The Official Rules of Golf App Reviews

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AH-AL. Great tool for rules study. Only thing missing is an index as in the hardcover Decisions book. That would help!

No connection?. I am sitting in my office, next to my WiFi router and the app still states “no internet connection, try again” over and over. I have dumped it and reloaded and still cannot open this app. Useless.

Must Have. This app is a must have.

Need option to highlight. Love the app, but would really like the ability to highlight or underline key phrases.

Golf rules compact. Great app easy to navigate very nice for on the course quick reference

Peliman. Great interface with this app. Happy with it!

Not an app. Its a portal to the USGA website. So when you are out of cell service area it is useless. Get the PDF for free on the usga website and save it to ibooks.

Completely Useless. Tries to update with latest rules, but fails with the saying “Sorry, something went wrong.” Well USGA, sorry, your app is unusable.

Used to work. App used to work but now it crashes every time I open it

New rules. I’ve been a golf pro for over 40 years and feel like I know the rules of golf relatively well but since y’all re wrote them and made the changes, I can’t find many of the simplest rules of golf that have been changed or re written. I spend more time trying to find a rule for varification than if read the whole rules of golf. Mostly just venting but don’t understand why the rules are so confusing now and hard to find to show anyone proof of a rule. Johnny Dill , PGA Golf Professional

Need to have. If you play golf this has to be on your phone.

Super Useful. As a rules official this is my number one source while on the course. The new hyperlinks are extremely useful. Much improved search functionality. Wish list: ability to listen to the content while driving, especially the definitions. Second, PLEASE allow use for test. Haven’t used my books hardly at all this summer. Great resource.

Had no idea you had to side scroll. 🤦🏻‍♂️ It took me a year to realize you could side scroll. I found it by accident as there was no indication anywhere that the pages displayed that way. Nothing in the “How to use the App” section. I kept going back to the original index and then clicking on the section I wanted as opposed to just scrolling sideways from page to page. 🤦🏻‍♂️ And typical of the USGA and rules people, there are sections that say “for example” but doesn’t list everything. I think people are going to want to know what all those things are, so why not just list them?!?!! This is such a cumbersome and tedious App to navigate, just like the Rules of Golf are, even in printed form. But that is also typical of many American instruction manuals and basic language where things are muddled because it’s a very “general” type of language and not specific, and is written that way. Even the definitions of the playing areas are labelled as “general.”🙄

Works only on newest iPhones. I could not update the app on my iPhone or iPad--they're not new enough. This is the ONLY app I'm not able to update on my devices. So the new rules are available only to players who have new phones?

Won’t open. The app will no longer open up. I’m on the latest iOS 14.2.1 iPhone 12 Pro Max.

No Excuses. The USGA makes it easy and convenient to learn and use the RULES. No excuses now!!

Volunteer. Great tool. I volunteer with junior golf groups, and having the rules handy on my phone is extremely effective.

Great app.. I am a rules official for a PGA Section and frequently use this app because it lets yo move between references with a simple touch and then you can go back to where you were with another touch. I wish it also had a way to listen in audio.

Rules of golf for iPad. Great app highly recommend it

Great. Almost as needed as your clubs. Really helps out when a rules expert is wrong. A must have

Handy reference. Great app. User friendly after a little practice.

Tournament Play. Use this app multiple times while playing in Amateur Tournaments when in doubt of rules. Very easy to use. This way you have no dispute with other golfers in your group of any rule. LOVE IT

Rules of golf. The actual rules are nowhere to be found, much less the interpretations. Instead a seemingly random set of “situations” is addressed in no apparent order. Give me back the rule book and interpretations and get rid of this confusing mishmash.

Exactly what you expect. Search, easy to read etc. I'd recommend that the app allow you to see the proposed rules in a different section as opposed to finding that information elsewhere on the USGA site.

App won’t load. Tried to open the app multiple times and get the error that something went wrong and it will not load

Great app. I love this App. Very helpful and very easy to navigate.

I wish the text was larger. As most of us grow older our vision degrades and we need vision help. The iphone has heloed tremendously with the ability to enlarge the default text. I this app would utilize this capability. As a result the app is unusable for me.

Sooners Rules… Mar 13 Comments. If yo are having problems loading app, “Delete and download again “ per Sooners comments dated March 13. It worked for me. Note: I only gave 4 stars because I had to find out from Sooners!

Great app. Great app for rule enforcement and learning.

Love this app, but currently is will not open on my iPhone 13. What is the problem?. App will not open on my iPhone 13, what is the problem?

Error. It will no longer open on my iPad but works on my phone.

Review. Great tool to use. Very easy to use.

App does not open. Get the message “Sorry something went wrong” RETRY Been trying for a few days now.

Great app. The app is great. Easy access to the rules.

