In 1835, at the age of fourteen, Old Tom was apprenticed to 

, who most historians consider as the first golf professional, and he worked in his mentor’s St Andrews workshop making golf balls and clubs. It’s said they were never beaten in a challenge match when paired together – especially in high stakes matches such as one for £400 against the Dunns of Musselburgh in 1849.

Old Tom assisted Robertson when he built the original course at Carnoustie, with ten holes crossing and re-crossing the Barry Burn. Unfortunately, they had a major disagreement when the gutta percha ball first made its appearance. Robertson insisted on playing the old, more expensive, featherie ball (which his firm supplied) but his protégé realized that the future lay with the new ball and so they parted company, with Old Tom heading off to become Keeper of the Greens at Prestwick in 1851.

He set out a 12-hole layout inside a rather confined property extending to around fifty acres, with crossover holes requiring multiple blind shots. ‘The course went dodging in and out amongst lofty sand hills,’ wrote two-time Amateur champion Horace Hutchinson. ‘The holes were, for the most part, out of sight for the approach, for they lay in deep dells among those sand hills. You lofted over the intervening mountain of sand, and there was all the fascinating excitement, as you climbed to the top of it, of seeing how near to the hole your ball may have happened to roll.’

Today, only four of Old Tom’s holes remain in play at Prestwick: the 2nd, 3rd, 13th and 17th, with six of his original greens still in use.

As a player, Old Tom won four of the first eight Opens, which were all held at Prestwick. His son Young Tom, who he would outlive by 33 years, then won the next four titles in consecutive years, but he passed away broken-hearted at the age of 24 on Christmas Day in 1875, only months after his wife and baby had died during childbirth.

Old Tom Morris had returned to St Andrews a decade earlier, in 1865, to look after the upkeep of The Old Course, which had apparently fallen into a state of disrepair. Applying techniques he’d developed at Prestwick, he built two new greens on the 1st and 18th and re-turfed the fairways on both holes. Top dressing was a favourite ploy of his, dumping tons of sand on greens to promote firm and fast playing conditions on the putting surfaces. He would remain in post until 1903, a total of thirty-nine years.

From around the death of Young Tom until his retirement, Old Tom was involved in the design or remodelling of more than sixty courses around the British Isles. He travelled far and wide on commissions, from Dornoch in the north to Royal North Devon in the south, taking the ferry to set out courses in the Western Isles, the Isle of Man and Ireland.

, who spent time with him in St Andrews before making their golfing mark in America. And another famous designer, 

, also paid tribute to Old Tom in his book 

when he wrote: “No professional since his time has ever grasped the real sporting spirit of golf architecture like he did.”


 by Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten, the authors have this to say about Old Tom: "Those who knew him described Old Tom as a man it was impossible to dislike. Throughout his productive life, he refused to play golf on Sundays and kept the Old Course closed on that day, feeling it needed a rest even if the golfers didn’t. His philosophy in regard to putting maintenance embraced “sand and more sand” as a top-dressing.”

Some have criticized Old Toms’s work, arguing that his green designs were overly geometric and his routings were unconventional, with crossing holes and little variety in length, but it must be remembered the era in which he operated, when it was virtually impossible to alter the existing contours of the landscape he was working with.

 by Keith Cutten, the author has this to say about Old Tom: “It is wrong to solely view Old Tom’s legacy through the dual prism of the golf courses he crafted and his considerable playing success. Arguably, of greater importance was his effect on the growth of the game, and his influence upon future golf course architects. Old Tom became the figurehead of golf throughout the British Isles, and so many golfers made the pilgrimage to The Old course to visit him and hear stories about the game.”


Keepers of the Green: A History of Golf Course Management

 by Bob Labbance and Gordon Witteveen: “After struggling with various greenkeepers in part-time positions, the R&A had decided to appoint ‘a custodian at a salary considerably larger than that hitherto given,’ and that ‘the entire charge of the course should be entrusted to him.’ For this they were willing to pay £50 a year, with an additional £20 for expenses incurred in maintaining the course. According to the R&A minutes book, Morris was hired on January 9, 1865, to ‘make the holes, look after the flags and mend the turf,’ and allowed him ‘one man for two days a week when heavy work such as carting was to be done, plus barrel, spade and shovel.’

