Tommy's Honour

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.

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.

With sixty million golfers on the planet, you would expect a movie about the early history of golf to delight audiences all over the world. The game is rich in tradition and a spectacle for big-money professional sport. The historical drama Tommy's Honour (2016) has much to offer for die-hard lovers of the sport, but most other audiences may find it rather dull.

The twin narrative inter-weaves the story of golf with the legend of the 'Two Tommies', the father and son team credited with launching the modern version of the sport. Set in 1860s Scotland, gruff Old Tom Morris (Peter Mullan) is groundsman for the famous St. Andrews Golf Club and he pioneered the early rules of the game including the 18-hole course standard. His 15-year old son Young Tommy (Jack Lowden) has grown up with game and becomes a better golfer than his record-holding father. When he beats his father's record, tensions boil over and Tommy wants to go his own way while Tom clings to past ways. The young champion tours the country winning match after match, and collecting more prizemoney and social respectability than his father ever dreamed of. When Tommy falls for Meg (Ophelia Lovibond), an 'older woman with a past', the family is torn apart.

The story reveals several fascinating things about golf, including how the once-exclusive Gentleman's Club sport became opened to universal participation and how big-money gambling was integral to the game. The primitive early equipment, the feather-stuffed hand-stitched leather balls, and the cow-paddock roughness of the course are interesting insights into the origins of modern golf. While the period sets, costumes and historical depictions have high production value, the characterisations and melodramatic performances leave the story muddled, tedious and repetitious. Old Tom is portrayed as a cantankerous domineering father who is difficult to like, especially for his regular rants against Tommy's behaviour. His Scottish accent is so strong that many people will miss much of what he says. Young Tommy is the likable one, although his attitudes to parental and aristocratic authority are far too modern for a working-class boy of 19th century Scotland. The dynamic between them is unremarkable and predictable, and the romance is subdued and uninspiring even though Meg provides the film's aesthetic high point. The backbone of the story comprises the various games that Tommy inevitably wins, the monotony of which can quickly wilt the patience of both golfers and non-golfer audiences.

The decision to spend so much of the film watching the primitive golf games of yesteryear has robbed the story of any narrative tension. As an historical drama, it shows how sport has potential to break down class barriers although today's private clubs would not agree. Anyone who loves and plays the game will wince at the sight of the early conditions under which it was played, but viewers unconnected with golf may struggle to stay awake with this one.

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.

Had never heard of Morris Senior nor Junior prior to stumbling across this film. Also do not know much about the game of golf. Neither of these facts prevented me from being fully absorbed into the story. Actors did a fine job of depicting the characters, all of whom were credible. The ways and costumes of the era, believable. There was naught in the film that jarred me out of full absorption. Inspired and visually delicious, this is one that could be viewed over and over, still to find something new to love about it.