A father and son and the game they helped establish

Start with a hardworking, self-effacing old Scot who begins each day with a dip in the sea, even when he has to crunch through thin ice to get to it. Then add his son, supremely gifted and bright, but less accepting of his place in the social order, willing to toss the occasional slight toward society's "gentlemen."

Anchor the two of them in the infancy of professional golf in historic St. Andrews, Scotland, and you have the basics of Kevin Cook's painstakingly researched "Tommy's Honor," a book so full of character and detail one needn't be a golf fanatic to appreciate it.

Cook doesn't exaggerate the status of his father-son duo as sports heroes, nor need he: Between the two of them, the two Tom Morrises won eight of the first 12 "Open Championships" — the tournament Americans call the British Open (the 2007 edition of which is being played this weekend at Carnoustie, Scotland).

Among his many accomplishments, "Old Tom" Morris redesigned and maintained golf's most hallowed ground, the Old Course at St. Andrews. "Young Tom" Morris, besides making pro golf's first recorded hole-in-one, won his first of four straight Open titles at 17 and remains the youngest player ever to win the event.

But in contrast to the super-celebrity status afforded Tiger Woods and his ilk today, these men played at a time when "professional golfer" as an occupation was considered a step above vagrancy in the eyes of the 19th-century landed gentry that made up golf's ruling elite. The caddies and golf-ball makers who managed to eke out a meager living at their trade — supplemented by what they collected in bets on the course — were eyed suspiciously by the men of privilege they served.

Cook enlivens his tale with spicy tidbits from St. Andrews' 1,000-year history: Over here is where the French poet Chastelard accosted a disrobing Mary Queen of Scots and was hanged for his efforts. Over there is where Protestant reformer John Knox whipped an anti-Catholic crowd into such a frenzy, they destroyed the town's cathedral with their bare hands.

But ultimately, it's the father-son relationship, a story of mutual respect, professional success and personal tragedy, that generates an emotional connection and may prompt the reader, at its conclusion, to set the book down, offer a quiet sigh, and begin eyeing airfares to Scotland.

Jack Broom is a news features reporter

at The Seattle Times; jbroom@seattletimes.com