David Malcolm - Tom Morris of St Andrews: The Colossus of Golf 1821--1908

The Colossus of Golf

DAVID MALCOLM PETER E. CRABTREE

M any people have provided help and advice during the preparation of this work, and without their assistance this book could not have been completed.

We have benefited from the knowledge and support of David Hamilton and have called upon the knowledge and experience of Philip Truett. We appreciate their input, enthusiasm and encouragement. We also thank those who have been constructive in criticising the text, helped with historical accuracy and interpretation, guided in medical matters or have given encouragement: Gordon Christie, Margaret Grubb, Duncan Lawrie, Robert Smart, Robert Burnett, Malcolm Foggo, Jim Barclay, Sir Roddy MacSween, David Dobson, John Di Falco, Paul Dhillon, Kevin Costello, John Pyne, Steve McPherson, Ian Bunch and Roger Taylor. From Yorkshire, we are indebted to Christine Dewar, Ben Downs, Sir Harry Ognall and John Pearson for their editorial assistance and advice. Special mention must be made of the researches of Noel Terry in Melbourne, Australia, regarding David Strath.

Specialists in many libraries have been supportive and helpful. In St Andrews University Library Archives, Dr Norman Reid, Rachel Hart, Cilla Jackson and Moira Mackenzie have been tireless in their efforts. In the West Lothian Local History Library, Sybil Cavanagh sourced images and information and described the Whitburn township in mid-nineteenth century in words that no photograph could convey. In Darien, Georgia, Buddy Sullivan was encouraging and his writings were essential for an understanding of the life of the lumberman on the Georgia Tidewater. The help of the staff of Dariens Ida Hilton Public Library, the services of the staff of the Probate Court and Library in Mobile, Alabama, and the archivists of the University of South Alabama are appreciated.

Many libraries, museums and galleries have been visited. Among these, special thanks are given to the staff of the British Library Newspapers at Colindale, the British Library at St Pancras and Kew in London, the National Portrait Gallery, London, the National Archives of Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Public Library, Glasgows Mitchell Library, the Carnegie Library in Ayr, South Ayrshire Councils Rozelle House Galleries, North Ayrshire Council Museums Service, the McManus Galleries and Museum in Dundee, Aberdeen University, the National Trust for Scotland Photographic Library, the St Andrews Preservation Trust and the Royal Collection at Windsor.

Golf club secretaries, councils and management committees have been unhesitating in providing records and images. Special thanks are due to the St Andrews, Thistle and New Golf Clubs of St Andrews, the Prestwick and Prestwick St Nicholas Golf Clubs, North Berwick, Gullane, New Luffness, Carnoustie, Bruntsfield, Earlsferry Thistle, Irvine, Glasgow, Royal Troon, Royal Liverpool, Royal North Devon, Royal Blackheath, Valderrama, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and the National Golf Links of America.

We appreciate the help received from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. Peter Dawson, the Secretary, and Aubyn Stewart-Wilson, the Members Secretary, have been most supportive. Peter Lewis, Director of the British Golf Museum, and Angela Howe, the Assistant Director, have been unstinting with their help and guidance.

The help and input from the descendants of Tom Morris has been invaluable. Mrs Sheila Walker has allowed us access to family archives and records. Lady Morrow generously made available documents and images held by her family. Likewise, Andrew Rusack has been of the utmost help. Susan Tucker has added to our knowledge of the early Hunter family life in Darien and Mobile.

In the course of the preparation of this book, some of our friends who made significant contributions have died. We hope that our work contributes to their memory. John Behrend and Tom Jarrett were both inspirational and informative in their writings and conversations. Alistair Johnston of St Andrews was the last of the great club-makers and his knowledge and guidance was invaluable. Joseph Tiscornia made his extensive collection of clubs, balls, documents and photographs available to us and Dr Ronald Cant generously shared his wide knowledge of nineteenth-century St Andrews with us. We are particularly indebted to them.

Finally, we are especially grateful to our wives, Ruth and Peggy, and our families, for their tolerance, understanding and, above all else, patience, throughout the progress of this work.

O ver 58 million people play golf worldwide. The game has generated more economic activity and employment than any other sport and, despite the huge sums competed for by professional players, golf remains synonymous with good conduct, honesty and integrity.

This book is about how one man, Tom Morris of St Andrews, presided over the greatest period in the development of golf. It is about how he, more than anyone before or since in any game, stamped his individual character upon his sport and how, in large measure, he made golf what it is today.

Born in a linen weavers cottage in St Andrews in 1821, he was un-educated even by the standards of his day but, by the time of his death in 1908, he had become a figure of international renown. He was the friend of dukes and earls, prime ministers and politicians, judges and felons, golfers of every calibre and caddies of every kind. When he was buried with all the pomp and ceremony befitting an eminent Victorian, The Times eulogised him in a long obituary. Newspapers throughout the world reported his funeral, followed by his interment below the effigy of his son, Tommy, amidst the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral.

In the course of his long life, he witnessed huge social and scientific changes in the world, none more so than in the game of golf that he had, in many respects, overseen and directed.

When Tom Morris was born, golf was little more than a parochial Scottish pastime played by a few hundred Scots on some twenty rudimentary courses, where conditions were almost entirely left to nature. By the time of his death, the game had expanded to become the most popular and geographically widespread of all sports. North America, much of Europe and the colonies of the British Empire had enthusiastically embraced golf, and the name of Tom Morris was synonymous with it. He was painted by artists, honoured by poets, patronised by royalty, revered by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and showered with praise and affection by golfers everywhere. Tom Morris was a sporting hero in an age of heroes, as well as golfs first iconic figure.