But Morris longed to accomplish much more. At the time, holes were changed every Monday or before the monthly meetings and Sunday was a day of rest for the course. A deeply religious man who read the Bible daily and later became an elder in his church, Morris believed that even if the golfers refused to admit they needed a contemplative day on the Sabbath, there was still no playing of golf on Sundays. ‘The Links needed a rest, even if the golfers didn’t,’ was his official position. The course was closed to play and open to the townspeople for strolling and socializing.

Under his care, the course flourished, but like today, the changes he instituted were not advances without opposition. Some argued the constant smoothing of surfaces was unnatural and that golf must be played without changing the natural habitat. Members like the variety of putting surfaces, defended the wild untended areas encroaching on the line of play and embraced the random nature of the hazards. Still, Morris went about creating the opposite. He widened the cultivated fairway surfaces expanding them from 40 to 100 yards in breadth, outlined and defined the bunkers, allowed the worms to remain on the greens and their holes to serve as aeration, raised and returfed the greens, used metal cups to line the holes, supported tabled areas with turf bricks and top-dressed to increase green sped and uniformity.

Morris capped off his first five years as steward of St. Andrews with the drilling of the first well for watering the greens. In 1870, a well was sunk adjacent to the 6th green and a plentiful supply of good-quality water was found. In the years to follow, additional wells were opened until, in 1997, every green had a water supply and the turf was provided for, even during the drought periods. This final ‘tool’ allowed Morris to bring the Old Course to a new standard in the final twenty-five years of the nineteenth century. It drove Horace Hutchinson to glow: ‘The High Priest of this hierarchy of professional golf is, beyond question, the custodian of the green for the Royal and ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – at the present time (and long may he continue to hold office!) Old Tom Morris. If not possibly the most lucrative, it is certainly the most distinguished position to which the golf professional proper can aspire.’

Hutchinson went on to detail all the attributes of Old Tom – attributes that all topflight greenkeepers should aspire to, a manifesto that still applies in the twenty-first century. ‘He will need to have some knowledge of turf-cutting, and the technical knowledge generally necessary for keeping the turf on the putting greens in fine order. He will need to be an observer of the growth of grasses… to look after the ground, arrange the tees, and read the Riot Act to small boys who play off the greens with their irons, and generally to act as custodian. He will also be an the overseer of one or more horny-handed sons of toil who, under his directions, roll, sweep and mow the greens and fill up iron-skelps and other wounds in the ground.

He will need, in the first place, to be a man of not unpleasing manner, or strangers will naturally be disgusted at their reception; for it is him that they will probably first address themselves. He will need to have a certain power of organization, and moral influence over the forces – the caddies and the professionals – who are more or less under his orders. And he will need to have a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of the game of golf, so as to be able to tutor aright the young idea.’ Morris possessed all these attributes, but it was his friendly accommodating manner that welcomed travellers and locals into the St. Andrews fold. He set a maintenance standard that was copied by the thirty clubs in existence when he began his tenure at St. Andrews and by the dozens more that were opened during his long career.”


There are many good biographies about Old Tom, including:

The Golf Course of Old Tom Morris: A Look at Early Golf Course Architecture

Tommy's Honor: The Extraordinary Story of Golf’s Founding Father and Son

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

, published in 2012, by David Malcolm and Peter E. Crabtree

World Golf Hall of Fame – Class of 1976: Old Tom Morris didn’t invent the game of golf, but he is recognized as the sport’s founding father. He played in the first 36 British Opens, winning four times, and sired a son, Tom Morris Jr., who won the world’s oldest golf championship four times on his own.

