Decisions on the Rules of Golf, 2004-2005 [Paperback]

United States Golf Association (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2003

The biannual publication of the Rules of Golf Decisions book incorporating the every four year Rules change effective January 1, 2004. This publication makes any publication published before this obsolete.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The United States Golf Association decides on the Rules and Decisions changes for the United States and Mexico.

Product Details

• Paperback: 670 pages
• Publisher: Printing Consultants, Inc (December 2003)
• ISBN-10: 0971488169
• ISBN-13: 978-0971488168
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,155,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive -- and entertaining, at least for a rule book!, April 5, 2004

By 

stkevin "stkevin" (Minneapolis MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Decisions on the Rules of Golf, 2004-2005 (Paperback)

An extraordinarily informative and detailed book. The Book answers almost all the questions you might have about the application of the Rules. The Rules of golf often seem simple, but their application can be difficult. Additionally, some of the rules are quite arcane, verbose, and difficult to understand. Yet, Decisions on the Rules of Golf contains actual questions from actual players, and actual answers from the USGA -- over 600 pages of questions and answers! All of which are divided according to various rules and their subparts. A very helpful index makes it easy to find quickly any answer to any question you might have. Additionally, the book sets out each pertinent rule verbatim at the beginning of each chapter. All of the definitions needed to understand the Rules are set forth and all Rulings on what each definition means are included as well. The strangest thing about this book is not only that it is informative and detailed, but that it can also make quite entertaining reading. It doesn't take too long before you realize that the almost all of the questions concern actual events that actually happened to some unfortunate soul, along with the USGA rulings about what the correct application of the rule should have been in those circumstances. For example, Greg Norman was recently disqualified for hitting a provisional ball after he hit his drive into a water hazard, found his first ball playable when he got to the hazard, and then played his first ball -- all perfectly acceptable if a provisional ball were allowed to be played after hitting your ball into a water hazard. Reading the rule on hitting into a water hazards and the rule on playing a provisional ball (I don't have my Decisions on the Rules of Golf by my side when I'm writing this review, they are in my golf bag where they should be, so I can't tell you what the specific Rule numbers are), a normal person could eventually discern the fact that provisional balls can be played only in certain circumstances, and that those circumstances do not include water hazards. But rather than having to page back and forth between two or three different rules, you could simply have looked up this question in the index to the Decisions on the Rules of Golf, and found that it forms the basis for several questions and answers in the book. Let me give you another example. Let's say you're playing to an elevated green where you cannot see the green's surface, but you can see the flagstick. You hit to the flagstick only to discover when you climb to the green that some joker has taken the flagstick out of the hole and jammed it into the other side of the green 50 feet from the hole. Do you get relief? Read the book and find out. Many even stranger events form the basis of the questions and answers, along with the questions and answers to more common questions. I highly recommend this book, and although it is approximately an inch and a half thick, it fits easily into most golf bags. It ought to be a required possession of every clubhouse.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brand New Edition for 2004-2005, December 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Decisions on the Rules of Golf, 2004-2005 (Paperback)

A nice new size for this edition. Any older editions are obsolete. Many changes in the Rules of Golf for the Golfer to study. Don't buy any of the older editions listed as they are out of date and inaccurate.