Perfect for a golf rules junkie like me.. Excellent app. Thanks for inventing this. Super easy to navigate from topic to topic. Searching is excellent. My favorite app!

Very easy to use!. This USGA’s Rules of Golf App is very complete and very simple to use. A must for any golfer!

App won’t open. Error message and won’t open

Exact match search makes it difficult. When searching for a rule having to to use exact match wording makes it very difficult for ‘non-rules’ golfers. A more robust search engine would really be helpful. Is truly like to use the app but too difficult.

App will not open. Used app a bit a while ago. Trying to use it now and I keep getting a “sorry try again later” message. Contacted support and they responded with a generic acknowledgement that I contacted them. Nothing more…

The rules of the game in your pocket. This is a great app to have on your phone. When your out on the course and you need a rule question you got them right here.

Solid app. Just updated, but failed to add iPhone X support.

The App requires an Index for the Decisions.. While, the publication of the Rules alone is pretty straightforward. In use, the Decisions often are needed. Having a cross-referenced Index for the Decisions would be extremely helpful. You've already done the work in the print edition. Please add it to the App.

Lousy search function. “Search” retries irrelevant topics often that fail to include key words. Try for example ‘casual water’.

App stopped working. I would have given it 5 stars for the way it used to work but now it gets 1 star because, although it was a great resource, the app has quit on me. Recently, when I try to open the app I get the message “Sorry, something went wrong. Retry” Frustrating! (Please help!)

Broke? Trash? Unusable.. Doesn’t even open. What kind of joke is this?

Rules are there to help. This is a great app! Very useful to find and decipher the rules. 👍

Great resource. Great resource when I needed Decisions Book. Easy to find what I needed and ability to share information. Thanks USGA!

No Sound. Why isn’t there any sound?

Highly Recommend. This app contains the full text of the USGA / R&A rules, organized to quickly access the rule for any situation on the course. Very handy and easy to use. I also recommend the optional companion "Decisions" module, which aids in the interpretation of the rules and how they are applied.

Delete then re-download. For those of you with crashing issues, delete the app and re-download. That worked for me

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App Won'tDownload. Unfortunately, this app, unlike the 2018 Rules of Golf app, will not download on my iPad. The icon appears, as if the app has fully downloaded. However, when I try to open it, all I get is a message noting "Downloading the latest Rules of Golf updates,".but nothing actually downloads. Oh yes, I receive another message saying that I have no internet connection, which is wrong, since I have a good connection, which was more than sufficient to fully download the 2018 Rules of Golf app.

Very good. Rule book and decision book very easy to use.

Use the book, not this app. This app is certainly a lot cheaper than buying "The Rules of Golf" or the companion "Decisions on the Rules of Golf"; however, it is immediately apparent that the books are more useful. This was a great idea that was poorly designed. There are two words that best described the search capabilities --- unbearable slow. You can look decisions up much faster with the book. As a person currently working on increasing the level of my rules certification, I was looking forward to have this with me on the golf cart on my iPad. I cannot see a reason why I will ever look at this app again. The USGA can do much better than this. If you are taking your rules education seriously, use the books.

App won’t open on iPad. The app will not open on iPad message say Sorry something went wrong try again. I tried to delete the app but I could only remove it from my Home Screen

Awesome app!. Get to the information really easily.

Great. I am an avid golfer and very interested in the Rules of Golf. This is excellent, exactly like the rule book. Easy to navigate. Don't know why this says by WinePhd, I am bazooka.

Enthusiast. Very easy to navigate, read and jump around on iPhone 6s

Comment on USGA Rules app. I’m an avid and committed golfer who regularly attends rules workshops and seminars. The RandA and USGA along with the JRC have it right!! Make the rules easier to understand and follow for every golfer. I look forward to the updated app in late 2018 or early 2019.

Rules of Golf. I like having the Rules and Decisions so readily available. The search feature is great. Hopefully we will have the same availability when the new 2019 versions come out.

Great. Cross referencing great. How the definitions, rules and decisions should be organized!

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USGA Rules of Golf. As an active Rules official I used to keep a copy of the Decisions book with me whenever I travelled. I now use the app and find the more I use it the easier it is to use. The addition of an index would be nice but the search feature works fairly well.

Paid 2x for the Decisions. Ok I finally caved and paid for the Decisions a second time. I had already bought the rules including the decisions before USGA removed the decisions, forcing me to pay twice or have only half the rules. "In equity," that's a rules violation. Sure, not much money but still.

