Old Tom Morris¶

The founding figure of links architecture: designer, greenkeeper, four-time Open champion (1861, 1862, 1864, 1867), and the thread this wiki follows. Tom Morris Sr. (1821–1908) learned under Allan Robertson in St Andrews, kept the green at Prestwick (1851–64) and St Andrews (1864–1903), and laid out courses across Scotland, England and Ireland into his eighties. His vocabulary — out-and-back routings along dune ridges, shared greens, natural bunkering, full revetted pot bunkers — is the DNA of every links that followed.

His courses in this wiki¶

Chronological; full articles:

• Lundin Golf Club — original 1868 layout on the shared links (with Leven)
• Leven Links — advised on bunkers 1865; extended to eighteen, 1868
• Royal North Devon — laid out 1860/1864, England's oldest course
• Carnoustie — Championship Course — assisted Robertson 1842; extended to eighteen, 1867
• Montrose — Medal Course — fashioned the 18-hole layout, 1863
• St Andrews — Old Course — Keeper of the Green 1864–1903; 1^st/18^th greens, revetted bunkers
• Machrihanish — extended to eighteen, 1879; the "Battery" first
• Ladybank — original six holes, 1879
• Kinghorn — original nine, 1877
• Cullen Links — first nine, 1870
• Forfar — world's first 18-from-inception design, 1871
• Royal Dornoch — laid out eighteen, 1886
• Moray — Old Course — laid out eighteen, 1889
• Tain — laid out, 1890
• Muirfield — laid out the Honourable Company's course, 1891
• Scotscraig — modified the 1817 layout, 1891
• Luffness New — designed, 1894
• Royal Burgess — surveyed and laid out, 1894
• Balcomie Links (Crail) — 1895, his classic clifftop routing
• St Andrews — New Course — 1895
• Elie — Earlsferry Links — extended to eighteen, 1895
• Anstruther — advised on land and holes, 1896
• Cruden Bay — designed with Archie Simpson, 1899
• Panmure — surveyed and laid out after the 1899 move
• St Michaels — 1903, his late Fife work at Leuchars
• Kirkcaldy — his last design, 1904
• Wallasey — laid out 1891, Merseyside
• Lahinch — 1892, the Klondyke and Dell
• Rosapenna — Old Tom Morris Links — staked out 1893
• Royal County Down — advised the 18-hole extension, 1889–90
• Royal Portrush — exhibition and 18-hole advice, 1889

The portfolio beyond the wiki¶

Courses not yet written up — the long tail of a sixty-year career. To fill in:

Not his work (common misattributions)¶

Frequently claimed for Morris, but documented as someone else's: Jubilee Course (John Angus, 1897), Monifieth (Allan Robertson, 1845), Kingennie (Graeme Webster, 2007), Golspie / Brora / Reay / Downfield / Boat of Garten (all James Braid), Craighead (Gil Hanse, 1998).

About¶

Born St Andrews 1821, apprenticed as a ball-maker to Allan Robertson; the rupture with Robertson over the "cheap ball" affair sent him to Prestwick in 1851, where he built the course that would host the first Open in 1860. He returned to St Andrews as Keeper of the Green in 1864 and worked there until 1903. His son Tom Morris Jr. won four Opens of his own before dying at 24. Old Tom's revetted pot bunkers, shared greens and out-and-back routings remain the template for links architecture worldwide.

See also¶

• Courses by architect — every architect's courses in this wiki