[Ash Towe]

I only had the pleasure of meeting him once but he left an indelible mark.


My condolences to the family.

[Morgan Clawson]

Had the pleasure of rooming with Rich and Josie at last fall's Dixie Cup.

Very sad news.  RIP.

[John Kavanaugh]

Just as I was getting bored with the internet this site gave me the opportunity to tell a friend that I loved him moments before he passed. Rich and I were partners in many a match over the years. While I won't be attending his final services I do take comfort knowing that I was given the privilege of carrying him on the course.

[ward peyronnin]

Bollocks! I repost my comments from the previous thread and add now that Rich did and will for a long time cast his long shadow across an integral and necessary part of the golfing world. That would be among those who cherish the cultivation of the appreciation of golf design and the golfing spirit as the wellspring for the more glamorous and public playing of tournament and everyday golf. Without men such as Rich our sport may well be more superficial and shallow endeavor:
 When I was looking for a port in the storm I landed in Aberdour and Rich was good enough to "sponsor" my refugium.

We entered the Aberdour GC medal and I had the pleasure of befriending my caddie and town postman/gardner, Stuart, and afterwards his lovely wife Donna from whom I still receive Christmas cards. Rich had promoted my arrival as a skilled player from a beastly difficult top 50 course in America, Victoria, and much was expected by the field. My 80 something over the short but sporty home course, which starts with two one shotters debriefed everyone so I regrouped to my next most developed skill, pubbing.
 Josie responded to the not uncommon curse of friends and spouses of true GCA'ers, the mysterious golf pilgram suddenly hovering in one's life, with grace and humor. I so appreciate their hospitality while I hung out in their village. I hope they know that the many folks whose lives they touched all are intensely connected to Rich's stuggle and feel the  good energy we sending their way. God bless and protect.
CheersWard

[Michael Whitaker]

Another fabulous GCA friend gone. I'm sad tonight, but I'm also so glad that I got to know Richard and spend time with him... all because of this wonderful website. I played golf with Rich in Scotland, Ireland, England, California and South Carolina... and, I think maybe Florida too!

I will miss him. If there is an afterlife I hope that Rich and "Ace" are sharing a pint.

2011 Buda - Hankley Common

[Michael Whitaker]

Buda 2006 - Wallasey Golf Club

Presenting the Buda trophy

[Joel_Stewart]

There's a lot of love being shown here which indicates a life well lived.  I'm sure he would appreciate it.


I'm very sad about this. I made some inquiries a few days ago and found he had been moved out of the hospital into hospice. They felt he had 2 months at a maximum and he lasted 2 days.


I had always dreamed about playing Royal Dornoch with him. Someday when I get there I will toast him on the tee.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Echoing the sentiments of so many on here, very sad to hear of his passing, he will be missed by many!!


Like so many of the "family" I have met on here over the years, I have trouble recalling exactly how many times I met Rich in person (probably 3-4) but after +20 years on this site interacting through threads, messages, and emails the relationships I have made on here are hard to describe to outsiders, so many of us do feel like family.  You all have added to the enjoyment of my life.


RIP Rich!!  [size=78%]And to Rich everyone else in the "family" let me say before the sad occasion of loosing anyone else in the coming years...  [/size]


Thanks and [/size]Sláinte (Skol)!![/color]

[Tony_Muldoon]

So hard to find appropriate words.


I was fortunate to meet and play with Rhic(sic) a number of times. 


When I arrived at the Hoylake Buda (Oct 2006) I knew no one. He took me under his wing and asked me if I wanted to loosen up on the driving range - not I subsequently learned his customary approach. After that he escorted me to my match on the first tee - a small kindness but much appreciated. Sine then with GCA I've never looked back.   Later I sought advice as to where in Scotland to take my family on Holiday and he suggested Dornoch and North Berwick and this too changed my life as I've returned to the later several times every year since.


I was lucky to play with Josie at Carne and when we met Rich in February this year we talked about our daughters growing up, as they are similar in age. My thoughts go to his family and I'd just like them to know Rich really was as special as they think and his legacy will be felt by many of us.

[Jason Topp]

After my trip to Dornoch, I started a thread questioning whether in fact it deserved the recognition it receives.  I cannot remember the exact issues I rose but they had something to do with the 3-5 holes playing similarly, the 16th being an uphill slog and 8 and 17 being quite similar holes. 


