enough toxicity to impart natural durability. Furthermore, the large amount of starch makes bamboo highly susceptible to attack by staining and decay fungi. The sclerenchyma fibres which are responsible for the strength of bamboos are attacked by fungi and its strength is reduced considerably. The natural durability of bamboos is low and varies from 1 to 36 months, depending on the species and climatic conditions, hi tropical humid areas, enormous quantities of bamboo culms stored in forest depots, mill yards, etc. decay and deteriorate. The severity of decay and bio-deterioration depends on the duration of storage, bamboo species, and environmental conditions.

The result of the above mentioned material properties is that the bamboo is ideal for use according to the present invention as it easily absorbs the impregnating material and then once used and left on the ground, is subject to decay fungi which breaks down the bamboo. It is preferred that the impregnation of the golf tee occur after formation of the tee. The inventor has found that impregnation after formation aids the invention by decreasing the soak time and providing a more consistent penetration of the impregnating materials. There is also the advantage that the material which has been impregnated is not then removed from the blank when the golf tee is shaped as this wastes the impregnating material in the portion of the blank removed.

The golf tee may contain other additives. For instance, it is envisaged that the golf tee may comprise a colour. The colour will preferably be a non-toxic colour and may comprise a food additive colour. The colour may be coated to the outside of the golf tee, impregnated into the golf tee or otherwise form part of the golf tee. If desired, the golf tee may contain a complex colour arrangement.

The support portion of the golf tee may comprise an outer coating to provide gloss and a hardness to the outside of the golf tee. The coating may comprise a varnish, or any other type of polymer coating, a water-based laquer, a PVA adhesive, non-polymer coating, coating composition and the like. Preferably the coating will be water based. For bold and/or dark colours such as blue or black or similar, food dye may be preferred to colour the tee, whereas for lighter colours water based paints may be used. The outer coating may also include a colour.

The stem portion will preferably be treated using heat and then impregnated with minerals or nutrients. This impregnation may assist with the dispersion of the minerals of the support portion as the stem portion degrades, as not only will the materials of the stem assist with the soil conditioning but the impregnated minerals or nutrients will be released as well.

Typically, the stem will be treated by immersion into one or more solutions containing the beneficial impregnating materials. The solutions may be chosen from the group including mineral acids, soluble calcium salts and soluble magnesium salts. The mineral acid group includes such acids as phosphoric acid, phosphonic acid and sulfuric acid. The soluble calcium salt group includes calcium nitrate, calcium chloride and calcium lignosulfate. The soluble magnesium salt group includes magnesium nitrate, magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate and magnesium lignosulfate. Colours may also be added and a preferred form of colouring is a food grade vegetable dye.

The impregnation process will typically include a two part mineral impregnation dipping process. The stem portion may also have an outer layer provided. Such outer layer will preferably be a degradable lacquer layer. One particularly preferred outer layer is a layer formed from polyvinyl acetate (PVA) diluted with water or similar solvent. The outer layer may be applied by a dipping process or similar. The outer layer may provide sealing benefits and may waterproof the stem to a degree to slow the degradation process.

In addition to being configured in a conventional tee shape, additional, optional tee configurations will also be available. One particularly good example of an optional configuration is the "pencil" configuration. According to this embodiment, the tee is provided with an elongate stem portion and a ball support portion. The ball support portion will generally be located at an upper end of the stem portion and will typically be enlarged so that a golf ball of standard size (42mm diameter) can be rested thereupon. The stem portion will preferably be approximately 3mm to 5mm in diameter and between approximately 15mm and 10cm in length. A first end of the stem portion will typically be tapered partially as normal but instead of providing a pointed tip in order to allow a user to more easily press the golf tee into the ground, the lower end of the tee may have a writing means associated with it to turn the tee into a dual purpose tee/writing implement. Normally, the writing means will be a conventional pencil "lead" manufactured of graphite or similar. Once the lead is exhausted, the tee may then be used as a tee and once broken or used, the tee may be left to degrade and release the beneficial nutrients to the soil.

