Since 1977, Things Have Changed, Except Tom Watson

In 1977:

• Jimmy Carter was the new president of the US.
  
  
• The Cold War was still being waged between the west and the USSR.
  

• People listened to music on albums, not CD's.
  
  
• Few people had VCR's and there was no such thing as DVDs.
  
  
• Nobody had a cellphone.
  
  
• Personal computers were extremely expensive and less than 5,000 people had one. Apple Computer was incorporated in 1977, IBM had yet to create the PC.
  

• The Internet would not be created for another four years.
  
  
• Saturday Night Fever was a smash hit movie.
  
  
• Disco was extremely popular.
  
  
• Luke Donald was born in July.
  
  
• Tiger Woods was one year old.
  
  
• And Tom Watson was The Open Champion at Turnberry.

Obviously, things have changed, but one thing hasn't: Tom Watson is still a great golfer and he will try to win the Open Championship for the sixth time tomorrow.

Turnberry: Tougher Than You Might Think

Turnberry never can seem to shake its reputation as a "resort course" but it may do just that this weekend.

Golf writer Dan Jenkins can't seem to heap enough scorn on the place whenever he writes about it, and recently called it "the least deserving Open course" in Twitter. In Golf Digest, he goes even further, saying "the resort course with the lighthouse and the island bird sanctuary in the background that offers photo-ops instead of the rigors of a major championship."

Perhaps Jenkins prefers the traditional rota of St. Andrews' Old Course, Royal St. George, Royal Birkdale and the like. Or maybe he like to see major tournaments settled on golfing penal colonies -- with the eye of Category-5 hurricane on top of the clubhouse.

"Silly old Turnberry seemed quaint the first time we all went there in '77, the year of the Watson-Nicklaus thing. It was OK and perfectly thrilling that Tom and Jack shot 4,000 under par. We thought it was strictly them.

"Then in '86 Turnberry began to be exposed despite the rain, wind and chill that prevailed most of the way. That's because Greg Norman shot a 63 in the second round with three bogeys and two three-putts. It was a round that could have been a 59 and should have been a 61. And this was a major?"

Or maybe it was a great performance by a great golfer. After all, Norman shares the course record of 63 at Augusta National with Nick Price. And you don't read where Mr. Jenkins has called Augusta National unworthy of hosting a major.

Two Weeks Ago, Turnberry's Open Setup Massacred Its Members

If Turnberry is a mere "resort course, " as Jenkins says, consider this: typically, a club hosting an Open Championship closes the venue to its membership for several weeks prior to the event. Two weeks ago, however, 150 of the folks who belong to Turnberry were allowed to play the Ailsa course where the Open will be held this weekend for a tournament of their own. The results were eye-opening.

They lost 480 balls in the tall and hatchet-worthy rough. Between 70 and 80 of the players were "no returns" -- menaing half the competitors quit before the tournament's end. As Peter Corrigan, "The Hacker" in London's Independent said, "that number represents a slaughter of epic proportions."

And, oh by the way: the member's played off of the shorter white tees, not the longer championship tees. If that's a resort course, then the seaside weather must always be very warm, because it is located downtown in the Ninth Circle of Hell.

This weekend, expect to see straight-forward links golf that rewards keeping the ball in play and punishes wayward shots. Do that well, and player can score well. That's the true nature of golf, after all, and if a given player can master his golf ball, he will master Turnberry.

“I don’t like to see courses tricked up at all.” said Turnberry’s greenskeeper George Brown in the New York Times recently.

“I think we’ve done a good job, but nobody wants to make the players look stupid," Brown added. "We want to give them a challenge. We don’t want it said that Turnberry is just a resort course. I think our previous winners have proved that it isn’t. They were all in their prime when they won, and hopefully we’ll have the same this year, and the cream will come to the top.”

Brown has a point, the previous winners at Turnberry-hosted Open Championships are Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Nick Price. Think you might like those three on your team in a Captain's Choice?

More seriously, all three are Hall of Fame players. Clearly, Turnberry has produced winners that didn't hoist the Claret Jug after appearing from nowhere. In fact, all three were the sport's number one ranked players when they won...which would seem to bode well for one Eldrick Tiger Woods, not to mention ABC's television ratings.

Harry Vardon - A Man Whose Style And Whose Records Still Stand

He was the Tiger Woods of his day, and when he teed it up -- whether it was in the UK or here in the US, he would draw crowds that more often than not numbered in the tens of thousands. He was the greatest of the Great Triumvirate of James Braid and John Henry Taylor - a group that so thoroughly dominated golf that their accomplishments have never been equaled. His effect on the game is still felt today -- most golfers emulate his swing and his grip without ever thinking of where it came from -- but nonetheless in so doing they are paying silent tribute to one of the great pioneers of the game. He was Harry Vardon, a man the likes of which the game has not seen since he left the course after his final round.

