The Old Tom Morris Trail

It’s no stretch to say that modern golf was shaped in Scotland, but fewer names carry as much quiet weight as Old Tom Morris. A St Andrews local with a sharp eye for land and a lasting feel for the game’s early rhythm, Morris wasn’t just a four-time Open winner—he was a master course designer, greenkeeper, clubmaker and teacher. His influence on how the game looks and plays today runs deeper than most players realise.

The Old Tom Morris Trail offers a chance to follow his footprints across Scotland, from the better-known fairways of Royal Dornoch and Prestwick to the lesser-travelled edges of places like Tain, Reay and Kinghorn. Spanning over 20 courses, the trail doesn’t just revisit a man’s career—it charts the evolution of the game itself, across linksland shaped by sea winds, farming tradition, and local pride.

Some of the courses on the trail remain largely as Morris left them. Others have been altered, extended, or reworked to meet new demands. But across them all, there’s a consistent thread in how they approach the natural features of the land—routed with a light touch, asking for creativity more than brute force, and still offering that same mixture of challenge and charm that defines links golf at its best.

For those willing to travel, this is more than just a tick-list of places to play. It’s a route into the early days of golf’s story. These are courses where sheep once grazed fairways, where stone walls still cut through doglegs, and where wind and terrain are part of the test. They’re not all famous. Not all manicured. But each one speaks to a time when golf was local, hand-built, and inseparable from the people and places that gave it life.

What follows is a guide to every course on the trail, from the remote stretches of the Highlands to the crowded coastlines of Fife and Ayrshire. You can find the full route and further background at oldtommorristrail.com.