Brief Description of the Drawings.

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a golf tee according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is an illustration of sample tees formed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of possible tees and their lengths according to which the golf tee of the invention may be formed.

Figure 4 is an illustration of the tees in the optional pencil configuration.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment Referring to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in Figure 1, there is illustrated a golf tee and the dimensions of the golf tee according to the embodiment are given in Figure 1. The golf tee has a cup portion on which a golf ball can be placed and a spike portion which is pushed into the ground. The golf tee is unusual in configuration as it contains a pair of thickened portions on the spike portion.

The principal material impregnated into a bamboo tee in the preferred embodiment of the golf tee according to the present invention, is a minifying material sold under the trade mark Nutri-Store Gold™ and a calcium phosphate salt.

Nutri Store Gold™ is a complete fertiliser that is an example of a "fusion fertiliser". The material uses both organic ingredients (lignite, fish and vermicast) and organic processes (composting) as well as synthetic ingredients in the forms of sulphate trace elements that include but are not limited to zinc, manganese, molybdenum and cobalt. A typical analysis of the components in Nutri Store Gold™ are given in Table 1.

Table 1: Typical Analysis of Nutri Store Gold™

Typical Analysis

Calcium 12.4%

Carbon 10.4%

Sulfur 5.6%

Nitrogen - Total 4.1%

Nitrogen - ammonium 4.09%

Nitrogen - nitrate 0.01 %

Phosphorus - Total 2.1%

The humate base in the Nutri-Store Gold™ provides humic and fulvic acids. These are important in stimulating soil microbiology, plant growth and improving nutrient retention and storage. An extended aerobic composting process where low salt index ingredients are digested by a special blend of microbial species results in improved bioavailability of the elements. Fish hydrolysate and potassium sulfate, essential trace elements including zinc, manganese, boron, copper and molybdenum and slow release forms of, calcium and phosphorus are among some of the ingredients used making Nutri-Store Gold™. Paramagnetic material is also included to enhance the digestion and complexing process.

The end product provides not only nutrients but also the ability to boost a soil's cation exchange capacity (CEC), this improves the soil's ability to store and exchange with plant roots the added mineral lode. Fertilisers and soil amendments are often judged by the typical analysis of three primary elements - Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (N, P & K respectively). These three elements are often applied to the detriment of many others. For example, high nitrogen impedes the uptake of calcium into the plant as well as the diversity and efficacy of soil microbiology. To fully understand the importance of N,P,& K and the importance of soil microbiology, a brief explanation of the advantages and limitations of these three are provided as well as the dangers of assessing the worth of a fertiliser solely on these three components. Nitrogen

Nitrogen is generally applied in two forms:

Nitrate, (NO₃ ^") & Ammonia or ammonium ( NH3, or NH4⁺ respectively)

Nitrate

Nitrate is a known carcinogen and a major contaminant of groundwater in many parts of the world. An issue with the Nitrate form of Nitrogen is that it has a negative charge. This means it does not bind strongly to the clay colloids (clay forms the principle mineral storage mechanism in many soils) and so is easily leached

(rinsed through the soil profile). Unfortunately, the nitrate does depart the rooting zone alone but takes valuable cations (positively charged ions eg. Mg^+4", Ca^+4", K⁺, Na⁺). It is these cations that provide much of the buffering capacity via their presence in the soil solution equilibrium to the soil.

Once the nitrogen has entered the water table it can become a serious contaminant, particularly if the water is recycled and used in closed systems (in conjunction with phosphorus, this is often expressed as algal blooms and eutrophication of streams and ponds).

It should be noted that nitrate Nitrogen is not an endpoint and various biological pathways exist in a healthy soil system to transform nitrate N to ammonia or to different forms and compounds. It is also important that nitrate is not classed as toxic waste and of the common salts, used in fertilizer combinations, nitrate based formulations are readily soluble and relatively safe to handle and store.

