Tales from Q School - Inside Golf's Fifth Major (Hardback) Just can't put it down!

Condition: New Hardcover

Synopsis:

Bestselling sports writer Feinstein tells the story of the one event in golf guaranteed to break hearts: the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

It is the tournament that separates champions from mortals. It is the starting point for the careers of future legends and can be the final stop on the down escalator for fading stars. The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament is one of the most grueling competitions in any sport. Every fall, veterans and talented hopefuls sweat through six rounds of hell at Q school, as the tournament is universally known, to get a shot at the PGA Tour, vying for the 30 slots available. The grim reality: If you don't make it through Q school, you're not on the PGA tour. You're out. And those who make it to the sixday finals are the lucky ones: hundreds more players fail to get through the equally grueling first two stages of the event. John Feinstein tells the story of the players who compete for these coveted positions in the 2005 Q school as only he can. With arresting accounts from the players, established winners, rising stars, the defeated, and the endlessly hopeful, America's favorite sportswriter unearths the inside story behind the PGA Tour's brutal all-ornothing competition.

Review: 

Cannot say enough about how dramatic this book is. It touches on all aspects of the human experience, not always nor exclusively pertaining to golf. The reader is sucked in by stores of the everyday Joe going for that elusive goal or dream, and doing whatever they feel is necessary to get there. And not with a very high success rate. Feinstein offers a very personal look at how the Tour operates, and how the golfers are put through one of the most arduous qualifying processes in major sports. After reading this book, I find myself paying much closer attention not only to the Nationwide Tour, but also to the not-so-famous names that pepper the leaderboard on the second and third days of any tournament. Woods, Singh, and Lefty are always around, but when you see that guy who ranks 124th, and has yet to win a Tourney, you can't help but rot for him, 'cuz this will very likely be his one time in the sun. And con't ever forget the battle cry of all golfers:

I hate golf, I hate golf, I hate golf; NICE SHOT!!! I love golf!