By: Melinda Eckley

Golf went from an old sport to a modern game with the aid of Old Tom Morris. The ball maker, player and course architect took golf from an ancient game with backwards design and engineering to a sport of champions, molded from character, equipment and the courses they battled.

Tom Morris, Sr.

As a native of St. Andrews, Scotland, Old Tom used to say, “We were all born with webbed feet and a golf club in our hand here.” Morris first got his start as a golf ball maker under Allan Robertson for 12 years before leaving to become the greenskeeper at Prestwick. Based on his knowledge developed under Robertson, Old Tom later began his own business producing clubs and balls.

In the book titled, The Book of Golf and Golfers, author Horace Hutchinson described Old Tom as “One of the most remarkable men – best of men and best of golfers – that ever missed a short putt.”

Putting was Old Tom’s only fault as he approached the golf course. His steady, smooth swing helped him finish second in the first British Open championship in 1860 to Willie Park. The greenskeeper of Prestwick then went on to win the next two championships back to back. He finished second to Park again in 1863 but came back to win in 1864 and 1867. Old Tom still holds the standing record for largest margin of victory by 13 strokes from his win at the 1862 Open.

Old Tom played in the first 36 British Opens, winning four tournaments. His son, Young Tom Morris, followed his father’s legacy, winning the Open four times before the age of 22. His first victory came in 1868 at the tender age of 17.

After his time spent under Robertson and at Prestwick, Morris returned to St. Andrews in 1865 first as a greenskeeper and later as a professional.

Old Tom was the first greenskeeper to “top-dress” the putting green with sand to smooth the surface and encourage new growth. He also had a keen recognition for the involvement of natural hazards in the game of golf. Between 1860 and 1895, he designed and remodeled 75 golf courses on the rough terrains of Scotland, England and Ireland. Through his designs, Old Tom became known as a master of “routing,” a task in which the general layout and direction of the golf holes are first determined. During his redesign of courses such as Muirfield, Carnoustie and Prestwick, he established the technique of “double loop routing,” where each nine holes returns to the clubhouse. This is unlike the old design tradition that led nine holes in a single track along the coastline.

While Old Tom adopted the title of the world’s all-around golfer, his title as a husband and father quickly changed to widower and a man in desperate grief when he encountered the deaths of his wife and 24-year-old son.

Old Tom served with Royal & Ancient Golf Club until his retirement in 1904. In recognition for his years of service to the club and the sport, the R&A Clubhouse hangs a portrait of Old Tom on permanent display. The 18th green of the Old Course is also named in memory of the course designer and golfer.

Because of his popularity at his death in 1908, at the age of 87, the funeral procession stretched the whole length of South Street from the port to the doors of the cathedral in St. Andrews.

“As St. Andrews became increasingly a mecca of golfers, so too did the sturdy patriarchal figure bearing of Old Tom come to symbolize all that was the finest in Scottish character and in the ancient Scottish game,” said James K. Robertson in St. Andrews, Home of Golf. “His kindly, yet capable and gentle nature enshrined him a good many years after his death as the authentic Grand Old Man of Golf. To generations of people all over the world his name and his picture have epitomized the game.”