Born in 1870 in Jersey, a small island off the coast of England, Vardon was not a child born into great means who took up the game of golf as an idle avocation. In fact, Harry Vardon never played any real golf until he was a teenager, when as a gardner he received his first golf lesson, instead, he played a game where rough-hewn handmade clubs were used to hit a marble ball around a course measuring about 50 yards.

By the age of 20, having taken up the full game on the regulation courses of the day, Vardon was a good player, and like most young talented players, he was curious as to his abilities, so he entered a tournament -- which he won. Vardon then played in another tournament in Scotland -- this time against more skilled and more serious players -- and there, he came in second. It was shortly after that that he turned professional.

Vardon, The Innovator for All-Time

That said, it's fair to conclude that it was Vardon who invented the modern game of golf as we know and play it today. Vardon changed the way golfers looked at nearly...everything.

In the beginning, Harry was not a golfing prodigy, instead, he was largely a self-taught golfer who honed his skill through hard work and dogged dedication. It was during that time of discovery and practice that Vardon perfected his incredible accuracy and control of the golf ball, setting a standard that surpassed any that had played the game before him. While he did not invent it, Vardon perfected an overlapping club-gripping method now known as the "Vardon Grip" -- something that is still the most popular style of holding the club. Nearly all serious golfers -- Jack Nicklaus being a major exception -- use that grip, and more likely than not, if you have played the game for much time, you do as well.

In his time, golfers of all levels would strike their balls with great velocity but with low trajectories, which caused them to sacrifice control in favor of distance. Elements of that style of play are still needed, of course, especially on courses in Scotland where running the ball under the wind is a preferable strategy. Using it exclusively, however, is one dimensional and limiting.

Vardon learned to swing the club such that his golf ball would fly high in the air, and land with a nearly vertical angle so that it would come to a stop quickly, thus offering him the ability to precisely place his shots close to the pin. In his time, this was revolutionary and afforded a great competitive advantage in any match or tournament.

To accomplish this, Vardon played his swing in a different plane than his contemporaries, used a different stance, and also placed his ball at different areas in that stance in order to accomplish his goal of smart precision. All considered, it is probably Harry Vardon that began to perfect the idea of "target golf" -- and by doing so changed the game forever. Hardly a successful golfer -- amateur or pro -- since Vardon has not learned these techniques.

(pictured: the modern Vardon grip, left; at right, a closeup of Vardon's own grip method.)

See Harry Vardon's Swing in Stop-Animation

In 1896, with his sharpened skills, Vardon beat the aforementioned J. H. Taylor in a tournament, settling for all time his quality as a player. Later that same year won the first of his Open Championships -- a record that still stands to this day. Vardon was the first Englishman to hoist the Claret Jug, signalling the arrival of the English as a force to be reckoned with in tournament golf -- which had been thus far utterly dominated by Scots.

"Don't play too much golf. Two rounds a day is plenty." -- Harry Vardon

At one point, Vardon won fourteen tournaments in a row, a record which still stands, and he won seven majors -- including six Opens and a US Open in 1900, which he won after crossing the Atlantic by steamship -- the only viable transoceanic transportation available at the time.

In his tour of America in 1900, his status as golf's first international celebrity was cemented by the crowds often numbering in the tens of thousands who turned out to see him play - often by spectators who were seeing a golf course for the first time in their lives. When Vardon played at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx, the New York Stock Exchange shut down for the day. Over fifty percent of the time, when he set foot on a course for the first time, sight unseen he would shatter the scoring record. He played 88 exhibition matches in that tour, losing only once to Alex Findlay in Miami, Florida.

A Curious Spectator At a Vardon Exhibition Sets The Stage For An Eventual Shift In Golf History

It was during that tour of America in 1900 that Vardon unknowingly changed the course of golf history not only in the United States but also in the world. In Boston, Vardon was hired to conduct an exhibition in the sporting goods department at the Jordan, Marsh & Company, a tony downtown department store.

Not being on a golf course or practice tee, Vardon hit ball after ball into a net, displaying his golfing talents for all comers -- including one Frances Ouimet, a young boy whose fascination with Vardon's trademark "Vardon Flyer" golf balls drew him magnetically to the store to see his idol in person.

