The R&A has decided to cease publication of the R&A Golfer’s Handbook. There will be no 2015 edition.
The Handbook had been published every year since 1899 and in recent years has been edited by the distinguished golf journalist Renton Laidlaw, who announced his retirement at the end of last year.
The R&A Golfer’s Handbook was the ultimate reference guide to the world of golf, including comprehensive facts and figures for every aspect of the game. Featuring essential coverage of international golfing events, it included complete statistics for the previous year, major tournament results, an exhaustive who’s who, a directory of clubs and articles on the year’s major stories by top international golf writers who in 2014 included Mike Aitken, James Corrigan, Bill Elliot, John Hopkins, John Huggan, Derek Lawrenson, Lewine Mair, Peter Stone and Alistair Tait.
For the last two years the book has ben published by Octopus Publishing Group but Editorial Director, Trevor Davies, told GBN.com that his company did not renew the contract with the R&A for this year and he was ‘unaware of another publisher taking on the book’.
For many golfers The R&A Golfer’s Handbook has been a ‘collector’s item’ but it is now clear that in recent years the actual sales of the 1,000 page book were insufficient to cover the substantial publishing costs.
After such a publishing history one can be sure that The R&A will not have taken this decision lightly. Some of the information that would have been contained in the Handbook will be found on the website www.RandA.org
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