Thomas Bedell

As far as he knows, ASJA past-president Tom Bedell is also the only member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the North American Guild of Beer Writers. He claims the necessary research is killing him, yet seems to have no plans to stop, traveling the world (well, pre-COVID, anyway) to ferret out the best in golf and brews. He was a contributing editor for America’s Top Golf Courses, Sixth Edition (Zagat, 2010)

Before he began writing extensively about golf and golf travel, Tom had established his chops as a beer expert. A certified beer judge, Tom has won a variety of writing awards from the North American Guild of Beer Writers, and was a contributing editor to The Encyclopedia of Beer (Owl Books, 1997; Henry Holt, 1995). He continues to preside over beer tastings, formal and informal, at the merest request.

Tom began his writing life as a generalist, writing on anything and just about everything. Now over the 1,000 mark in total articles, interviews, essays, book and beer reviews, he has appeared in hundreds of outlets from Reader’s Digest to Billiards Digest, Men’s Health to Cosmopolitan. He has also published poetry in a variety of literary magazines.

Tom lives in southern Vermont, where plays out of the Brattleboro Country Club as mid-handicapper. He is a die-hard New York Mets fan.

A long-time member of ASJA, Tom served as president in 1989-1990, co-writing and editing The ASJA Handbook: A Writers’ Guide to Ethical and Economic Issues (American Society of Journalists and Authors, 1992), as well as contributing to Tools of the Writer’s Trade (HarperCollins, 1990), by the ASJA. He has won two ASJA article-writing awards. 

Tom has also contributed to or edited six other books: Magazine Career Directory (Gale Research, 1993, 1995); Men’s Health Advisor (Rodale Press, 1992; Stealing Home (HarperCollins, 1996) by Sharon Robinson; Handbook for the Heart (Little, Brown, 1996) by Richard Carlson and Benjamin Shield; An Artist Views New York (S‑P, 1988), by Gerald Sprayregen, and Play Art and Creativity (Bayer AG, 1986), by Ernst Lurker.

Tom has been a writing instructor since 1984 on university to local levels; he still nurtures hope that, one day, he can convey the correct usage of the semi-colon.