It nearly didn't happen. Ouimet first asked his father to take him to the event, but was turned down by the class conscious Canadian immigrant who felt the store above his station. Ouimet's mother saw the desperate desire in her son's eyes and took him instead, and there, for the first time, Frances Ouimet beheld the sight of Harry Vardon.

Seeing Vardon's endlessly repeating and flawless swing gave Ouimet a lesson he would never forget -- and it crystallized his desire to be a great golfer. From then on, when he was not in school, doing chores or caddying at the Country Club across the street from his Brookline, Massachusetts home, Francis would be perfecting his own golf swing in a makeshift course near his house. Eventually, the young man's game budded into a highly proficient and extremely competitive one that saw him win several important regional tournaments.

In 1913, the pair would cross paths again, this time in the US Open that was to be played at Ouimet's "home" course, The Country Club in Brookline. Ouimet was by no means a member at the Country Club, he was employed as a caddy at the golf course, part of which passed by his front porch.

There, golf history for all time was made when the upstart 20 year old amateur would duel Vardon and Ted Ray in a 18 hole playoff duel that Ouimet won by overcoming his nerves and his opponents to win - igniting an exploding interest in golf in America in the process. Also notable about the 1913 US Open was another player who in his first US Open gamely battled but eventually fell by the wayside of the Oumiet/Ray/Vardon charge - Walter Hagen, a man who would eventually set a number of records of his own and also change the course of the game in his career.

(pictured: Vardon, Frances Ouimet and Ted Ray shortly after the 1913 US Open.)

Overcoming Consumption, And A Career Shortened By Damaged Nerves

After winning the Open Championship again in 1903, Vardon was stricken with tuberculosis, a then incurable disease with few treatments in the time before the discovery and implementation of antibiotic medications. It forced him out of competition and into Mundesley Sanatorium in Norfolk for long spells until 1910. Sick as he was, Vardon never dispelled the notion of playing golf, nor did he give up on winning major tournaments. In fact, the sanatorium was located aside Mundesley Golf Club's nine-hole course, which Vardon had helped to design in 1901. There, in 1904, Vardon played a non-competitive leisure round of golf, and scored the only hole-in-one in his career -- a feat that no doubt cheered Vardon greatly, renewing his spirits in the process.

Vardon would go on to validate his true greatness after he left Mundesley. At the age of 40, he would win the British Open again in 1911 and 1914, barely lose to the aforementioned Ouimet in perhaps the greatest US Open duel in 1913, and nearly won the US Open in 1920 at Inverness when he led the tournament by four strokes with seven holes remaining. Unfortunately, as a result of his illness (which was never cured) Vardon's putting ability was betrayed by quaking hands, and he ended up losing to his friend and fellow Jerseyman Ted Ray by two strokes.

Vardon's Place In History

Most golf historians agree that were it not for Vardon's tragic illness that he would have won many more majors and undoubtedly spent much more time in America -- offering him the opportunity to not only win Open Championships, but also US Open championships as well. It is also notable that Vardon's chances to add to his total were eclipsed by World War I, which shut down tournament golf not only in the United Kingdom, but also in the United States as well. All considered, it's fair to say that Vardon "only" having seven major titles is extremely misleading.

Harry Vardon passed away in 1937 and was laid to rest at St Andrews Church, Totteridge, Hertfordshire, England, where a wreath is laid every year by the members of the South Hertsford Golf Club when they play for the ‘Harry Vardon Trophy’. Additionally, his legend also still lives on not only with his still-standing records and golfing style, but also with the Vardon Trophy, which is awarded annually to the PGA Tour player with with lowest stroke average per round.

The Grandaddy Of All Open Champions: "Old" Tom Morris

More so any sport still played today, golf winds its way through history, leaving a trail a greatness still recognizable to those who take the time to look. Of all the great champions who have graced the game, Tom Morris Sr. stands as one of the greatest champions and benefactors of golf -- and the sport that still clearly bears his imprint to this day.

The Open Championship (don't call it the British Open, thanks) is perhaps the most perfect example of the enduring nature of golf-- it has existed for 149 years, and the annual event has only been interrupted by world war and a controversy in 1871 that led to The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers administering the event. Its winners are a veritable who's-who of golf, and if one looks down the list of those who have hoisted the Claret Jug or worn the Winner's Belt from today back to 1860, it is like reading a roll call of the greats of the game from now back to the origins of the modern game.

(photo: Old Tom Morris in 1905, right; in the 1890's, below)

The Greatest of the Early Champions: Thomas Mitchell "Tom" Morris, Sr.

