Every foursome has a lawyer. No law degree required. This is the player who can explain, with astonishing confidence, why that ball crossed the water much farther up, why the first tee shot was only a warm-up, and why a putt that still requires a full backswing falls comfortably within the spirit of a gimme.
If you can’t think of that person in your group, your playing partners may have some news for you.
That familiar gap between the score we shot and the score we would prefer to discuss is fertile ground for Golf’s Ultimate Guide to Respectable Cheating, a new humor book by Mark Goldman, Ross Greenburg, and Michael Greenburg. Scheduled for release October 30, 2026, the illustrated, 100-page book takes aim at the excuses, rituals, and creative negotiations that follow golfers from the first tee to the clubhouse.
A Book for Your Entirely Innocent Playing Partners
The premise is immediately appealing to anyone who has watched a perfectly reasonable adult become an expert in situational fairness after losing a new golf ball.
Golf asks us to keep our own score, assess our own penalties, and admit what happened behind that tree. It also gives us four hours to become deeply invested in a number. Somewhere in that arrangement, the phrase “we’re just out here to have fun” acquires remarkable flexibility.
The book explores that culture through subjects including mulligans, creative drop locations, encounters with alligators and snakes, and the less-than-graceful business of losing your temper with a golf club. Dozens of humorous illustrations accompany the discussion.
Ross Greenburg puts the intended audience into perspective: “It’s the book golfers will insist is about everyone else in their foursome.”
The Mulligan Has Entered the Chat
Among the subjects highlighted is the mulligan, golf’s enduring attempt to establish that an event witnessed by three other people did not actually happen.
The book also ventures into the territory of drops and self-preservation. Florida golfers will recognize the practical appeal of keeping a healthy distance from anything with teeth, a rattle, or the ability to turn an ordinary Saturday into an emergency-room anecdote.
Then there is club slamming. Few sports offer quite so many opportunities to be furious with an object you selected, purchased, and swung entirely by yourself.
Those are the kinds of situations that make this concept fun. A bad swing lasts a second. The explanation can occupy the next three holes.
The Storytellers Behind the Scorecard
The authors bring substantial experience in entertainment and storytelling to their shared affection for golf.
Goldman is a veteran marketing executive. Ross Greenburg previously served as president of HBO Sports, while Michael Greenburg’s producing credits include MacGyver and Stargate SG-1. Their subject here is a little closer to the weekend tee sheet: the rivalries, rationalizations, and personalities that give an ordinary round its best stories.
You don’t need a single-digit handicap to appreciate that material. The corporate-scramble participant, the regular Saturday foursome, and the golfer whose most reliable shot is an explanation all have a place in this conversation.
A Gift with Just Enough Plausible Deniability
The October 30 launch puts the book on the radar ahead of holiday shopping, and the title practically handles the gift tag for you. Give it to the friend who measures gimmes in driver lengths. Wrap it for the member-guest partner who considers a breakfast ball an essential food group. Or buy it for yourself and leave it somewhere conspicuous before the next trip.
The attraction is the recognition. Most of us have enough instruction books telling us how to become better golfers. A little room on the shelf for laughing at our golfing habits seems reasonable.
Find the book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers for the October 30 release. You can also view the book’s Kobo listing for digital-edition information.
The Final Score
Golf’s Ultimate Guide to Respectable Cheating arrives with a premise that feels built for the post-round table: take the little absurdities everyone recognizes and give golfers a reason to laugh about them.
For Golf Aficionado readers looking for a conversation starter, a playful gift, or something to bring along on the next golf trip, this is one to put on the list.
Just don’t expect it to settle the argument about your buddy’s drop. He has already prepared his appeal.