Highly Commended, Best Sports Podcast, Independent Podcast Awards 2026... “An open invitation to the sport, demystifying bucket-list golf.”

Legend has it Old Tom Morris spilled a barrel of sand on the 10th green at Prestwick, couldn't pick it up, and accidentally started a practice greenkeepers still use 150 years later.

Last week we previewed the Old Course at St Andrews. Next week we review it. In between, there's a man whose shadow hangs over the whole place, and I'll be honest: before we played it, I knew the name and not much else. So this week I'm taking you behind the scenes of how we research an episode, and sharing everything I found out about Old Tom Morris.

In this episode:
- Old Tom's life, from his birth in 1821 to his death in 1908
- His apprenticeship under Allan Robertson, and the feud over the gutty ball
- Prestwick, the first Open in 1860 and his four Open wins
- How he reshaped the Old Course: bigger greens, new tees and managed bunkers
- The greenkeeping habits he's credited with that are still used today
- The Old Tom Morris courses we've played, including Cruden Bay, Castletown, Wallasey and Carnoustie
- Why he's still revered, and where he died: a building we ended up eating in after our round

This is part two of our three-part series on the Old Course at St Andrews, part of our journey to play every course in the UK and Ireland's Top 100 in just 10 years.

If you're enjoying the show, hit follow on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It's the single biggest thing you can do to help us reach more golfers.

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Learn more about our journey on our website Top100.in10.co.uk

You can even sign up to our podcast mailing list on the website and get a limited edition Top 100 in 10 ball marker when you complete your profile

Or follow our live journey on Instagram @top100in10 or Tiktok

Five hours after finding out we’d got on the Old Course at St Andrews, we hit record, and neither of us could stop grinning.

The Old Course is ranked number two on our list, it’s the course every golfer dreams of playing, and we were teeing off two days later. This is episode 92 of the Top 100 in 10 Golf Podcast, recorded before we played: two giddy golfers, a chaotic day of train bookings, and a lot of first-tee nerves.

In this episode:

• Why St Andrews is the ultimate golfing pilgrimage, and why Chris’s only childhood dream was winning the Open here
• The first-tee fear: a huge fairway, out of bounds down the left, and the “stay left” advice we keep hearing
• The Road Hole 17th, driving over the corner of the hotel, and the Valley of Sin on 18
• Why the 12th hole hides its bunkers (the course used to be played in reverse)
• Old Tom Morris, the 1764 decision that fixed golf at 18 holes, and Tiger Woods’ bunker-free Open in 2000
• Is the Old Course overrated? Chris’s Beatles argument for why the doubters are missing the point
• The St Andrews checklist: the Jigger Inn, the Dunvegan, bag tags and the Himalayas putting green
• The Signature Holes Challenge and the side bet we invented live

Our full verdict on the Old Course comes in the review. Until then, the one thing that really helps us reach more golfers is you hitting follow on your podcast app.

Top 100 in 10 is our attempt to play every course in the UK and Ireland’s Top 100 in 10 years.

Send us a message

Support the show

Learn more about our journey on our website Top100.in10.co.uk

You can even sign up to our podcast mailing list on the website and get a limited edition Top 100 in 10 ball marker when you complete your profile

Or follow our live journey on Instagram @top100in10 or Tiktok

I (Nish) went back to Carnoustie with something to prove, and this time the wind never turned up.

Last time we played Carnoustie Golf Links, it was in the famous brutal winds of “Carnasty”, and I barely got to see the course. This time, at exactly the same time of year, the flags hung dead straight and the sun shone all day. For the first time I could take in the Championship Course the way it was designed, from a high-handicapper’s eye view. I’ve come down from an 18 handicap to 15.8 since my last visit, and it shows.

In this episode:

• Why zero wind changes everything at an Open Championship links, and what I missed first time
• Immaculate fairways, carpet greens and the green-to-tee transitions I never noticed before
• Why Carnoustie’s bunkering is a mental test, not a punishment
• Hogan’s Alley (the 6th), Ben Hogan’s only Open win, and the Barry Burn finish on the 18th
• A 90 that beat my handicap, with no lost balls
• Post-round in the hotel bar with our host Paul from Golfing Around Scotland, plus Andrew and Tony
• The crazy realisation about the Top 100 list: do we have to play every course twice?

Top 100 in 10 is nominated for Best Sports Podcast at the Independent Podcast of the Year Awards. If you enjoy the show, hitting follow is the single biggest thing you can do to help us reach more golfers.

Send us a message

Support the show

Learn more about our journey on our website Top100.in10.co.uk

You can even sign up to our podcast mailing list on the website and get a limited edition Top 100 in 10 ball marker when you complete your profile

Or follow our live journey on Instagram @top100in10 or Tiktok