Mourning the Death of A Good Man: Vince Spence

My sincerest condolences to the Spence family.

For those of us who corresponded with Vince on his blog and Twitter, we only got a glimpse as to the kind of guy he was, but what a great glimpse it was. His wit was fast, his posts and tweets were clever, and his insights into golf were often keen.

Vince and I got into an interesting discussion late in the 2009 season about Tiger Woods, when he was having putting troubles before and during the PGA Championship (all before troubles of a different sort surfaced). Vince made a keen observation about Tiger’s putting alignment — one that made it clear to me that Vince really knew his golf.

I loved his #FS (Follow Saturday) on Twitter, clearly thumbing his nose at the overdone Follow Friday convention on Twitter. I chuckled every Saturday morning when I saw it.

One of his last (if not his last) posts showed how he could use humor and satire to make a point about a very serious topic:

http://www.waggleroom.com/2010/4/27/1446932/a-little-insight-into-how-tiger

Vince, you will be missed.

I didn’t have a chance to get to know the man, but he was ok on my score card. Always said what he felt like saying and never sugar coated.

Ryan I think you should post something on Vinces Blog, I went over and checked it out and didn’t see any kind of announcment.

I’ve only been doing my golf blog since last August, and Vince was one of the first golf bloggers I made friends with. He was very supportive, always ready to debate, and always ready with a joke. We did a little emailing that never made it on the blogs — little things that just kept it personal between us, in a world where blogging is becoming more of a business. Those emails meant a lot.

I’m gonna miss Vince… big-time.

There are very few people on this internet who are worth remembering, and even fewer that are hard to forget. Vince is the latter. This is a huge shock. 61 is way too young.

Many condolences to the family.

Long and straight in a better place, Vince. You’re missed already.

This just has blown me away. I feel like I’ve lost a friend, even though we never met, he was one of the first people to comment on our blog and provided a sense of community that we were welcomed into.

Godspeed Vince.

I noticed the past few days that V hadn’t posted. I told myself I was going to email him tonight to make sure everything was okay, but now it’s too late.

V and I used to called each other BBF or BBB, for Best Blogging Friend, or Best Blogging Buddy. We tried to find our way through the golf blogosphere together.

He wrote so many great posts—including one that he lost. It was about “Soccer Day Syndrome” and how it that has hurt families playing golf together. I hope I can find a draft somewhere on my computer. It was so insightful. He had a true passion for junior golf along with golf history and STATS!

As V would say, “I’m speechless, I’m without speech.”

I find some peace knowing he believed in a life beyond our short time here on earth. Godspeed V, you will be greatly missed.

H

… a very special person can make in a relatively short time. I was hoping to meet One-Eyed eventually, at a tournament somewhere, or at one of the golf Tweet-ups we sometimes talked about arranging.

Beyond his fascination for stats and passion for golf history he brought a type of discreet wisdom to “golf blogging” that’s rare indeed… particularly these days.

From everything I gathered in the short time he was writing among us, Vince was a stellar husband and father as well and I extend my deepest sympathies to Matt and the Spence family.

I am stunned, saddened and nearly speechless.

Vince was a man who had wisdom, believed in the basics that made golf great: effort, honor and grace.

He was also a far better writer than he gave himself credit for. He could make you think, make you smile, make you laugh and most importantly, make you think. In a world where we rush from one thing to the next, his thinking tended to stay with you and made you reflect on it later. Those are rare skills.

A few months ago, I came across an online collection of old golf magazines from the turn of the 20th century. They were all Adobe Acrobat files, and with a little finagling, I was able to go “beneath” the web site that hosted them and grab all of the files for my records. I sent Vince an email of my find, and he was really excited about them, talking about what a wonderful find it was. Well, it was a treasure trove of golf history, and I made sure that Vince got each one of the copies. It was a pleasure for me, because I knew it gave Vince incredible thrills and pleasure to read about Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, C.B. McDonald and others’ exploits from the time they were happening.

Vince started posting them on his web site, but not without a lot of work to get the stories out of the original format into something he could post of his website. I know it took a lot of time and effort, and he told me that he enjoyed doing it because other people enjoyed reading the posts.

That was the kind of man Vince Spence was: someone who loved golf and loved sharing what he knew about golf and what the game meant and still means today.

He lived by the rules, and I would hope that the next time you think about tapping your ball into a better lie in the fairway that you demur and think about Vince a moment. If you leave it where it lay, he’s there with you in spirit.

I am sure his family and friends are devastated, and my thoughts and love goes to them.

Godspeed, Vince Spence, the world rarely sees your kind, and ye shall be missed greatly.

I enjoyed your writings here and your comments on the others, including mine.

I didn’t know Vince well, even by internet standards, but the reactions I’ve seen from people I respect tell me all I need to know.

Times like these certainly put life into perspective. Earlier this evening I found myself lamenting that I’ve not been playing well in my golf league when I should be more thankful that I’m simply able to play and enjoy the camaraderie. It’s important to live in the moment and to make the most of the relationships we have with people and to simply enjoy the things in life which give us pleasure.

Condolences to family and friends.

Vince really supported and encouraged me to write more. His encouragement kept me writing (although my blog posts are still sparse). For some reason I figured I would eventually get to meet up with him in person one day, like I have with some other Twitter golf buds. I am really sad that I will never get the opportunity to do that. Although I only knew Vince through blogging and Twitter and email, I know that he was a kind, encouraging person. My life is better for having known him.

My deepest condolences go out to the Spence family.

I’m sad about the passing of a guy I never met, but feel like I got to know him through his posts and comments. We had emailed each other a couple of times and he was very upbeat, positive and encouraging. In his last email he told my how much he enjoyed the “newbies” and that we brought a lot to the blog, which meant a lot to me.

I will miss his posts and his wit…..he never took himself too seriously.

My condolences to his family and his many many blogger friends.

Thank you, Ryan, for the initial post and to all those who followed with kind words and memories.

As my father’s health declined over the past 18 months and he was no longer able to maintain his standard of 4-5 rounds of golf per week, he put that same time and energy into his blog and interacting with so many of you in the golf blog community. It was something he truly enjoyed and I am glad all of you got to know him, even if it was just a glimpse into the great man that he was.

To say he will be missed is a massive understatement.

- Matt

I didn’t know him much, I was only debating with him the other week. Too young. Condolences to his friends and family.

I knew Vince as a charming, witty online friend. This is terrible news. Condolences to family and friends.

Nobody could turn a phrase quite like OEG, whether posting on his own blogs or commenting on ours. The golfy interwebs are signficantly diminished by his passing. R.I.P.

I always looked forward to comments from Vince here and around the golfoblogosphere—always straight-up, to the point, and thought-provoking, just like his blog posts. Thanks, Ryan, for letting us know a little bit about the man behind the monocle. RIP, Vince!

Although I’d never met Vince our correspondence through email was always fun and witty. He will be missed in the community. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

I send my sincere sympathies to all of Vince’s family and friends.

I enjoyed Vince’s blog and, especially, his posts about his home course, Rolling Road Country Club, which I played as a junior golfer. He sure loved golf, and I wish I had met him in person.

The outpouring of so many people who appreciated his participation and contributions to the online golf community is truly heartwarming.

Ryan, thank you for informing all of us.

from our community.

I have the OEG blog listed under my Favourites of course. Had to go over there (I’m not sure why) and there he is – my " WIND UP MERCHANT NONPAREIL". Oh Vince, I’ll miss you.

So sorry Matt. Wendy