I started the thread not so much because I believed those sentiments but rather to see how Rich would respond.  Rich delivered in spades, providing his perspective on all of those issues in an inisghtful, frank and non-combative response. 


I learned something that day, as I usually did when I encountered Rich. 


He represents the highest ideals of this discussion group.  I will miss him.

[Don Mahaffey]

With an askance look from my wife I headed out the door for a five hour drive to Barona Creek to hang with some dudes I’d met on the internet.
The first thing I noticed is no one looks like their internet screen name, except maybe for Barney.
I also noted that for all the slow play talk on GCA, get a bunch of them together and the pace of play can be painful - probably too much discussion about bunker lips and greens surfaces.
On that first day we played a match, I don’t remember my partner, but I do remember our opponents, Tom Huckaby, who stripped 250 down the middle on every tee and acted like it was the first time ever each time, and this dude everyone called Shivas who basically tried to drive every hole. We got creamed and the next day I had no partner, not sure what happened there.
But it was a blessing as I ended up spending the first half of the day with this gregarious guy named Tommy. What an experience that was, but then it got even better as he handed me off to a guy named Rich. We spent the afternoon studying golf, talking about my trip to Scotland and lord knows what else. Without a doubt one of my best days ever on the golf course.
I never saw Rich again, but I’ll never forget that day.

[John Kavanaugh]

I'm sure Rich laughed at that one. Don't forget the honor he bestowed on me when he posted as ForkaB.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I never had the honor to meet Rich, but I always read his posts. He was thoughtful astute, and on point. I will miss him. Blessings to his family and may he rest in God's embrace.

[Garland Bayley]

Sad news.

Condolences to Josie, and family.

[Darren_Kilfara]

I'm very sorry to hear of Rihc's passing as well, news of which I rather stumbled upon via Facebook today (which brought me back here). Very sad for me that we lived so (relatively) close and I didn't connect with him as often as I might have done. Anyone who was so fond of Royal Dornoch *and* Painswick can't be all bad, can he?

[John Kavanaugh]

Rich had a great sense of humour. He was inch for inch the finest man I ever knew.


Come on Huck, suck it up and tell us what you thought.

[Michael Whitaker]

When I arrived at the Hoylake Buda (Oct 2006) I knew no one. He took me under his wing and asked me if I wanted to loosen up on the driving range - not I subsequently learned his customary approach.

Tony - here is a photo of you with Rich on the range at Hoylake... with our other departed friend Jim Goby in the foreground.

[Michael Whitaker]

And... a baby-faced Wardo having lunch with Rich at Hoylake. What great times we have had enjoying each other's company! Rich will be truly missed.

[Ronald Montesano]

One of the first things I noticed on this site, was the continuous and approved spelling of Rihc. If one of the geezers can illuminate for the rest of us, its origin, it shall be appreciated.


Take a moment away from the grief, to consider all the posters, and the ones who have yet to write. As our beloved and self-anointed hillbilly reminds, these losses recommend that we renew (or anew) an acquaintanceship/friendship with someone else. Now, resume the grieving and regain the burden. We should spend more time in both.


I did not meet this great soul on this Earth, and I certainly don't remember any good wishes nor GCA welcomes, from him to me (104% due to my senility) but I read in your empathy and loss, the footprints, handshakes and hugs of the most kindred of spirits. Thanksgiving.


Farewell from these shores, RHIC (Royal Highness In Company)

[Colin Macqueen]

RoMo,


At the risk of possibly being wrong I will no less relate what I winkled out of Goodale's mind. I asked Rich outright what Rihc was all about and it materialised that he simply typed at a rate which was not synchronised with his thought processes! There were a number of other typos which he just learnt to live with in a completely unashamed and unabashed manner!
As was said earlier and is a saying in Scotland....."He was himself"


Colin

[Jerry Kluger]

I remember playing a Dixie Cup match against Rich at Chechessee and we both had short shots into a hole and I presumed that Rich coming from Scotland would run it up to the green and I went first and tried running it up; I left it short of the green. Rich flew a wedge to 2 feet.


Rest in peace my friend - may God bless you.