From a biological perspective, several plant species are able to utilize the nitrate form of the nitrogen, seashore paspalum has been cited, as being a nitrate specific plant and is actually able to store nitrate, which it converts to form eventually proteins, for up to 6 weeks. Ammonium (NH4⁴)

Ammonium is adsorbed more strongly than nitrates to the clay colloid but is also at risk of leaching or volatizing.

There is no doubt that a balanced nitrogen supply is key to sustaining a vigorous and healthy sward and whilst the application of bagged nitrogen will generally turn plants green a healthy soil will fix nitrogen free of charge via microbial processes and keep them green. This method of nitrogen supply also avoids the peaks and troughs associated with a synthetic input that is so often the cause of system imbalances (destruction and loss of organic matter and groundwater contamination are symptoms of this imbalance).

For this nitrogen fixation to occur it is imperative that molybdenum is present in the soil, Molybdenum is included in the Nutri-Store Gold™ for precisely the reason of, facilitating the biological fixation of Nitrogen. Organic matter in combination with the key cations ( Ca, Mg, K, Na H ) are determining factors of soil fertility. Nutri-Store Gold™ supplies calcium, magnesium and potassium. Hydrogen is supplied via the roots of plants and organic processes that split water into its component molecules and sufficient sodium is sourced often via irrigation water.

The amount, frequency and timing of Nitrogen supply are crucial to sustaining a vigorous and healthy sward and it is an important facet of the present invention to supply minerals only as required to nurture the soils innate processes instead of pressing large amounts imbalanced elemental doses. Losses - Volatisation & Leaching

Volatisation refers to the process whereby nitrogen in whichever form is converted to the stable gas N₂ or the unstable gas NH₃ and is lost to the atmosphere. It occurs when a nitrogen source is surface applied with insufficient complexing compounds (humic and fulvic acids provide useful storage media as does zeolite). The composting process employed in the manufacture of Nutri-Store Gold™ releases both humic and fulvic acid fractions which complex not only nitrogen but also valuable trace elements reaching their leaching potential. Phosphorus (P) or Phosphate (P₂O₅)

Phosphorus although expressed as P₂O₅ occurs as various forms of the oxygen bearing salt. The exact structure of phosphate is influenced both by the form that is added to the soil and also the pH of the soil solution. Soil solution pH is governed by interactions between oxygen, organic matter, microbiology and the principle cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na, H). If an unbalanced phosphorus eg. Phosphoric acid is added to the soil it will bind to cations in the soil solution. Potassium and sodium phosphates will remain relatively soluble however calcium and magnesium phosphates are not. Calcium and phosphate can form tricalcium diphosphate or hard rock phosphate. This is relatively unavailable to plants (unless soil biology is of a standard to unlock - there are several bacterial strains that are able to unlock this compound). The loss of this calcium from the soil solution will further reduce the soils ability to maintain an equilibrium conducive to plant growth. Calcium delivery to the plant will suffer and cell structure and stem strength will also decline resulting in a plant that is not capable of building a quality cell wall defence from pathogenic attack. In the Nutri-Store Gold™ a colloidal form of soft rock phosphate

(SRP) is included to supply both calcium and phosphorus to the soil system. SRP does not have the negative effect on biology of acid treated forms and relies on biology to unlock and supply both the calcium and phosphorus to plants. A second phosphate salt is included with the Safe-Tee which is used as a feed additive because of its low toxicity and high availability. Potassium

Potassium is an important electrolyte in the plant critical for sugar movement and turgor pressure within the plant. Unfortunately, it is easily leached and its addition should always be accompanied by a complexing agent with either organic matter or humic and fulvic acids. Nutri-Store Gold™ supplies all of these ensuring the applied amount of potassium is not leached and rendered unusable to the turf sward.