Old Tom Morris

In 1835, aged fourteen, Old Tom Morris worked in Allan Robertson's St Andrews workshop making golf balls and clubs. It’s said they were never beaten in a challenge match when paired together.

Robert Simpson

James Braid was born in 1870 to James Braid (a farm worker) and his wife Mary (née Harris) who was an accomplished weaver. His father had two other children from an earlier marriage of which he had been widowed. James came into the world at Liberty Place, between Earlsferry and Elie, but the family later moved to a small weaver’s cottage at 36 High Street, Earlsferry.

James attended Williamsburgh primary school and caddied at the local links, where he learned how to play the game. Entering a junior caddies competition aged eight, he won the event with many strokes to spare. A year later, he saw every shot played by Champion Golfer Jamie Anderson who was playing in a Professionals v Amateurs match on the Elie course.

Braid finished his schooling aged 13 and became an apprentice joiner, walking three miles to and from his place of work six days a week. Two years later, he had enough money to pay his entry fee and annual subscription as a member of Earlsferry Thistle, the artisan club attached to the Elie golf course, and he won the second medal he contested on what was then still an 11-hole layout.

Braid moved to St Andrews in 1889, playing in matches against Andrew Kirkcaldy and his brother Hugh, then moved to Edinburgh two years later, joining the Edinburgh Thistle Club which played on the Braids municipal moorland course overlooking the capital. He spent another two years working there before heading south of the border.

His cousin Charles Smith, the foreman clubmaker at the Army and Navy Stores in London had notified Braid of a vacancy that had arisen. So, although Braid had never made a club in his life and knew nothing about the process, he set off for the Big Smoke with at least an understanding of how to work with wood and tools.

From late 1893 until the summer of 1896, Braid’s time away from his London day job saw him practice at a number of clubs, including Chiswick, Sudbrook Park and Mid-Surrey. He also assisted at Hastings in 1895 before becoming the fulltime professional at Romford a year later.

Braid laid out the course at nearby Theydon Bois in 1898, receiving £4.13s.6d for his efforts. It was a 9-hole affair (which 

 extended to eighteen holes in 1971), most of which is still intact. It would be the first of many courses he’d design but his professional playing career was also in full swing.

Three years after winning his first Open in 1901, Braid moved to Walton Heath and he would remain Head Professional there until his death forty-six years later. The club’s two courses are the work of 

 and the canny Scotsman knew better than to tinker with layouts generally accepted as being among the best in the British Isles.

Instead, he concentrated on winning the Open again and by the end of the decade, he would be crowned Champion Golfer of the Year and hold aloft the Claret Jug a further four times; twice at St Andrews in 1905 and 1910, at Muirfield (again) in 1906 and at Prestwick in 1908.

Braid had a remarkable playing record in The Open, entering every championship between 1896 and 1938. All told, he took part in 39 events (38 consecutively) with an astonishing nineteen Top 10 finishes.

His record in the News of the World match play was also very impressive, competing in 32 consecutive tournaments from 1903 to 1939 (winning four times and finishing runner-up twice).

It’s reckoned that Braid played more than 1800 rounds of 18-hole golf during his playing career in matches, tournaments and qualifying events and his record stands up well against the other two members of the Great Triumvirate – versus Harry Vardon it’s 55 won, 12 drawn, 49 lost and against J.H. Taylor it’s 41 won, 11 drawn, 36 lost.

Braid’s contract at Walton Heath allowed him to be away from the club for up to ninety days during a year so, when he was not competing in tournaments, he was able to travel the length and breadth of the country designing new courses or modifying and advising on existing layouts.

During his career, it’s reckoned Braid designed more than a hundred 9-hole and 18-hole courses. He also extended more than fifty 9-holers to 18-hole layouts and he either reconstructed or altered over two hundred courses in some way or another, even if just advising on new bunker schemes.

Braid rarely travelled abroad – he was apparently affected badly by motion sickness – so his foreign designs are limited to around a dozen in total in N. Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. He ventured occasionally to play on the continent of Europe, winning the French Open at La Boulie in 1910.