The 99 cent gouge - - that doesn't even work! Come on USGA!. USGA: You'll win the battle - - but I guarantee you'll lose the war. Winning the battle: Yeah, I'll go ahead and pay the 99 cents "upgrade" fee you're charging for the 2012 to 2015 update - - I'll pay it, that is, as soon as you get the upgrade working through the App Store - - cause it doesn't work now. Losing the war: But the next time I renew my USGA Membership (IF I EVEN DECIDE TO RENEW MY USGA MEMBERSHIP NEXT TIME!), I'll be sure to go from the $50 "Champions Club" level to the $25 "Regular" level. Come on USGA - - you're above this kind of stuff, aren't you?

Use it often. I am an active Rules official and this app is on all my devices. If it only had a word search, it would be even better. It really needs the Decisions Index that the physical book has.

Great!! It's About Time.... This comprises the complete Rules of Golf & also the complete Decisions. Nobody carries around the Decisions, especially not on the course ... they are too big & too heavy. Now you can not only always have the Decisions readily available, but they are also linked to whatever specific Rule you are looking up. Couple that withe the search features and this is a must have for any serious golfer. Well done USGA!

All rules & decisions. Great way to access the rules and decisions. Would get 5 stars if the search function was improved to pull all relevant rules / decisions

Upgrade problem handled quickly. Like many others, my initial attempt to upgrade failed. A quick e-Mail to the USGA web site brought a fast response and the next day the issue was resolved and the upgrade went through as it should. Problems happen every day, but seldom do solutions get resolved that quickly. Kudos to the web masters.

Good app! Big Saving Problem!. This app is great to keep updated with the rules. It has links to similar rulings and the key words. Good to me. (Yes you get the rule book, but the decisions cost $$) Problem: The saved highlighted rules KEEP GETTING DELETED!! Multiple times I've saved rules to favorites, highlighted them, etc.... Over a year of using this app, I come back to show someone a rule and it's empty!! No update has fixed it yet. Keeps happening!!

Like it but can't update. I really like the app and bought it before the 2012 rules came out. Even though I'm supposed to be able to update it to 2012 for .99, I can't find a way to do it...tried itunes on my computer, update on my iphone4 but it just shows as already purchased the app.....grrrrr!

Awesome application. This is perfect. No need to carry with you the rules and decisions with you on course anymore. Nice jump links too. Very well done.

Really like USGA Rules/Decisions app. USGA Rules and Decisions on the Rules of Golf app is excellent. A great reference to have anywhere. Love being able to review rules/decisions while playing or traveling.

Well done. Easy to read. Decisions are well thought out. Updates are timely

Mediocre implementation of a good idea. It's inevitable that the USGA should have a Rules app, but this implementation is terrible. It violates most of the design rules Apple suggests for apps, like waking up where you last left it (you have to restart from the main index page every time), terrible navigation (no way to browse or "flip pages" as described in other reviews), terrible reproduction of illustrations (resolution worse than my iPod touch screen's resolution). Considering how sloppy this is, at $3.99 it's a terrible deal compared to the $1.00 printed version available from the USGA. The USGA, which is generally so meticulous with their own work, seems to have delegated this electronic version to a third party without the requisite expertise to pull it off. Pity.

Great app. Great app for rule enforcement and learning.

Scratch Amateur. Very pleased to have this on the same device as my GPS App. Flip through and save position would be a good addition. Well done USGA!

Good on iPhone, not so much on iPad. I like this app on my iPhone, but would really like it to be iPad compatible as well. I officiate tournaments and it would be much easier to use if it was a full iPad app!

Since it's not interactive, you might as well carry the book.. You can thumb through the paper version of the Rules of Golf faster than you can load the pages to your device. Give me a search feature, and I'd be interested.

Update works. I was able to update to the 2012 rules this morning. AWESOME! congrats on another fine product (and for getting the issue corrected so quickly)

Great app. Easy to use on both iPhone and iPad. Good resource on the Rules, and more convenient than stuffing the book in your pocket. Only improvement would be a more robust search function (use of "AND" and "OR" functions, etc.).

Rules of Golf is a great App!. The Rules of Golf is a great App. It's basically the mini rules book on an App. It really helps if you forget the book, or if you prefer the App version. It is easy to read and easy to navigate. I definitely recommend this App.

Highly Recommend. Great to have while on the course, or anywhere, should a rules question arise.

USGA Rules. This is the first review I have ever did. I am doing so because this App. deserves it. GREAT if you like golf and the Rules. Well worth it and glad I got it. Everything is linked together. Good job on thus USGA!

Rules Rule. Need a ruling. This app is the way to go. It even includes years of golfing decisions in the Decision portion for live incidents and scenarios relative to the rules. There are some links to videos demonstrating the application of some of the most breached rules to the USGA website. It is very easy to navigate and is updated as needed.

