Monarch of the Green: Young Tom Morris: Pioneer of Modern Golf

by Stephen Proctor

Overview

Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards Biography of the Year

'A splendid new biography. How good was young Tom Morris? Stephen Proctor makes his case cogently. Young Tom Morris was one of the greatest of them all' - Allan Massie

Young Tom Morris, the son of the legendary pioneer of golf, Tom Morris, was golf’s first superstar.

Born at a pivotal moment in history, just as the new and inexpensive ‘gutty’ ball was making golf affordable and drawing thousands of new players to the game, his genius and his swashbuckling personality would set a game that had been frozen in amber for four centuries on the pathway to becoming worldwide spectator sport we know today.

Exhaustively researched and beautifully illustrated, Monarch of the Green is a stirring and evocative history of Tommy’s life (which also includes, for the first time, a compilation of his competitive record in stroke-play tournaments, singles matches, and foursomes) and demonstrates how, in one dazzling decade, this young superstar dominated the sport like few others have ever done.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909715943
Publisher:	Birlinn, Limited
Publication date:	09/01/2021
Edition description:	New in Paperback
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	405,663
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Stephen Proctor has served as a senior editor at The Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Houston Chronicle. A native of Maryland, he graduated from The American University in Washington and was later awarded a John S. Knight Fellowship in journalism at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He is an avid golfer and has spent the past decade studying the history of the royal and ancient game. Monarch of the Green is his first book. He lives in Malabar, Florida.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Hero's Welcome 1

Chapter 2 Prestwick 5

Chapter 3 Thrust and Parry 17

Chapter 4 Master Morris 32

Chapter 5 The Gift of Golf 45

Chapter 6 Dashing New Breed 58

Chapter 7 1870 71

Chapter 8 Tommy Transcendent 85

Chapter 9 Dream Season 94

Chapter 10 Match Play 109

Chapter 11 A Mortal Blow 123

Chapter 12 A Winter of Mourning 135

Chapter 13 For Good and All 144

Chapter 14 Etched in Stone 149

Chapter 15 Final Rounds 157

Postscript 170

Appendix: Tommy's Career 174

Notes on Chapters 184

Bibliography 196

Historical Chronology and Synopsis 204

Acknowledgements 213

A Note on the Writing 217

Index 218

Editorial Reviews

The short but very intense life of this star of golf is told with detail and passion in this compelling book'

Il Mondo del Golf Today

Tells of the short but significant life of golfing legend young Tom Morris. Proctor sets his achievements within the context of the time. A useful book to newcomers to the game of golf, who want to understand its history and traditions'

Book of the Month Scots Magazine

Very ably convinces us young Tom was a giant on the links, equally as talented as anyone that came after him—Ballesteros, Hagen, Jones, Nicklaus, Woods ... but he saves his best, most moving and poignant writing for Morris’s tragic death, on Christmas Day 1875, at just 24 years old'

Links Magazine

A splendid new biography. How good was young Tom Morris? Stephen Proctor makes his case cogently. Young Tom Morris was one of the greatest of them all'

Allan Massie

a stirring work and a great read for any golfer who appreciates the history of the game'

Holiday Gift Guide (US) Flagstick

Brings to sharp focus the impact this young golfing genius had on the formative years of the game. Proctor’s clean and readable style, grounded in solid research … puts into context what the prodigy accomplished. …Proctor paints Young Tom in a fresh light, as the young man who revolutionized the way the game was played and whose brilliant star was so quickly extinguished in tragedy. If you would know Young Tom and his impact on golf [this] is the book you must read'

The Golf (the Golf Heritage Society)

To write about Tommy Morris is a very brave thing to do. [Proctor] has been successful in bringing something new to the table. … An informative, charming book'

Through the Green