Braid used Paisley contractor John R. Stutt for construction work on at least fifty of his projects over a time span of more than quarter of a century and it was his trusted friend Stutt who completed his last course at Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway, shortly after he died in 1950.

James Braid and his Four Hundred Golf Courses

, authors John F. Moreton and Iain Cumming had this to say in their epilogue: “Braid’s courses seem to stand the test of time better than most… [his] work will never become obsolete: it has actually become ‘required reading’ for today’s trainee architects who, it is to be hoped, will remember the values which Braid established.”

Kevin Kenny ended an essay entitled ‘The design work of James Braid in Ireland’ in the book 

Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective (Volume Six)

“When summing up Braid’s work in Ireland, two things stand out: firstly, the simple but effective practice of adding trees and bunkers to provide definition to the courses under his care; and, secondly, and of greatest significance, the efficient and distinctly non-fussy manner in which he went about his work.

J.R. Stutt, who did most, if not all, of the construction work on Braid’s Irish designs, confirmed that ‘his plans were always crystal clear and definite; and it was exceptional indeed for even minor alterations to be made during the carrying out of his work’.

Similarly, when assessing his qualities as a golf course architect, Bernard Darwin, his friend and biographer, declared that Braid had a ‘good eye for country, a temperate judgement and a fund of plain common sense.’

These qualities were seen to great effect wherever he worked in Ireland. Invariably, this involved short visits, followed by a succinct letter or plan of his suggestions. And Braid’s willingness to utilise nature, as much as sensibly possible, was a constant hallmark.

Today, in an era of large golf design teams utilising earth-moving technology, and firms who introduce artificial water hazards, it is worth remembering that one of the game’s true and lasting giants found such economical ways to create courses. These have been challenging and enjoyable to play. Furthermore, they have endured the test of time.”

Author George E. Payne’s brilliant three-volume book 

Divine Fury of James Braid: Professional Golf Standard Bearer

 pays tribute to James Braid, the man, as illustrated in the following edited extract:

“James Braid was a friend of king and road sweeper alike who never moved a step to seek popularity and yet attained it in rich measure. He refused to have a telephone at home saying if he had one he would never get any peace. Never possessing a car, Braid travelled everywhere by train and was said to know the train timetables to golf venues off by heart.

Over his 80-year lifespan Braid was seldom seriously ill unlike his great friend and rival Harry Vardon. His eyes were his most frequent problem (resulting) from an accident during his time as a joiner in his teens, when he accidentally got lime in his eyes, leaving him almost blind in his left eye.

Vardon, J.H. Taylor and Braid were all relatively abstemious, but all enjoyed a drink. Braid’s favourite tipple was a glass of port. Early in his career Braid was said to be a smoker but by 1911 it was recorded that ‘he never smokes’. In later life he was said to be partial to a pinch of snuff.

Braid was a grand gallery player and crowd pleaser. Wherever he went, if he failed to break the course record, he would certainly hit some record drives, carries and cleek shots, the like of which had never been seen on the course before. This made him a more interesting player to follow than those who played a more methodical steady game without serious risk taking.

Braid habitually went for the big shot if there was any chance of achieving it. They say he was never happier than when playing from deep rough. No rough was too dense for his excavations and no carry too intimidating for his courage. He found the clubs of his day inadequate for getting out of heavy rough and invented the great big niblick.

Braid maintained a Ledger Book in which he kept details of his non-Walton Heath professional’s trading between 1919-20 and 1939-40. Braid’s income after expenses was an average £302-15-5 per annum. The ledger also contains names of greenkeepers who were seeking employment and quotations from clubmakers and tree surgeons.

Braid, though by nature reserved to the point of shyness, was a man of great character. His opinion, if he could be persuaded to give it, carried immense weight and his wisdom and judgement were universally recognised. He had a truly Scottish pawky sense of humour and retained every national characteristic of a Scot, even his accent went unchanged despite the long time he lived in England.

