The Majors

March 29, 1999
With this exemplary book, Feinstein continues to exploit a formula that has worked well for him in chronicling sports subjects from college basketball (A March to Madness) to the PGA Tour (A Good Walk Spoiled): spend a year with a subject and use the experience as a way not only to tell a good story but also to illuminate the greater culture surrounding the sport. Returning to golf, Feinstein tackles the sport's four major championships: the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA, as they were played in 1998. He displays a singular skill in conveying what these preeminent tournaments mean to those who contest them, and in highlighting the sometimes deeply personal struggles of people so often seen only on the grand public stage. Feinstein attributes the majors' rise in stature over the past four decades to the rivalry between Arnold Palmer, golf's first television superstar, and the younger Jack Nicklaus. From their numerous memorable duels grew the obsessive culture of today, in which unquestionably great players are forever tainted if they fail to win one of the big four. Feinstein also covers the tournaments' stewards, rigorous qualifying requisites and hallowed traditions. While stopping short of significant controversy, he looks candidly at such subjects as golf's struggle to shed its white-bread image and the attempt to deny Casey Martin, a handicapped albeit skillful golfer, the right to use a cart on tour while other players are denied that luxury. Comprehensive and immensely enjoyable, Feinstein's latest will provide veteran golfers an appreciation of how the sport is played at its most exalted level, while giving even those whose only putts have come on AstroTurf an understanding of what all the fuss is about.

December 1, 1998
A top-selling sports author on the four major golf tournaments.

March 1, 1999
Most golf fans consider Feinstein's "A Good Walk Spoiled" (1995) to be near the pinnacle of golf literature. So what's he doing writing another golf book, and one that looks very much like its predecessor? "Good Walk" followed the PGA tour for one year, showing us both the inner and outer lives of the competitors as they marched from one tournament to another. This time Feinstein uses the same structure but confines his examination to the sport's four major tournaments: the Masters, the U.S. and British Opens, and the PGA Championship. Yes, the two books are alike, but golf fans won't care, both because the major tournaments really didn't get their due in the first book and because Feinstein once again displays his rare ability to drill down beneath the pars and birdies to reveal not only the personalities of the players but also the essence of an infinitely complex game. Each of the four sections of the book looks in depth at one of the 1998 majors, but the treatment only begins with that year's competition, as Feinstein layers in tournament history, background on the contending players, and analysis of the tournament's place in the game. Golf fans will be familiar with many of the issues--the lure of the green jacket; why the PGA doesn't get more respect--but Feinstein consistently adds texture to what we think we know about the game and its players. For the legions of golfers who schedule their spring and summer activities so as not to conflict with watching the majors, this is certain to be a much-treasured book. ((Reviewed March 1, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)