Tommy’s Honour is a good history lesson for golfers

Heat is all relative.

On a conference call with East Bay friends last Tuesday, someone remarked how hot it was—temperatures were getting close to the 90s.

I volunteered that I had just left the car and it said the temperature was 102—of course, we were in Desert Hot Springs in the Coachella Valley so the humidity was non-existent. We teed off at 6:30 Wednesday morning and the temperature already was over 70. It was over 90 when we finished around 10 a.m.  By the weekend, temperatures had plummeted to a high of 65 degrees on Sunday with about one-quarter inch of rain. The average temp is 91.

Given that this valley is golf central during the winter months for California as well as much of the western United States (the Scottsdale/Phoenix area also vies for that honor), we headed for a movie theater when “Tommy’s Honour” was still showing. It’s been out for a few weeks, but had limited showings in the Tri-Valley. Given that there were three of us in the audience for the morning showing, it may not last longer in Palm Desert.

The film tells the story of Old Tom Morris and his son, Young Tom Morris. Old Tom is widely considered the father of golf in Scotland including famed St. Andrews links. I will readily confess to not be a golf history nut—I did know of the Morris family, but I had no idea that Old Tom had designed the number of world-class courses that are still played today. That included the majority of Carnoustie, Prestwick, Muirfield and Lahinch

The plot moves slowly, particularly for a non-golfer (leave that person home), but it does tell the remarkable story of the Morris family—Old Tom’s long life (he won The Open at 46 and competed until he was 75 plus all of his course designs) and the tragic life of his remarkably talented son who surpassed him on the links before dying at age 24. Old Tom was born and died at St. Andrews.

For golfers, plan to stream it when it hits Netflix or Amazon.