Based on Feinstein's occasional reporting on public radio, I hoped A Good Walk Spoiled would provide a weightier sense of the game. Not so much the athletic aspects as its place in culture, perhaps even how golf's influence varies between peoples and across eras. Feinstein usually brought that perspective to his radio stories, and his commentary interested me despite typically not having a particular interest in the sport he was reporting on.

A ready window into cultural influence of any activity is the argot, of course: expressions used by fans and players, the gold standard being when a phrase enters common language and is regularly used by speakers unaware of its origins. Nautical terminology a classic example, especially in English (even the American variety). Feinstein shared a good many phrases, but there weren't many that I recognized from everyday speech. Still, it's interesting to come across idiomatic expressions like "fire at the flag" or "Sunday player", or even "a Watson par", and wonder whether I'll recall the meaning next time I overhear it.

The format certainly allowed for a detailed understanding of both a tournament or even a day's round, while also putting these into the context of a professional golfer's year. Much of the detail escapes me now, so many names and events were unfamiliar at the time I read it and didn't become familiar from the book.

A fundamental picture of the game was its manifestation in the PGA Tour (four Majors and myriad minor tournaments); and the distinct species of professional golfer surrounding it (touring pro and club pro). Club pros teach golf as a vocation, but do not usually earn money playing the game. I realise now I was misunderstanding when someone referred to a "golf pro", thinking it was someone on the Tour. It could have been, but more likely they meant the club pro at their Country Club. Likewise, it was unexpected but not wholly surprising to learn that -- like popular musicians -- there are far, far more professional golfers who eke out a living than there are familiar household names who make it as "stars" and pull down big money. And few of those big names, it would seem, are club pros.

Perhaps the clearest insight the book provided was golf's business model, dominated by the PGA Tour. The televised shows are full of commercials for themselves (that is, for the PGA Tour, and the course featured that day) because sponsors pay for the broadcast, and the ads are then used to feature the business bringing viewers (and players) the game itself -- not the sponsors, but the Tour. Utterly at odds with other sports, especially in the U.S., where ad revenue is what pays the broadcasters, and so the leagues, and the ads focus on sponsors rather than the game. That said, I see no evidence this approach makes the PGA any less beholden to its sponsors than business models followed by any other league.

"Each major has a different tradition that in some way waters down its field [of competitive players]. But those traditions are also part of their charm." [422] Notably, one of those traditions was on display at Shoal Creek in 1990, when the Birmingham (Alabama) club founder & president remarked that black players wouldn't be welcome as members, as "that's just not done in Birmingham."

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Four Majors of PGA Tour
1 - Masters: always at Augusta, in Spring; staid & proper (run by MASTERS)
2 - British Open: rotates (10 courses?), in May (run by BGA)
3 - US Open: rotates (multiple courses, several are "repeats"), in Summer and brutal - fast greens, high rough, pins in extremely difficult locations (run by USGA)
4 - PGA Tournament: rotates, mid-August (run by PGA) ( )

John Feinstein captures the world of professional golf as it has never been captured before. Traveling with the golfers on the PGA Tour, he gets inside the heads of the games greatest players as well as its struggling wannabes. IN golf, Feinstein eloquently relates, the line that separates triumph from disappointment is incredibly fine. "One week you've discovered the secret of the game; the next week you never want to play it again." ( )

This is the 1st book I've ever read that made golf interesting and made me consider taking it up. It chronicles the almost soap opera events in a year of the US PGA tour.
It is brilliantly written and made me seek out other works from the author . ( )

One of the best books about the PGA tour. Even if you are not a fan this is a good read. ( )

I loved the golf commentary, especially when Feinstein covered the majors, Q-school, and the Ryder Cup. The book drags quite a bit otherwise. I lost interest in a lot of the "off the course" stuff. This almost seemed like two different books, one fascinating and one dull. ( )