Why is the decision book still being used?. Whenever there is a dispute requiring a decision, the relative decision is found by the time the user of the decision book just found the index. It is hard to understand that the paper book is still being issued especially now there are more in between updates.

iPhone App. Almost useless in the sun on a golf course, where it's usually most needed. Hard to see, plus, when you search on an item, all you get is a listing of the applicable rule numbers. Then you have to open them one by one to find they aren't what you are looking for. If you have a rules issue and only this app, plan on adding 10 - 15 minutes to your round time! Not sure how someone here lightened their bag by 2 lbs. unless they were carrying a copy of the Decisions and a few beers to drink while they looked something up. I'll take the little rules booklet any day as it's where I usually wind up to find what I'm looking for after abandoning the app in frustration.

A Must for Every Golfer. The app is an excellent replacement for old rule books I used to carry. I no longer have to replace my rule book every time a rule is added or changed. The $1.99 for the decisions is very reasonable and a must for all serious golfers.

A Must Have!. Awesome Tool! Much faster and easier to use than the Decisions Book. The cross referencing is fantastic. Thank you, USGA.

Nice update. I was also having trouble getting the update, until I did a reset on my phone. After that it worked flawlessly. Although a free update would've been better since we already paid for the app once, thanks for the new version.

Update won't install. Continue to try to install the update and it will not work. The app is great but the transition to the new 2012 version is not smooth!

Great updates!. It took a day before I was able to get the new content but its working great now! Good to have this app back... One of my favorites!

Great app!. Not sure why it's so low rated. Must have had bugs but they seem worked out now.

5 star app for 3 star rules. The rules are like reading the Talmud. I'm glad a total revamp is underway. Until then, this is probably the best, most accessible collection of the rules and related decisions.

Super Nice. This is so great! Finally an app I'll use all the time! It's a pain to carry around the decisions and rules but not anymore! This app is so well thought out and super easy to use. Nice job USGA!

Handy but not dandy. It oftne won't load a rule when I'm going from page to page to find the correct ruling - really frustrating having to go to the book after starting with the app.

Won’t open. The app will no longer open up. I’m on the latest iOS 14.2.1 iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Golfer. I purchased this app some time ago. I tried to update the app for .99 cents and was unable to accomplish the update. I kinda feel stuck. It appears you cannot update the app until 2016 so decisions which are changed annually are not updated in the app. Kind of disappointing.

New version great!. A quick email to app support resulted in explanation of upgrade problem. As they suggested, trying again after short waiting period and my app upgraded just fine. New version works great...

Great app. Accidentally downloaded this but looks good for golfers out on the course wandering what the correct ruling is for all our balls in the hazard!

Top notch effort!. Generally, a very well-done app that very closely mimics the Rules book and Decisions. The jump-cites are excellent. One or two glitches to iron out: (1) several typos need better proofing (seems that the program doesn't like apostrophes); and (2) several of the jump-cites in "Principal Changes" take you to the wrong Decision. Overall, great app!

Works on my IPad 2!. Love the app and will use it on the course as well as at home. I downloaded the iPhone app on my iPad, and at first it was the size of an iPhone screen. Then I accidentally enlarged it by dragging a finger across the screen. Directions would have been nice, but I will never complain about a happy accident. Pass this info along to other IPad folks... You CAN use iPhone apps on the IPad. Thanks duhgolfer

Awesome. So happy it's an app now!!

old duffer. Would have been nice to see the section added on handicaps like the addendum sent out a couple or so years ago with my regular copy of the rules. Especially since I have misplaced that item.

I can't install this version!. I had a free upgrade to qualify for a discount for this new version. But there is no way i can download the new version because it says downloaded at the app icon. Please advise how can I get the new version. Thanks.

Perfect. I don't know why some people are complaning about this. This app is great. I like to take this game seriously and this is the perfect book to have right in your pocket.

Can no longer access Decisions even when purchased. The app has now been fixed to recognize if you previously purchased a license for the Decisions and allows access without purchasing again.

Fast - great for coaches. Keyword searching is best feature. Wish at times it was more inclusive or intuitive to scenarios. Altogether better than the old rule book. Love that the Decisions book is inside the same interface.

Easy to use. All the rules and decisions are here, and it is easy to find the appropriate ruling. (It helps to know a bit about how the rules are organized.) The search function is handy.

Fantastic app. This app takes a little getting used to at first, but once you get used to it you realize how versatile it is. To have the rules and the decisions of golf in your phone is fantastic. Playing a lot of tournament golf this app is a nice little study tool and a quick way to help resolve rulings. Well done USGA.

Handy reference with gaping flaw.... It is certainly handy to have on the course for quick reference to rules. The major problem I have is the inability to turn pages; you have to back to the index to go to any other section of the rules. This back and forth seems really unnecessary for something one should be able to flip through.

Late update!!. I wish the search both here (and the rule book were better designed). Sometimes it's just impossible unless you guess right, to find something.