Tommy's Honour

While the Morris family did not invent golf, they did create a following for it. This movie is based upon a true story. While I find it rather primitive to grow up in 19th century, that is when this story happened. It was a time of classes! You had your rich, born with a silver spoon in your mouth, upper class. Then you had the poor servants, such as the waitress, the golf grounds keeper and his family. Old Tom Morris was the grounds keeper for the premier golf course in Scotland. Young Tom Morris was his son, who reached for the stars and demanded respect as well as being treated as an equal! Together they were the best golfing pair in the world!!

Good little British film, you don't need to be golf fan as the story is about class and family as much as golf. Certainly gives a bit of perspective to modern sports.

I enjoyed this lovely heartfelt biopic, history, drama, and romance. You don't need to know anything about golf, or even like it, to enjoy it. The lead actors, Jack Lowden, Peter Mullan, Ophelia Lovibond, and Sam Neill, are great. While the very first section of the movie is a little thin and TV-movie-ish, with predictable family scenes and sappy music, it recovers itself and becomes quite interesting once the major threads of the drama get underway, so stick with it and your attention will be rewarded. I'm happy to be aware now of this little-known chapter of fascinating history.

In 1800s England and Scotland "Gentleman" was a reference of being of privilege, and usually wealth. Golf was run by the elite, only "gentleman" were allowed inside clubhouses. The golf pro was a step down, a workman, he built clubs and manufactured balls and kept the golf course in good shape.

Old Tom Morris, a Scotsman, is often considered the first golf professional. While golf existed before he came along he made his mark as a champion golfer and course designer. But his son, Young Tommy Morris, born in 1851, was a better golfer who won The Open four consecutive times, but died at age 24, just a few weeks after his wife and newborn son died. He was a bright flame, a meteor.

This movie is about the father and son Morris, but focuses a bit more on Young Tommy, his love affair with an older woman who became his wife, and how he changed the trajectory of golf professionals. Until he came along the gentlemen used a golfer much like one might use a race horse, get him into a good match, pay him a small sum, and make lots of money off his winning matches.

Young Tommy changed that, he would demand a greater sum for himself. He could do that because everyone knew he was the best and if he decided not to play then there would be no winnings for the elite.

This is a very good movie that paints his life pretty faithfully, although there is a disclaimer at the end stating that many things were fictionalized for dramatic purposes. I think every die-hard golfer, like me, would enjoy this movie, and maybe even many who are not golfers.

I watched it at home on the Kanopy site through my public library's subscription, streamed via Roku.

With scant knowledge of or interest in golf and no notion at all of the Morris father and son partnership, this film was not an obvious viewing choice. However, Mullan and Neill were a draw-card enough and so I found myself whisked up to the wilds and links of Scotland. Beautiful scenery, a social interest story of class, and a creeping disapproval of the unkindness of some religious attitudes drew me in. The central performances of Lowden and Lovibond illuminate the piece, and create the emotional heft. Even with no engagement with golf, it's impossible not to care about the fortunes of this young couple. Watch it with an Open mind and heart.