Mike Morley, The Best Player You Never Knew

I first met Mike Morley in 1970 when I was caddying at the Memphis Open. At a lean, 6’ 2”, he was quiet, always going about his business with little fanfare. Playing from 1970 until the mid ‘80s, he suffered from the pre Tiger Woods purses on the PGA Tour. While winning only one PGA Tour event, Mike put up some of the most impressive statistics I have ever seen.

Mike was born in Morris, MN but his father, who was an architect, moved the family to Minot, ND when he was eleven. He and his mother, following his parent’s divorce, moved to San Diego when he was seventeen. A top junior golfer in the San Diego area, he went on to Arizona State University. 

As a college amateur he won over thirty tournaments and was a two time, first team, All American. 

Mike qualified to play the PGA Tour in 1970.  Official PGA Tour statistics show that from 1972—1975 in 71 events he did not miss a cut. The statistics show that in 161 events from 1970-1979 he missed only three cuts - incredibly consistent play. Mike strongly questions the numbers but “I made a lot of cuts,” he admits.  

Compare those numbers with Tiger Woods in his halcyon days 1997 to 2006 playing in 192 events, missing the cut four times. Not to compare Mike Morley to Tiger Woods but, if the official PGA Tour statistics are correct, in the ‘cuts made’ category Mike stands up to Tiger.

In those 161 events he finished in the top 25, sixty three times and the top 3, ten times with one win at the Quad Cities Open. In addition, he won two events played opposite PGA Tour limited field events such as The Masters. While those two events, at Hattiesburg and Shreveport, were not counted as tour wins then, they would be today.

He has a sharp memory of his experiences on and off the tour.

“I remember being intimidated early on,” he said. “Every time I was in the final group I was paired with Nicklaus, Palmer or Trevino. That’s why I have so many seconds and thirds.” It’s interesting he won twice in events where the big name players were playing elsewhere like the Masters.  

In 1976 at the Colonial Invitational in Fort Worth, TX he was paired with Trevino in the final round. “On the sixteenth hole Lee shanked it. The ball hit a spectator and bounced onto the green. He made the putt for a birdie. I lost by one.” 

He had some of his best finishes at The Bing Crosby Pro Am, now called the AT&T. He finished seventh or better four times at the Crosby, plus won another professional tournament at Pebble Beach, called the Spaulding Invitational. 

“In 1976 at the Crosby, I was basically choking before I got to the first tee on Thursday,” he said with a chuckle. “I had shot 61 in the practice round the day before. I knew I was really playing great.” 

His first round was at Cypress Point considered the easiest of the three courses used in the tournament at the time. “I hit eighteen greens in regulation and two par fives in two. I shot 67 with 34 putts.”  It could have been much lower. Paired with Jack Nicklaus the final round, he lost to Ben Crenshaw by one.

“Irons were the strongest part of my game in the mid ‘70s. The greens in Monterey were small and I hit the ball high.” He paused. “I had a different feeling there. I played so well there. I just felt like I belonged.” 

From a financial perspective the PGA Tour was so different in the ‘70s. On today’s tour every player making the cut gets a check. Then, only the top fifty won money each week. Thus there were at least twenty players making the cut that did not get a check. In addition, anybody below about 35th won a very small amount of money.  

Finishing 28th, 29th, and 31st on the money list, he would have benefitted greatly in today’s limited field, big money events. Playing in a later era he might have needed a wheelbarrow to cart away the money! His biggest money winning year, 1976, he won $88,349.

The rules for getting into events were much different in the ‘70s. Only the top 60 money winners were exempt for the following year, not the top 125 as today. However, if you made the cut one week, you got in the next week. 

“If you finished in the top 25 you were exempt into that tournament the next year and didn’t have to Monday qualify,” said Mike. “Finishing in the top 25 was a big deal. Qualifying was demeaning. It was like you didn’t belong.”

In late 1974 he went to see an old teaching pro, Joe Nichols. “He taught me how to compress the ball. He really helped me. I could really hit it in the mid ‘70s.” Before Mike went to see Joe, “I couldn’t beat anybody,” he said facetiously. “After Joe helped me, I could beat everybody…except myself.”

In 1978 everything changed. “I tried to change my swing. After that I couldn’t control the ball like I could earlier.” 

Up to that time he didn’t consider himself a great putter. Working with a long time friend and caddie, Jim Saunders, he changed his putting, much for the better. Moving the ball slightly forward on right breaking putts and slightly back on left breakers, he became a great putter. “I developed a system for putting,” he said. “It was too bad though, I never had a period where I hit it great and putted well.”

“There are so many more good players today. They’re bigger and stronger. The ball doesn’t curve the way it used to. Bubba would curve an eight iron 100 yards if he were playing then,” he said laughing.

In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s I played a lot of golf with Mike. Although he finished high school in San Diego and went to Arizona State, the upper midwest never left his blood. While playing the tour later in his career he based out of Minneapolis in the summer. We would play in the afternoons at Interlachen. “I liked to be around home in the summer,” he said.

I came to appreciate what a great putter he was while watching him play. Along with Gordon Sherry and Bill Brask, he is the finest putter I have ever seen. The system he developed moved him from good to great in putting.

His “system” was so good he was urged to write a book which he did, ‘A Visual Guide to Great Putting’.

With the smaller purses on the PGA Tour at the time, it was not unusual for PGA Tour players to play State Open events and other regional tournaments. Mike would enter the Minnesota State Open, North Dakota State Open and Arizona State Open when it fit his schedule.  He won seven times in those three events. In all he won over twenty professional tournaments.

“Starting in 1978 my daughter lived with me.” Born in 1973 she had profound special needs. “After that, life got complicated. I was past my peak.” He continued to play the tour until 1982 and occasionally in events until 1989. 

Following his playing days he pursued the interest he had in golf course architecture. The late ‘80s and ‘90s were a time when golf courses were built in big numbers. 

He developed and operated a small nine hole course in Scottsdale, called Rio Salado. Unfortunately funded during the Savings and Loan crisis in the late ‘80s, it was not a success. 

In 1997, at the request of a developer, Mike recruited Tom Weiskopf to design The Wilds Golf Club in Prior Lake, MN. Mike acted as the project manager on the job. It was a springboard to doing his own work.

In the late ‘90s for about a dozen years he designed and built “six or seven” courses in northern Minnesota and North Dakota, including The Preserve in Brainerd and Long Bow in Walker, MN. In addition, he also did several restoration projects in North Dakota, including three in his home town of Minot. “I could never get big enough to keep a crew employed. Every job I had to retrain everybody.”

Today Mike can be found in Minot, investing in the Bakken oil fields of northwest North Dakota.

Playing the PGA Tour for a dozen or more years, Mike Morley put together a stellar record. While he questions the accuracy of the official PGA Tour statistics, I stand by the record book. Influencing all aspects of the game, Mike was great player, a great putter, authoring a book on putting, a creative designer of many courses and a good friend in A Life In Golf.