[Steve Wilson]

I won't pretend to have known Rich/ard as well as many on here did, but I know he was on board this discussion group when I stumbled onto it in 2001.  Early on I corresponded with him vis-a-vis Royal Dornoch and made it to the 2003 Barona in Dornoch which soon morphed into the BUDA. 


But to return to Richard being here before my arrival.  I thought of him as something of an institution here at GCA and assumed that as he was here before me he would go on and on.  It's a very human tendency to presume that things are always going to be the way we first encounter them and so it was with this discussion group.


We've had some major losses in the last couple of years, Bob Huntley, Bill McBride, and now Richard Goodale.  But no matter the extent of our loss, it is so much greater for their families.  These were upstanding men who brought more to their families, their work, their clubs, and their immediate circles than they could have here.  As great as our loss, I can only imagine how much more they are missed by their families.

[George Pazin]

One of the first things I noticed on this site, was the continuous and approved spelling of Rihc. If one of the geezers can illuminate for the rest of us, its origin, it shall be appreciated.


Take a moment away from the grief, to consider all the posters, and the ones who have yet to write. As our beloved and self-anointed hillbilly reminds, these losses recommend that we renew (or anew) an acquaintanceship/friendship with someone else. Now, resume the grieving and regain the burden. We should spend more time in both.


I did not meet this great soul on this Earth, and I certainly don't remember any good wishes nor GCA welcomes, from him to me (104% due to my senility) but I read in your empathy and loss, the footprints, handshakes and hugs of the most kindred of spirits. Thanksgiving.


Farewell from these shores, RHIC (Royal Highness In Company)

Before the interweb solved all the world’s problems and led us to our current utopia, our wonderful little corner of it was repository to a handful of the worst spellers and typers around. Rihc and a few others (Dan Kelly springs to mind) used to point out the occasional happy accident typo, and Rich started calling them tyops, if memory serves. At some point, someone else called Rich “Rihc” and it stuck. I can’t remember if it was ironic or intentional.


That’s all from my rapidly failing memory as a 52 year old. At one point, when I stumbled across the site in ‘99, I was one of the younger posters. Now I’m at best middle of the pack, and probably older...


I am always reluctant to offer suggestions to our kind host and benefactor, Golf’s Most Beloved Figure, Ran, but I wonder if it wouldn’t be nice to add link a separate page where we can post thoughts/share memories about our friends from the site we’ve lost over the years. I’m likewise reluctant to offer names, but I nevertheless will offer George Bahto, Tom MacWood, Rich Goodale, Bill McBride, Bob Huntley, and many others who are worthy of recognition in some manner.


I know JK and I often spar, but I will second his hope that Huck will share some thoughts/memories. Rich and I sparred on here quite frequently 15 or so years ago, but behind the scenes, we shared many beautiful exchanges, and he offered many times to assist in my golf education by arranging games at special places. I’m just sad my circumstances did not allow me to meet him in person and share a drink, a round, a memory or three...

[Tom Dunne]

I'm sad to hear this news--and surprised. I did not even know he had been ill.

I lost touch with Rich a few years ago, but we corresponded a great deal between '05 and '13, and though we never teed it up, we had lunch together in Manhattan several times. He was an energetic conversationalist, for sure.

My connection with him revolved to a great extent around writing. Rich loved writing and talking about writing--both his own and that of others. He was really interested in getting into T+L Golf when I was working there, and my old inbox has a fair number of his magazine pitches. He wanted to talk about things like the pleasures of winter golf around the world, or to run a first-person account of playing in the French Over-65 Championship at Nimes. When I operated my old website, he guest-posted a running account of a two-week trip to Australia, with photos and lots of original commentary on the courses of the Sandbelt. It was very good, but I'm afraid that work is probably lost now.

The explanation behind "Rihc" sounds really accurate to me. He had so many ideas and projects competing for his time and attention. The "Experience Dornoch" book, though, shows a deep well of local knowledge that's not often seen. 

Rich was a talented guy, and I'm glad we had a connection. My condolences to his family. 

[Pete_Pittock]

and John "Tiger" Bernhardt.     Another recent loss was Will McEwan, the rugby player looking Canadian who participated in some King's Putters a few years ago. Not mentioned here but I hear there is a thread over at the Max.

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