Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son

Although I've played golf for over 50 years, and am familiar with 20th century golf history, I have just started playing "Hickory Golf", using 100 year old hickory shaft clubs, and reproduction golf balls of the 1920s era. We even dress the part, wearing knickers or plus fours, dress shirts, a tie, tweed jacket and cap...Well, you get the idea. This new-found interest led me to the story of modern golf's origins in Scotland, beautifully (and poignantly) detailed in "Tommy's Honor". Author Kevin Cook brought 19th Century Scotland alive with his in-depth research and skill portraying the Morris Family of St. Andrews. It's tough to describe a golf match and keep it interesting; Mr. Cook accomplishes this feat 20 times over!Everything pertinent to golf's formative years is included in "Tommy's Honor": Culture and Class Lines; development of balls and clubs; how world-renowned courses evolved from pastures and pathways to the stunning fairways and greens we're familiar with. Best of all, Old Tom Morris and his oldest son, Tom Morris, Junior are presented not as icons, but as real people, albeit superbly talented and visionary ones!My fellow Hickory Golfers and I are really looking forward to the film adaptation of "Tommy's Honor", which will be released next month (April, 2017). If it's half as compelling as this book, it will be a hit!

Kevin Cook combines strong research and skillful story-telling to produce a wonderful chronicle of the lives of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris. This story will be especially appreciated to those of us who play golf and have visited St. Andrews, but this narrative contains enough depth and drama to interest other readers who appreciate human struggles. Old Tom Morris is acclaimed for being a championship golfer, but winning golf championships is probably not his greatest accomplishment. This book shows that he was also an innovative golf course designer, golf club and golf ball manufacturer, and a loving husband and father.As a 21st century American, I find the barriers that existed between gentlemen and working class people during the lifetime of Tom Morris (1821 – 1908) difficult to understand, but Mr. Cook seems to make this concept mostly comprehensible. He does not rationalize the class distinctions, but he shows how Tom Morris accepted them for what they were and tried to enable himself and his children, particularly Tommy, to rise above them. For himself, he clearly accomplished this. As Mr. Cook points out in his Epilogue, “In the twenty-first century, the symbol of the R&A is not a red-jacketed gentleman or even a full member of the club, but the son of John Morris the weaver.”This is a well-written book, and Mr. Cook strongly supports his theme that Tom Morris Senior spent the last 33 years of his life honoring his son, Tommy Morris Junior. There are only two very minor issues that I can find with this book:(1) On page 110, Mr. Cook points out that Tom Morris’ ban on Sunday golf at St. Andrews is perpetuated today, except when the Open Championship is played at St. Andrews approximately every five years. Mr. Cook is probably aware, but did not consider significant, that the Alfred Dunhill Cup is played at St. Andrews every year and finishes on Sundays. I frequently play golf on Sundays, but I still wonder if the world would be a better place if more golf courses and other venues followed the vision of Tom Morris and were closed on Sundays.(2) The title of this book is absolutely appropriate, but Tom Morris’s life was not just dedicated to honoring his son. His entire 86 years were devoted to honoring the game of golf, the golf course at St. Andrews, and his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This book is about Old Tom Morris, considered to be the first Golf Course Superintendent, the builder of St Andrews and the first British Open Champ. It is also about his son Tom who won the British Open 3 consecutive years. If you are into golf course design, building or maintenance this is a must read. If you are into golf history it does not get better than this book. It is a vivid account of countless matches played over the best courses that Scotland has to offer. It also gives you a very in depth view of the peoples lives in the mid to late 1800's and how professional golf came to be.

If you are interested in golf, I guarantee you will like this book. I loved it. The writing is good, and the content is superb. It is a treasure trove of insight and information on golf, Scotland and, of course, Tom and Tommy Morris.The author covers an incredible range of topics including golf ball making, the sociology of Scotland, the early days of the British Open, the emergence of professional golfers and a host of other fascinating information. He also enlightens the reader on the personalities and the many accomplishments of Old Tom and Young Tom Morris while putting into perspective their importance in golf history.I had many takeaways from this book. The early golf ball making process and the transition from the featherie to the gutta percha was both interesting and informative. The physical evolution of the St. Andrews Old Course from "goat ranch" to world class course under Old Tom's long tenure as greenskeeper was well told. The descriptions of Scottish life from gentry to working class to the coal fields of Northern Scotland were interesting and valuable. And there is much, much more.One of my biggest impressions was a simple one....that of Old Tom Morris taking his morning swim in the chilly firths every day of the year. And he lived into his 80's.This book does for the Morris era what Mark Frost's "The Match" did for the transition from the amateur to the professional era in American golf. I can't recommend it enough.

I absolutely love this book. Beautifully written, great storytelling. I love the author’s writing style, very engaging, humorous. Worth the read

Te engancha desde el primer capítulo. Si eres golfista, te das cuenta de la evolución del deporte que tanto nos apasiona!!!

Alle Leser, die am Ursprung des Golfspielens und der Ausgestaltung in das Spiel, das wir heute spielen und lieben, interessiert sind, finden hier viel Wissenswertes. Darüber hinaus wird das viel zu kurze Leben eines Ausnahmesportlers (Tommy Morris jr. war vielleicht der *erste* moderne Ausnahmesportler) in all seinen Facetten beschrieben.Bei der Lektüre hilft es allerdings, wenn man schon mal in St. Andrews und dem einen oder anderen Golf-Highlight in Schottland war.

I really liked the research that had gone into telling the story of a great father and son team. Also a wonderful insight into the living conditions in Scotland at the time. I recommended this book to all golfers and non golfers

hello, I bought this book for my father, who is a golfing 'nut'!He read it and called me right away to express his liking of the book, very interesting and very well written... he thoroughly enjoyed it, and he's been golfing for over 30 years it gave him new insight which I was pleased about.A great present for those 'nutty' about the game.