'The Golden Rules of Golf' by Dr. Bob Spears

By: Bob Spiwak


I have no idea from whence came "The Golden Rules of Golf." I plan to donate it to the library. It is a book by Dr. Bob Spears, a dentist somewhere. It's about the size of USGA's "The Rules of Golf" and sells for $8.95. It seems to be a self-published tome, calling itself "A Guide to Golf Etiquette."

The idea is wonderful, the execution rather poor. There are typos throughout in the pages I skimmed, having given up any intention of reading it all the way through. There is also some questionable use of the English language, and if golf etiquette were a dead horse this book would be beating it. It is written in what the author must have thought was a humorous vein; I found it closer to the jugular.

If it finds a home in the library it will make a decent reference for totally novice beginning golfers. I realize that sentence is redundant. That is to emphasize it will be a true value only to one who is contemplating taking up the game, or has been chased off the course during or after his/her very first round.

"The Golden Rules of Golf" by Dr. Bob Spears, Integrity Golf Press, 1993, 105 pages, $8.95 (no ISBN).

Bob Spiwak took up golf in 1953 as a respite from the rigors of selling bibles door-to-door in North Dakota. Though suffering a four-year lapse, he's back to being a fanatical golfer. Now a contributing editor for Cybergolf, Spiwak has written articles for almost every golf magazine in the Western world. Bob's most treasured golf antiquity is a nod he got from Gerald Ford at the 1990 Golf Summit. Spiwak lives in Mazama, Wash., with his wife and several pets next to his fabled ultraprivate Whispering Rattlesnakes Golf & Flubbers Club.