First played in the fall of 1860 at Prestwick, the inaugural Open Championship had a clear favorite among the eight professional competitors who vied for the prize belt that would be given to the winner: the keeper of the Prestwick Greens and crack golfer, Tom Morris. Morris did not win that day, losing to his fiercest rival, Willie Park Sr., by two strokes in a three round event that were played consecutively in a single day over 36 holes.

The next year, 1861, Morris began setting a mark of excellence on the young tournament that would not be eclipsed until his son came along, where Morris Jr. not only broke his father's records but also placed himself high in the annals of the game itself.

"Old" Tom Morris, as he came to be known in order to distinguish him from his son "Young" Tom, was a clubmaker, a golf course designer, a greenskeeper and, of course, a great golfer. Many of the elements of the game we take for granted today came originally from his hand, for example, Old Tom was the man who standardized courses at 18 holes, he was the first to groom hazards in order to enhance their punitive nature, and as a designer, he was the first who placed hazards in a manner such that strategy in avoiding them was clearly required in order to garner the lowest score possible. Obviously, these are things that modern course superintendents and designers do every day as part of their work, but it was Morris who was the first -- and in so doing, he changed the game forever.

He learned his skills from the man who is credited with being the first golf professional, Alan Robertson, and the two men also played in foursomes together and were never beaten from 1842 till Robertson's untimely death in 1859. Of Robertson, it is said that he was never beaten, and of Morris, much the same can be said of his play in the early years of his golfing career being that he was Robertson's partner and apprentice.

"£1 a day I charged plus expenses, and walked every venue." -- Tom Morris, Sr.

As a course designer, his handiwork is still golfed upon every day even now: Morris created the legendary courses at Carnoustie, Prestwick, and Muirfield, Royal Dornoch, Royal County Down along with Warkworth in Northumberland, Rosapenna in Ireland, among others. He also made changes and greatly evolved the Old Course at St. Andrews -- it was Old Tom who laid the sod of the 18th green there with his own hands. His work greatly influenced the likes of Alistair MacKenzie, designer of Cypress Point and Augusta National, Donald Ross, designer of Pinehurst #2 and Seminole, among many others.

Morris was also one of the first widely known champions that played the gutta percha golf ball (the aforementioned Willie Park Sr. being another) that eventually helped enhance and popularize the game -- prior to the gutta percha, balls were hand-stitched leather stuffed with feathers that were extremely expensive and thus unaffordable to any but the very wealthy. While some middle-class duffers were to be found in that time, they often were forced to play with limited equipment, especially when it came to golf balls. With the relatively inexpensive gutta-percha ball, more commoners could afford to take up the game, and thus the second great influx of the middle class (the sheep herders who invented golf as we know it being the first) into golf. Old Tom also developed and built golf clubs in his shop and even helped create many of the rules of the game that are still in place to day.

By 1867, Old Tom had established a clubmaking business aside the 18th green of The Old Course in Saint Andrews. He ran the business for the rest of his lifetime, and consistently employed at least six craftsmen, one of which, Bob Martin, was a double winner of The Open Championship at St Andrews in 1876 & 1885.

(pictured above: Prestwick, photo by Bryan Robson; an advertisement forMorris Sr. golf equipment, and below, the 18th green at St. Andrews Old Course.)

Those accomplishments alone would place Old Tom Morris at the pinnacle of great men and women in the great game of golf, but one distinction places Morris there as well: he was also a fine champion golfer. He won four Open Championships, in 1861, 1862, 1864 and 1867. He competed often on the courses surrounding St. Andrews, with his son "Young" Tom being one his competitors or partners. While the one would defeat the other with some regularity, Young Tom had an edge on his father, that being his superior putting skills.

In fact, Young Tom would often joke with his father if he left a short putt that "The hole'll no' come ta ye, Da." That in mind, it can even be said that the Morris father-and-son combo created the infamous lament of "Never up, never in."

They remain the only father and son to come first and second in the same major golf championship - with Young Tom triumphant over his father. Another record of Old Tom's would stand until 2000. He held the record for largest margin of victory in a major championship at 13 strokes in the 1862 Open Championship, which Tiger Woods finally surpassed with a 15 stroke win at the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000.

Old Tom played in every Open until 1895 and died in 1908 at 86. His death was caused by a simple mistake -- he thought that a door led to a water-closet (bathroom) but instead was a wine-cellar, and he fell down the stair leading into the cask of bottles fracturing his skull in the process. He was buried next to his son in the Cathedral Church Yard in St Andrews, after a massive funeral that saw a procession where nearly every resident of the town and many from afar came to see him into his afterlife.

For a far more in-depth examination of Old and Young Tom Morris, I would suggest "Tommy's Honor"by Kevin Cook.

tomorrow: Harry Vardon