Tom Morris

by Frank Boumphrey

Old Tom Morris is rightly called the father of modern golf and his status is legndary. Not only did he win 4 Open Championships himself; he fathered a son who was the Tiger Woods of the day, winning 4 straight Open Championships; he popularized the game; he was a great golf course designer; a great trainer of others including the great Donald Ross; and was a great innovator in equipment design.

The great mans career was centered around St. Andrews of which he was 'Custodian of the Links' for much of his life.

As a 16 yr old youth Tom apprenticed to Allan Robertson, considered by many to be the first golf professional and stayed with him until 1849. Tom and Robertson played in several challenge matches, and according to legend were never beaten! Under Robertson Tom learnt the art of 'featherie' making, and this indeed was the cause of their split. When the Guttie ball was introduced, Tom was quick to see it's advantages, and realized that the 'featherie' era was over. Robertson, perhaps seeing the guttie as a challenge to his lucrative featherie business, or perhaps from inate conservatism, strongly condemed the new ball. When Tom refused to join in this condemnation, the pair split, and apparently Robertson did not speak to Tom for several years.

Possibly because of this estrangement, possibly because opportunity beckoned, Tom moved to Prestwick in 1851 to become "Keeper of the Greens" and stayed there till 1864. Prestwick Golf Club was founded in 1851 by a group of members who met at the Red Lion Inn, Prestwick. A Colonel Fairlie of Coodham was responsible for hiring Tom as Greens keeper and a club and Ball maker. The club built two cotages, one for Tom and his family, and one to serve as a clubhouse. When Tom left to return to St Andrews these cottages were auctioned, and the proceeds were used to build a clubhouse on the present site.

Tom was a formidible competitor. He had a slow, smooth swing and his mind was always in the game; his only flaw apparently was a difficulty with short putts, a condition that many can relate to!

The first open championship was played at Prestwick, then just 12 holes, and indeed the first 12 Opens were played at this course. Tom was runner up to Willie Parks of Musselberg in this first championship, but prevailed the following year. As an aside Tom won £3 as runner-up, but Willie Parks the winner recieved nothing - the honor of being named "The Champion Golfer" for the year was considered to be payment enough! In all Tom won four Opens, in 1861, 1862, 1864, and 1867. In 1868 the championship was won by his 17 year old son, with Old Tom the runner up. Young Tom's round also included the first recorded hole in one! Young Tom then proceeded to win the next four championships! After Young Tom had won the championship belt for the third straight time, he was - in accordance with the rules - given the belt outright! Play of the championship was suspended in following year - partly because there was no longer a belt to play for, and partly while the "powers-that-be" figured out how to "Young Tom" proof their tournament! Their answer was to rotate the tournament between three courses. The Claret Cup was introduced, and who should be the first winner but Young Tom again.

Young Toms end was tragic. Tom was away in Prestwick playing a challenge match when word reached him that his wife was in labour and not doing well. He hurried home, but before arriving recieved the news that both wife and son had died in childbirth. Young Tom never recovered from the shock and died himself a few months late on Christmas day aged 24 years. Old Tom was quoted as saying "People say he died of a broken heart; but if that was true, I wouldn't be here either."

Old Tom Morris still holds three British Open records: oldest champion (age 46 in 1867), only father/son winner/runner-up, and largest margin of victory (13 in 1862). He played in every British Open until 1895.

In 1865 Old Tom had returned to St. Andrews as Greenkeeper a position he held until 1904. He also established a club and ball making shop near the 18th green. He was to remain in St. Andrews till his death in 1908.

Old Tom's clubmaking business was established in 1867 by the side of the 18th green of The Old Course, and his clubs were regarded as some of the finest. The business continued through his lifetime and consistently created employment for six skilled craftsmen, one of whom, Bob Martin, was a double winner of The Open Championship at St Andrews in 1876 & 1885.

Morris pioneered many of what are now considered modern approaches to greenskeeping. He also was one of the first great course designers, taking a role in designing or remodeling around 75 courses including Prestwick, Royal Dornoch, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal County Down, Nairn and Cruden Bay. This alumnii were also responsible for several courses, and the most famous of them is probably Donald Ross who was apprenticed to Tom in 1899!

Tom was responsible for the 18 holes that we know to day (St.Andrews had been previously 22) and also encouraged the concept of 'double loop routing' where each nine goes out and back to the clubhouse. At Muirfield he famously routed his front nine clockwise round his inner back nine. This ensured that in the windy links conditions a sampling of the wind from all directions had to be played. Another of Toms innovations was the idea of routing the golf ball. Previously fairways had tended to be narrow and hazzards were put there to be carried. Tom would lay out his courses so that the golfball could be routed round the hazard. Apart from designing several new and classic golf courses Tom was also responsible for raising several old classics up to the standards he had established at Prestwick and St. Andrews.

It must be remembered that Old Tom had no earth moving equipment, and his skill lay in his wonderful eye for the lay of the land and the way he would incorporate natural hazards into his course. He would go in and lay out teeing areas and greens so that the suggested route between the two tested all the skills of the golfer. For his services? "£1 a day I charged plus expenses." Rarely would his total bill come to more than £5! Even today his course are tough, encouraging strategic golf, and penalizing the rash player.

Below is a partial list of some of the great courses he designed or had a hand in designing!

• Carnoustie Golf Links (1867)
• Crail(1892)
• Ladybank (1879)
• Machrinhanish (1879)
• Moray - Course 1 (1889)
• Muirfield (1891)
• Perth (1864)
• Prestwick (1851, 1883)
• Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh (1895)
• Westward Ho! (1865)
• Royal Dornoch (1887)
• Saint Andrews - New Course (1894)
• Tain (1890)
• Lahinch Golf Club - Old Course (1893)
• Rosapenna (1893)
• Royal County Down (1891)

In green keeping he pioneered several techniques including top-dressing of greens to smooth the surface and encourage new growth. He was also probably the first to 'improve' hazards, and used sod-reveting on many bunkers, most famously the green-side bunker at the road hole at St. Andrews Old Course.

Equal to his golf skills was his character. A truly humble man in spite of his fame he was know for his graciousness and fortitude under adverse circumstances. In Victorian times Tom was a legend. His biographer Hutchinson writes " [Morris] has been written of as often as a Prime Minister, he has been photographed as often as a professional beauty, and yet he remains, through all the advertisement, exactly the same, simple and kindly." As St. Andrews became the mecca for golfers, so old Tom became associated with the kind of demeanor becoming of a golfer- and Old Tom came to signify everything good that is associated with the words - "Golf, a game for gentlemen of all classes".

©F.B. 2005-11-29

This article first appeared in the Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG) Newsletter. Free subscription to this newsletter can be obtained on the SoHG Website