Mr. MacWood:
Despite having occassional health issues that may or may not have led to his rather sudden kidney failure and death at 45 in early 1925, it seems from what we know about Hugh Wilson that he was a remarkably active man who apparently had a number of strong interests and a very active curiosity. His work and reputation in architecture and certainly agronomy are good examples.
I believe what you call his limited activities in golf architectural projects is merely the result of his other interests and other business---eg his business career in that he ran a family insurance company with his brother Alan.
But like the other well known "amateur/sportsmen" designers of his time he concentrated on a single project primarily (Merion), and there was likely a good reason for that---eg it was his own club and he was a designer who always refused to accept pay for his services. (I do not believe this is documentable but it is possible Hugh Wilson considered another paid career in golf architecture with William Flynn AFTER the USGA created the "exception" for professional golf architects vis-a-vis amateur playing status around the early 1920s. However, for various reasons that never happened. On the other hand, it may've been unlikely that he would ever have agreed to take pay for architecture since the spirit of "amateurism" around Merion was incredibly strong. Like C.B. Macdonald, Wilson just may've believed that a man like him should not ever be paid for anything to do with golf).
In the past on this website you've seemingly made light of this idea of and fact of the so-called "amateur/sportsman" designer of this most fascinating ERA in golf course architecture's history and evolution, at one point calling it 'my invention.' It is not my invention at all----it's an extremely identifiable fact and I believe a remarkably important one as an aspect in both how and why architecture evolved as it did during that interesting time from about the mid 1890s until WW1 when we do not find another project starting like those ones that were so famous and still are from that unusual group of men.
It seems to me your apparent lack of understanding of or appreciation of what that interesting group of "amateur/sportsmen" designers did, why they did it and how they did it, leds the likes of you and David Moriarty to underestimate what they did and how they did it. I think this is precisely why both of you seem to always search for someone else who must have basically done it for them. I think this is also why you both seem to imply that their clubs or those who knew them and worked with them have tended to "glorify" them and what they did.
I, for one, do not believe that was the case at all and for one to fail to understand that is to fairly misunderstand a most important time in golf course architecture and some of the people responsible for it.
Hugh Wilson apparently died of rather sudden and almost total kidney failure (some call it renal failure). I don't know that you are implying this but some connect kidney failure with chronic alcoholism. If that is what you are thinking, I can tell you that we have never seen a single iota of evidence that Hugh Wilson suffered from alchoholism of any degree at all. In my opinion, from all that we know about him including hundreds of his letters and letters to him he just did not seem to be that type at all.
I do see some striking parallels between Wilson and Kennedy, including a real similarity in appearance (in some early photos) the fact they both suffered from health problems throughout their lives, the fact they both died at the same early age, the fact they both had wonderful somewhat self-deprecating senses of humor, and even the fact that both went to Princeton (JFK as a first term freshman).