Tom Morris, of St Andrews. During the 19th Century, as the Scottish game was coming of age, Old Tom spread the gospel of golf by travelling the length and breadth of the nation creating one devilishly fun course after another.
From his earliest days at Prestwick, Old Tom demonstrated a gift for using the natural landscape to craft dastardly holes like the Alps, which even today strikes fear into the hearts of players facing the carry over that massive dune and the yawning Sahara Bunker.
Now, on the 200th anniversary of his birth, golfers can follow in the master’s footsteps along the Old Tom Morris Golf Trail, playing memorable courses from the Outer Hebrides to the Highlands, down the coast to Fife and the Lothians, and through the west from Ayr to the Mull of Kintyre.
Created by Bonnie Wee Golf, the Trail features eighteen classics designed or enhanced by Old Tom himself, from gems like Dornoch, Crail, and Cruden Bay to Open Championship stalwarts like Muirfield, Prestwick, and St Andrews.
Play them all in one grand loop – beginning at Askernish on South Uist and ending at Machrihanish – or choose a loop of your own in the region of Scotland that speaks to your golfing soul. What better way to celebrate the birthday of the game’s Grand Old Man?
Photographs courtesy of University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums.