DOVER — Now why didn’t you think of that?
Sam Laughinghouse of Craven County likes playing golf. But he hates looking for errant tees.
“One day, while playing golf, I became frustrated at not being able to keep up with my tees,” Laughinghouse said.
He talked to many other golfers about his irritating dilemma and was surprised that most of them suffered from the same affliction.
This will never do, he thought.
“I decided there has to be a better way,” he said.
So off to his garage he went and sawed a Frosted Flake box, making the first prototype of a tee caddy.
“I cut the top off about 6 inches long and 1 inch wide,” he said. “I pinched one side together, like a bullet holder, and stapled between each hole. I put six tees in and had a six-holder tee caddy.”
Laughinghouse clipped his new device to his pants’ pocket and went golfing.
“It worked well,” he said.
After several more prototypes that included leather, plastic, vinyl and various other materials, Laughinghouse hit on a fabric clip-on six-tee holder and four-tee holder that can even hold a score pencil and can clip to a golf cap, belt, pocket or just about anything.
“This will always keep the tees at your fingertips,” Laughinghouse said.
While visiting golf clubs from New Bern to Myrtle Beach, S.C., Laughinghouse said he has received positive comments from golfers and encouragement from people about the tee caddy.
Laughinghouse said he doesn’t make any money off of the tee caddies he and his wife, Barb, package and that are made at Dot’s Upholstery in Dover. He sells them wholesale at $6 for the four-holder and $7 for the six-holder. They are being sold at area golf course pro-shops and at gift shops at Tryon Palace, The Galley and at Mitchell Hardware for a little less than $10, he said.
Laughinghouse, who for 48 years sold cookies and candy for companies before retiring, said he believed the tee caddy, which comes in black, tan, blue, green and pink, was a “good golfer’s tool that doesn’t affect your swing.”
And it also might be the answer to those lost minutes rummaging through bulky golf bags, empty pockets and golf carts.
Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at eddie.fitzgerald@newbernsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @staffwriter3.