2018 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE DR. BOB RUBY
A GENTLEMAN OF RULES
He is too modest to talk about it, but Dr. Bob Ruby is one of the country’s
top rules officials. He’s also an accomplished player and competitor.
But that’s only a fraction of what he’s given to Connecticut golf.
B
ill Dober, Dr. Bob Ruby’s long-
time friend and golfing partner,
remembers the 2009 conversa-
tion still.
“I said, ‘You were going to take
that rules test. Did you take it?’
He said, ‘I did.’
I said, ‘Well, how did you do?’
And he said, ‘I did pretty well.’
‘Don’t give me pretty well,’ I said. ‘It’s
like a round of golf. I want a number.
What was your number?’
And he says, ‘I aced it.’
‘What do you mean you aced it?,’ I
said. ‘What was the number?’”
Finally, Dober got his answer. “‘I got a
100,’ he told me.”
It’s the first thing you hear about Dr.
Bob Ruby if you haven’t been playing
against him or met him officiating at
an event. He aced the rules test. But
you soon learn that this rare feat is only
one of the West Haven dentist’s many
achievements in 50 years of devotion to
the game—as a player, a volunteer, and
an official.
And chances are you will have to pry it
out of him.
He is, for example, one of the only
golfers ever to win the Connecticut
Father Son championship with both his
father, Robert J., Sr., and his son, Bren-
dan. And he did it 35 years apart—in
1976 and 2012.
He’s an accomplished player. From
the time he finished runner-up in the
Connecticut Junior Amateur in 1965 at
17 to the time, forty years later when he
and partner Dober finished second in the
Senior Division of the Anderson Four-
Ball at Winged Foot, losing in a playoff.
“That one still stings,” he says.
“He is a gentlemen and may strike you
www.csgalinks.org
Vol6_issue6.indd 15
as pretty mild-mannered,” says Dober.
“But Bob is incredibly competitive. I
can’t think of anybody who wants to win
more than him.” And win he has.
He owns 12 club championships
spread between four clubs including
Madison, where he’s also been Senior
Club Champion 10 times. He was a
semi-finalist in the 2001 Connecticut
Amateur—at the age of 53.
Ruby also captained the amateur side
of the Julius Boros Challenge Cup in exemplary experience. And he has done
this while being a wonderful husband,
father, brother and professional. I’m both
fortunate and proud to call Doctor Bob
‘friend.’”
With his wife Maureen, he has raised
four children—Brendan, Rob, Kelly and
Jyl—with the help of a successful dental
practice. He was, he says, speechless
when he heard of his induction into the
Connecticut Hall of Fame. “It’s in my
nature to give back and I have the sup-
2013 and 2014 as well as the state’s Tri-
State team in those years.
But it is in thousands of hours of giv-
ing back to the game, especially as a rules
volunteer at the state and national level,
that Bob Ruby has made an indelible
mark. An official for 18 years with the
CSGA, he has also been called to offici-
ate at five U.S. Open championships,
three U. S. Amateur championships,
11 U.S. Senior Open championships
and the Walker Cup. He sits on the
USGA Senior Amateur Championship
Committee. “Bob has given very unself-
ishly of himself to help make a game
he loves better,” says Jeff Hall, USGA
Managing Director of Rules and Open
Competitions “and across a variety of
championships, to provide players an Ruby (left) succeeded longtime playing
partner Bill Dober (right) as CSGA Team
Captain in 2013 and 2014.
port of my family to do that,” says Dr.
Bob. “I love this game, partly because
it’s so difficult, so fleeting. I’m deeply
honored.”
And then he reminds the caller that he
volunteered to help him prepare for an
upcoming rules test and will be sending
materials and a practice quiz.
“Learn the definitions. I’ll help you
through the rest,” says Dr. Bob.
Spend any time with Dr. Bob Ruby
and that’s what you learn. He is gener-
ous, he is compassionate, and he has aced
a lot more than that rules test.
CSGA Links / December 2018 | 15
12/19/18 4:25 PM