Publisher Description

A GOOD WALK SPOILED is John Feinstein's acclaimed behind-the-scenes account of an unusually turbulent year in the punishingly competitive world of the US professional golf circuit. Beginning with the tense American victory at the Belfry in the 1993 Ryder Cup, Feinstein gives close-up insights of the players' minds and privates lives - including superstars like Nick Faldo, Tom Watson and Greg Norman - and captures the nonstop pressures of a sport with virtually no off-season, the intense competition to stay on the 'money list' and the psychological dangers inherent in a game where your true opponent is yourself.

Notes

Sportswriter, John Feinstein gives his account of a year on the PGA tour, providing close-up portraits of the sport's big names, and giving the reader an insight into the pressures and psychological wear-and-tear of professional golf. 16pp b/w illus.

Author Biography

John Feinstein has written for Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, Sporting News and is also an acclaimed author.

Review

The golf book of the season...his dissection of the pressures of life where the cost oe one fluffed shot can be counted in tens of thousands of dollars will provide a salutary check to the dreams of a legion of club golfers. - SUNDAY TELEGRAPHFeinstein is a brilliant reporter, a remorseless digger for information with a gift for establishing affinities with golfers reputedly reluctant to bare their souls ... There is an excellent profile of Tom Watson, which pumps blood into that enigmatic figure, and no better observation of Nick Faldo's obsession with the game has ever been written ... The professional golf circuit is now a manic, driven circus and Feinstein, without plunging into tabloid mire, has captured it in a sweeping canvas ... A stunning documentary on the modern professional game - Ian Wooldride in THE GUARDIANExcellent. - DAILY TELEGRAPHA sparkling account... If you only read one sports book a year, this is the one. - THE ECONOMISTWorthy of a place in the front rank of sports books ... So thorough that you can almost see the golfer's spike marks on each page - THE TIMESHighly recommended - SUNDAY TIMESFeinstein gets right inside the mindset, capturing the insularity, the comradeship and the little barbs of bitterness. The catty relationship between the superstars of golf and the workaday professionals who make up the supporting cast on the tour provided splendid material ... A wonderful portrait of a professional sport and a swathe of American society - IRISH TIMES

Promotional

William Hill Sports Book of the Year

Kirkus US Review

Best-selling sportswriter Feinstein (Running Mates, 1992, etc.) turns his attention to a new sport, golf, with this chronicle of a year on the men's pro tour. Golf is, by its very nature, a brutally winnowing game (as Tom Boswell once observed), a mental test as well as a physical one. At the professional level, as practiced on the PGA Tour, it is the last bastion of true athletic individualism; you win or lose because of your own efforts, with no teammates or coaches to blame. Moreover, in order to make any money at all on the pro tour, you have to play well. Unlike tennis, there are no appearance fees, and you have to survive the cut after two days of a tournament to collect a check. Therefore, there is a certain amount of inherent drama in the lives and games of the pros. Feinstein has chosen wisely in his subjects, a wide range of successful and not-so-successful players, from Davis Love III, who overcame memories of his father's death in a plane crash to score the decisive victory for the US in the Ryder Cup, to Paul Azinger fighting cancer. Some of the best moments in the book, however, are provided by lesser-known golfers like Brian Henninger and Paul Goydos, who are struggling just to stay on the Tour. Feinstein isn't the best prose stylist or the most poetic or humorous sportswriter in America; what he does better than anybody else is to make you understand the complex mix of psychology, group dynamics, and political pressures that make athletes tick. Although too much of the second half of the book turns into a monotonous replaying of individual rounds of golf, for the most part A Good Walk Spoiled (Twain's description of golf) is an insightful look at one of our best games. It's not A Season on the Brink, but even baseball stalwarts languishing for a sports fix might find this compulsively readable. (Kirkus Reviews)

Prizes

Winner of William Hill Sports Book of the Year 1995

Long Description

A GOOD WALK SPOILED is John Feinstein's acclaimed behind-the-scenes account of an unusually turbulent year in the punishingly competitive world of the US professional golf circuit. Beginning with the tense American victory at the Belfry in the 1993 Ryder Cup, Feinstein gives close-up insights of the players' minds and privates lives - including superstars like Nick Faldo, Tom Watson and Greg Norman - and captures the nonstop pressures of a sport with virtually no off-season, the intense competition to stay on the 'money list' and the psychological dangers inherent in a game where your true opponent is yourself.

Review Quote

Worthy of a place in the front rank of sports books ... So thorough that you can almost see the golfer's spike marks on each page

Promotional "Headline"

William Hill Sports Book of the Year

Details