This is terribly sad news, particularly for his family.
It seems like Tom was a very private man and despite reading many thousands of his posts, his articles and even received a few emails I knew nothing his private life, background or even his personal taste’s beyond a liking for Bob Marley. I’m a little shocked to hear he was the same age as me. This is all a little ironic as he was intrigued by the bigger picture and seemed to believe we could best understand the work if we know more about the background.
Tom refused to believe the party line about the history of Golf course architecture. I was amazed about how much he knew about such tangential figures as Murray and Tippet, but he understood that their contributions were very important to courses like Portrush and Rye. The members of clubs prefer to associate themselves with the famous names and well worn stories. To me his greatest work was his essay on Crump. He showed that the history the Club had hidden, actually enhanced the man and his accomplishment.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/thomas-macwood-george-arthur-crump-portrait-of-a-legend/Fifty four and so much more to give. He told me that he was working on a Colt timeline, which he said would be an enormous undertaking as it meant following Alison’s travels, Morrison, Murray etc. etc. etc. I’m sure he had many such projects in the works and sadly these will now never see the light of day.
I would welcome personal reminiscences from those who knew him. One question I wished I'd asked him, is how much,if at all, he had played in GB&I on courses he clearly loved from afar.
RIP Tom.