Old Tom Morris portrait

Few golf fans will know the name Thomas Mitchell Morris. Rather more, however, will be at least vaguely familiar with Old Tom Morris, as this pioneer of golf is more commonly known. Incredibly he was born over 200 years ago, and yet much in the modern game owes him a debt.

He is probably best known to all but the most serious of golf historians simply as someone who won a lot of Open Championships in the early years of the tournament. Additionally, many will be aware that he is the father of Thomas Morris: Young Tom Morris that is. However, while he was indeed the father of the imaginatively named Young Tom, and he did win The Open four times in the 1860s, there is far more to him than that.

Who Was Old Tom Morris?

Old Tom Morris in 1880
Old Tom Morris in 1880 (Credit Wikipedia)

Morris was born in St Andrews and as was common with people born in the 19th century, he died there too. He was born at the home of golf in 1821 and such was his role in the game, he was known as the Grand Old Man of Golf. He lived to what was a good age back then, dying in 1908, less than a month before his 87th birthday.

He was the son of a weaver but the family were well enough off for him to be educated at the esteemed Madras College in his home town. He began playing golf at a young age, though had to improvise both balls and clubs, essentially making his own with whatever materials he could find.

He also worked as a caddie and went on to take a role as an apprentice for another St Andrews golfer, Allan Robertson. Robertson died at the age of 43 in 1859, the year before the first Open was played, but prior to his death he was considered to be the best golfer around and is regarded by some as the first professional golfer.

That was a very different profession to the one we see today, with Robertson earning his money more from teaching, making equipment, offering lessons and even caddying for wealthy players. He also made a substantial amount of money playing head-to-head or pairs matches for cash.

He was the perfect person to teach Morris about the game and the pair often played others as a team. Together they were virtually unbeatable but Morris eventually moved to Prestwick, a decision hastened by an argument over Morris favouring a new type of ball that threatened to replace the older design Robertson made.

Morris established himself at Prestwick and had wide-ranging responsibilities, helping maintain and modify the course. In fact, although golf had been played there for many years, Old Tom Morris is credited as the designer of Prestwick. He played a huge part in the formation of the British Open and he would go on to win four of the first eight editions of the new tournament.

The Home of Golf Calls Morris Home


In 1864 the pull of home brought Old Tom back to St Andrews and he was employed as the “Keeper of the Green”, receiving the sum of £50 a year, which was “unprecedented” according to the official St Andrews site.

He helped to improve and maintain the course, making substantial changes to the design, layout and greenkeeping methodology. He would stay at the club for almost 40 years, working until just a few years before his death. He died after falling down some stairs, although he would at least approve of the location – the clubhouse at another of St Andrews’s courses.

Open Championship Pioneer

The grave of Old Tom Morris, St Andrews Cathedral
The grave of Old Tom Morris, St Andrews Cathedral (Credit Stephencdickson via Wikipedia)

The most lasting impact Old Tom Morris had on golf concerns his work in helping establish the game’s first major championship. The Open Championship is still going strong over 160 years later and for many fans and players, especially in Europe, is the major to win.

For the first 11 years of its existence, and first 12 editions – as there was no Open in 1871 – Prestwick held the tournament. Of those first dozen Open Championships, Old Tom won four, his son Young Tom Morris also won four, while the inaugural champion Willie Park Sr. triumphed three times and a fourth Scot, Andrew Strath, won in 1865.

It is fitting that the Morris family enjoyed such success because Old Tom played a huge part in creating the event. As mentioned, his mentor, Allan Robertson, was widely acknowledged as the best golfer around for pretty much all of the 1840s and 1850s. When he died in 1859, Old Tom Morris, James Fairlie and others felt a tournament should be played to determine his rightful successor.

Fairlie had helped set up Prestwick Golf Club and along with Old Tom they essentially created The Open. Just eight players competed in that first edition and Old Tom had the honour of striking the very first shot in Open Championship history. Prestwick was still a 12-hole course at the time and the tournament was held over three rounds, totalling 36 holes.

Invitations were sent to various top clubs in England and Scotland to send their best players, though the initial tournament was only open to professionals. Seven Scots, plus Englishman George Daniel Brown played in the first tournament, with Willie Park Sr. shooting 174 to win by two shots from Old Tom. The champion was awarded the Challenge Belt, the Claret Jug not being introduced until 1872.

Morris Sr. would claim victory the following year and the year after that, beating Park by four shots and then a massive 13. That margin of victory was the largest at a major for 138 years until Tiger Woods landed the US Open in 2000 by 15 strokes.

One record that has survived even longer is that of being the oldest winner of The Open. This golfing game changer was 46 at the time of his final victory. While Phil Mickelson is the oldest winner of any major, having landed the US PGA in 2021, just shy of his 51st birthday, nobody has surpassed the aptly named Old Tom at The Open.

Innovation Beyond the Playing Realm


As noted, back then the life of a pro was more akin to being a club pro, golfing hustler and greenkeeper rolled into one than it is to a modern-day globetrotting golf star. Old Tom was also an influential course designer and alongside Robertson he helped design Carnoustie. He was also involved with the design of Prestwick, Muirfield and St Andrews’s Jubilee Course.

Much as those are some of the most important links courses in the world, his influence on the art and science of greenkeeping was even bigger. Prosaic as it may sound, his innovations in turf management and at the intersection of course design and greenkeeping, are considered to be the birth of modern practices.

He managed areas of the course that were previously left untouched, used design to enable better ground conditions (by creating separate tee areas, wider fairways and influencing course “traffic”) and was the first to design courses that required strategy to navigate the intelligently placed hazards. The Grand Old Man of Golf can therefore also be classed as the father of modern greenkeeping and course design.