Tales From Q School

I've written a little bit in this space about how much I like John Feinstein; the last book of his that I read and reviewed was Next Man Up, his volume about the Baltimore Ravens' 2004 season.

In that review, I wrote:

The writing is typical Feinstein. He's a great sportswriter, which means that the prose tends to be a bit purple sometimes. If you've read any of his superlative golf books, you know what I mean and you know that, at least the way Feinstein does it, it's extremely gripping. Feinstein, for me, has two unique gifts: first, he can make the boring seem exciting; and second, he just has a way of making you say "Man, I want to do that!"

I just finished reading Feinstein's "Tales From Q School", and while I would still recommend it--as I do all of his books--it's a little bit of a letdown. I love reading Feinstein's books for the drama and the tension, and there's very little of it here. Only towards the end, where Bill Haas needs a birdie on the last hole at the Q School finals, do we get the trademark Feinstein verve and energy, that "Holy crap!" moment.

Still, Feinstein makes a person say "I want to do that!" While it wasn't as strong as it was after, say, "A Good Walk Spoiled," I still got the feeling that I wanted to go buy a set of clubs and head out on the Tour.

Even if you don't like golf, or sports in general, you could do a lot worse than to read this book.