Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died t ...

(16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908) designed or remodelled about 75 golf courses throughout his life in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, including

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

courses of Prestwick, the Old Course at St Andrews, Muirfield, Royal Portrush, and Carnoustie. GolfPass has said that "You could make an argument that Old Tom Morris is the greatest golf course architect who ever lived".

Career

Morris started designing golf courses whilst working at Carnoustie, when he was employed as an apprentice to Allan Robertson. Many of the courses that he subsequently designed have since been remodelled, but not all of them. In 1850, Allan Robertson initially designed the Carnoustie Golf Links, Old Tom Morris remodelled and extended it to a full 18 holes in the early 1870s. Carnoustie's only surviving Morris hole is the par 5 6th hole, previously known as "Long", it was officially renamed on 24 September 2003 as "Hogan’s Alley" by the

1999 Open Championship File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoo ...

winner at Carnoustie Paul Lawrie in honour of

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

's victory at the same course in The Open in 1953. Old Tom Morris on the Himalayas 1892

He also laid out The Himalayas, 9-hole putting course in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

in 1867 for the St Andrews Ladies Golf Club. It lies next to the Old Course, north of the Swilcan Burn. It is thought that it was the first minigolf or 'miniature links' course in the world, and it's now both a 9-hole and 18-hole putting course. Morris introduced many of the greenskeeping techniques that are still used today, including: * The standardised the length of a golf course to 18 holes. * The first to use a lawn mower to cut putting greens. * He is said to have accidentally discovered the benefits of routinely dressing the tops of greens with sand to improve the density and uniformity of the putting turf, when he accidentally spilled a wheelbarrow full of sand onto a green. * Using fertilisers, lime, sulfates, and compost to improve the growth of the turf. * Using drainage and

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

to improve linksland golf courses, by digging shallow wells at each green for irrigation and with making minor drainage improvements to bunkers. * The first strategic design of hazards such that hazards could work as markers so that players could plan their play around them. Before his time,

hazards A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probabi ...

, such as bunkers, were left alone. Morris began managing the state of these hazards. * Yardage markers, which tell golfers how far they are from the green. The markers can indicate that they are for example 200 yards, 150 yards, or 100 yards from the green. * The first tee boxes, also known as the teeing area. Before his time, golfers would tee off for the next hole from the green they had just played.

Golf courses designed by Old Tom Morris

: : : Denotes that there is no corroborating evidence to suggest that any other architect was involved in designing the golf course

Open Championship courses designed by Old Tom Morris

File:18th Green Championship Course-Carnoustie-geograph-4747170-by-Jim-Smillie.jpg, Carnoustie Golf Links File:18th Hole at Muirfield, The Open 2013 .jpg, Muirfield Links File:Prestwick.18thhole.jpg, Prestwick Golf Links File:The Old Course, St Andrews-Geograph-3632139-by-Neil-Theasby.jpg, Old Course at St Andrews Links File:Royal Portrush Golf Club 5th hole.png, Royal Portrush Links

Career

Golf courses designed by Old Tom Morris

Open Championship courses designed by Old Tom Morris

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links