Understanding the importance and limitations of the NPK approach is important if an addition of these is to be used efficiently. Nutri-Store Gold™ is not an NPK bomb supplying a massive dose of these three elements but rather it supplies them with a sponge, a suite of cofactor trace elements including zinc, manganese, boron, copper, molybdenum, microbes and microbial food sources.

All of these assist in softening the effects associated with application of these three essential elements as well as reducing the losses that can be incurred if any of the three are applied as elemental salt fertilisers.

In a preferred form, the method of manufacture of the golf tee according to the present invention will begin by cutting the fibrous material, generally bamboo, into lengths suitable for the different length tees. The lengths of bamboo will then normally be splintered into portions of approximately 13 to 15 mm in width.

The splintered portions will then be roughly turned using a turning machine or similar to form a substantially cylindrical rod or blank of between 12 and 15mm in diameter and in the appropriate length. The rod will typically then be turned to form the finished shape of the tee.

The shape of the tee will typically be computer controlled with the turning machine controlled with precision to reproduce a well defined shape. Once the tee has been formed, the tee will then normally be impregnated by submersion into one or more baths. The particular shape of the golf tee enables a larger than normal amount of minerals to be added to the golf tee.

The particular shape can also coincidentally form a "depth indicator" to the golf tee and can also provide a visual indication that this type of tee, when discarded, can be left on the ground as it will enrich the soil. An optional configuration is the "pencil" configuration as illustrated in

Figure 4. According to this embodiment, the tee is provided with an elongate stem portion 11 and a ball support portion 10. A first end of the stem portion 11 is tapered partially as normal but instead of providing a pointed tip in order to allow a user to more easily press the golf tee into the ground, the lower end of the tee has a conventional pencil "lead" 12 manufactured of graphite or similar. Once the lead is exhausted, the tee can then be used as a tee and once broken or used, the tee may be left to degrade and release the beneficial nutrients to the soil.

Throughout the specification and the claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to apply the inclusion of the stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "substantially" or "about" will be understood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by the terms.

Claims

Claims:

1. A single piece golf tee formed from a fibrous material and impregnated with at least one soil minifying material.

2. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 including an elongate stem portion and a ball support portion, a first end of the stem portion tapered in order to allow a user to more easily press the golf tee into the ground and the ball support portion located at an opposite end of the stem portion to the first end and is enlarged so that a golf ball of standard size can be rested thereupon.

3. A single piece golf tee according to claim 2 including at least one thickened area along the stem portion.

4. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 wherein once the tee has been formed, the tee is impregnated with the at least one nutrifying material by submersion into one or more baths.

5. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 wherein the at least one soil nutrifying material includes a mineral composition.

6. A single piece golf tee according to claim 5 wherein the mineral composition includes one or more compounds from the group consisting of calcium, carbon, sulphur, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, magnesium, sodium, boron, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt and selenium.

7. A single piece golf tee according to claim 5 wherein the at least one soil nutrifying material includes any one or more of chelated trace elements, fish hydrolysate, kelp or extract, saponins, or plant-derived polysaccharides and sugars.

8. A single piece golf tee according to claim 5 including one or more microbial inoculum.

9. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 wherein the mineral composition is at least partially dissolved in a transport media to facilitate impregnation of the mineral composition into the golf tee.

10. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 wherein the fibrous material is bamboo.

11. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 wherein the impregnation of the golf tee occurs after formation of the tee.

12. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 wherein the stem portion is treated using heat and then impregnated with minerals or nutrients.

13. A single piece golf tee according to claim 1 including an outer layer to at least partially seal and waterproof the tee to slow the degradation process.

14. A single piece golf tee according to claim 2 including a writing means associated with the first end of the tee to turn the tee into a dual purpose tee/writing implement.

15. A single piece golf tee according to claim 14 wherein the writing means is a conventional pencil "lead" manufactured at least partially of graphite.