Tom Morris of St Andrews

Tom Morris is acknowledged as the single greatest influence in the development of the early game of golf.
Old Tom Morris was a golfer, an architect, a business man but above all Tom Morris was a family man whose life was touched by triumph and tragedy in equal measures. He was a master of innovation as well as a sporting hero and his development of the early golf course has stood the test of time and has been replicated across the globe.

The Golfer 

A gifted player himself, Tom Morris won 4 Open Championships with his prodigiously gifted son Tommy winning a further four in a row.

• Tom and son Tommy won 8 of the first 12 Open Championships.
• Young Tom won the original prize, The Challenge Belt three times in succession (1868 -70) and was therefore allowed to keep it.
• Tommy Morris went on to win for a fourth time in a row (1872…there was no Open in 1871) and was the first to have his name engraved upon the new Championship Trophy – The Claret Jug.
• There are a number of records which the father and son duo still hold including; Tom’s 13 stroke victory in 1862 which remains the largest wining margin in the Open Championship.
• Tommy Morris holds the record for winning four Open Championships in succession and the record for the youngest winner, aged just 17 at the time of his first victory.
• In that year (1868) Tom was runner-up to his son, a unique family performance which surely now is most unlikely ever to be equalled.

The Architect

Tom was the first professional to design and build a course from scratch with his first at Prestwick. His development of the Old Course at St Andrews into basically what we know today became an inspiration for other course designers of the day and remains the most famous golf course in the world.

• In addition to Prestwick and the improvements made on the Old Course, Tom was also responsible for the design and construction of the New Course, Muirfield, and the Jubilee Course amongst many others.

• Morris was also the father of modern greenkeeping. Amongst his many innovations was the concept of top-dressing the greens with sand, which significantly helped turf growth. He applied this technique on other parts of the courses as well.

• Between the period 1870-77 Tom Morris transformed the Old Course by building the new 1st green, clearing the whins on the right between the new 2nd tee and the conjunction of the 7th and 11thfairways, widened the fairways and enlarged the greens thus enabling the anti-clockwise direction of play we use today. In addition he established separate teeing areas on each hole.

The Businessman 

After serving as an apprentice under Allan Robertson (recognised as the first professional golf player) as a feather ball maker, Tom set up his own business as a golf ball maker. The introduction of the gutta percha ball in 1846 is thought to have led to Tom leaving Allan’s employment. The new ball was made from juice from Gutta Percha trees found in the Malaysian Peninsula which when heated and set provided a very hard and durable material. This provided golfers with a hard rubber type ball which was a cheaper alternative to the feathery and which lasted longer.

Whilst Tom embraced the change and realised the significance of the new ball, Allan Robertson mindful of the impact on his business, refused to accept the innovation. Tom Morris whilst out on the course one day ran short of (feather) golf balls, so his playing partner offered him the new gutta percha ball to play with. In a twist of fate, Tom met his employer on the course and following an exchange of words later that day, Tom left Allan’s employment.

• Tom Morris and his family moved from St Andrews to Prestwick in 1851 at the behest of gentlemen intent on forming a golf club there. After laying out and building with his own hands the superb12-hole course at Prestwick his reputation as the best ‘Keeper of the Green’ was firmly established throughout the land. So much so, that some 14 years after he had left St Andrews, the members of the The Royal and Ancient were demanding his return ‘to take charge of the Links’. This he did in 1864 under favourable terms and immediately set about much needed improvements of the course as well as setting up in business selling and repairing clubs and balls. 

• The first known advert for the Tom Morris business appears in 1865.

• In 1866 Tom purchased 8 The Links, the shop and premises we have today.