Tales from Q School

Tales from Q School by John Feinstein

Category: Sports Grade: C+

Like a lot of non-golfers, Tiger has made me an avid golf spectator. Between that and my often reported belief that Feinstein is the best sports writer out there, I decided to pick up his latest, Tales from Q School. Q School is the shorthand name that golfers use to describe the three round qualifying tournament that gets golfers on to the PGA tour. You don't hear much about it unless you watch the Golf Channel in the late fall. This is because most of the golfers whose names are familiar are exempted out of the qualifying tournament for things like being one of the top money winners in the previous year. Tiger, for example, has never had to go to Q School.

That makes Q School one of the tensest events that a golf pro can enter. For most events on tour, whether the "big league" PGA tour or other circuits for less known players, if you don't do well, you typically just have to wait for the following weekend when another tournament will start fresh with everybody at even par. In Q School, though, if you have a bad weekend (or even a particularly bad day), you won't get another shot at the big time for a full year until the next Q School. I.e. this tournament (a series of three tournaments) determines whether a golfer can actually make a living playing golf for the upcoming year. Because of all the exemptions, Q School is populated mostly by either young players trying to break in to the sport or older players trying to hang on for one more year. All of this keeps the tension level high.

Feinstein uses his standard technique of embedding himself in the sport for the duration -- in this case three consecutive weekends -- and really getting to know the players involved. The book is all anecdotes and interviews. Most of the stories revolve around drives that find the rough or four foot putts that go an inch wide. These, in this book, typically cause the golfer to miss the cut by a stroke - missing the ability to make a living by the tiniest of margins.

Unfortunately, this is also what makes the book less than Feinstein's best work. While he gives a view to dozens of golfers (almost all of which you've never heard of), the stories get to the point where they all look alike. The book is highly repetitive and, ultimately, pretty boring. It's only worth picking up if you're a hardcore golf fan.