Braid entered hospital in November 1950 for what seemed a routine appendix operation, but sadly he failed to recover from the trauma thereof and passed away, in the presence of his sons, some three weeks later in a nursing home on 27th November. James had the good fortune to lead a full life up to the very end, a happy warrior still in harness.”

Harry Vardon wrote in 1912: “I enjoy nothing more than the sight of Braid getting out of the rough. The best – worst – of Braid in the rough is that it generally means no punishment at all for him. It is a real treat to watch him playing a shot in an extremely difficult position. He has no equal at it. The only place in which he is beaten is the place in which he has no room to swing his club. Give him just enough space to raise the implement and he will recover from anything. The trouble may be gorse or rank grass, or rocks or a railway track; as he takes the club up you know something will have to go, and that the ball will go with it.”

Bernard Darwin wrote in 1934: “As regards golfers, nobody could look so wise as James Braid is. There is nobody whose every word and action is so redolent of sagacity. One thinks of him first and foremost as a man of extraordinary cool, wise judgement. Certainly, no man ever played golf with a wiser head. He was a superb iron player, a master of very kind of running shot and though not a naturally good putter he made himself for one period of his career almost a great one. A better player out of difficulties I am sure was never seen, he was as skilful and resourceful as he was strong.”

J.H. Taylor wrote in 1943: “James had tacked on to him the reputation of a bad putter. This may have been justified when in the early days he was gathering the threads of his game together and showed weakness when it was a matter of knocking the ball into the hole from short distance, a weakness that afflicts all. This supposed weakness is more than compensated by the exactitude of the long run-up approach putts. As a diviner of the true line to the hole there is no superior – I have yet to meet the player who could hole the ten-yard putt with greater regularity.”

Henry Cotton wrote in 1948: “This tall, stooping, ruddy-complexioned old Scot is one of the wonders of the golfing world. Jimmy, besides being a great golfer from a technical point of view, is the possessor of a wonderful temperament; he learned never to show any emotion in his golf, and in addition is a man of very few words. He has a great eye for a golf hole and will cross a tract of virgin land and plot out golf holes as well as any man. He has been a successful golf architect and his many golf courses are not rubber stamped; they are original.”

James Braid and His Four Hundred Golf Courses

 by John F. Moreton and Iain Cumming (2013)

World Golf Hall of Fame – Class of 1976: “James Braid’s worst finish in The Open Championship from 1901-1910 was fifth. In 1904, he was also the first player in an Open to break 70, shooting 69 in the third round at Royal St. George’s.”

James Braid

James Braid was born in 1870 in Earlsferry, the adjoining village to Elie in the East Neuk of Fife. He became a member of Earlsferry Thistle aged fifteen and was off scratch by his sixteenth birthday.

John Stark

Perth & Kinross

Scotland

Located at the “gateway to the Highlands”, Crieff Golf Club is surrounded by dramatic scenery with views over the Strathearn Valley. The course plays across rolling parkland that was once the grounds of the Hydro, a grand Victorian Spa.

Old Tom Morris laid out a nine-hole course in 1891, which was later extended to 18 holes by Robert Simpson and James Braid. In 1980, significant changes were made by John Stark in order to accommodate an additional 9-hole course.

Crieff is a parkland course, which can be enjoyed by golfers of all levels. The rolling fairways are generous and the rough is not too penal. Although the course is only 6,400 yards long, there are four par 4s in excess of 400 yards, requiring long and accurate tee shots. The course is laid out over a hill, consequently you may be faced with tricky sloping lies. Thankfully, the fairways climb gradually making walking relatively easy.

Crieff is an immensely friendly club, welcoming visitors with open arms. It also represents great value golf in a beautiful setting.

Crieff (Ferntower)

Alyth

Britain & Ireland

Located at the “gateway to the Highlands”, Crieff Golf Club is surrounded by dramatic scenery with views over the Strathearn Valley.