The Majors: In Pursuit of Golf's Holy Grail

by John Feinstein

WHAT DOES IT TAKE to win a major championship and reach the absolute pinnacle of golf? Through a season of the four tournaments -- the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship -- known collectively as the majors, John Feinstein takes us where the television cameras never go, both off the links and "inside the ropes", as he reveals the special challenges and rituals, the frustrations and exhilaration, that mark the lives and careers of the world's greatest golfers.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, History

480 pages, Hardcover

First published April 6, 1999

About the author

John Feinstein was an American sportswriter, author, and sports commentator.

Reviews

[John Chidley-Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're not a hardcore golf fan -- really, not just into the sport but into its history -- this book is not for you.

However, I'm a golf reporter and, from a writer's perspective, it was fascinating. Not necessarily the stories, but the decisions Feinstein made as a writer. The players he decided to highlight, which tournaments he decided to emphasize. The level of access he got for this book was jaw dropping and I have to many questions about his process. As a sportswriting geek, there were a lot of lessons contained in The Majors.

[Wayne Jordaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and enjoyable book on the four major Golf tournaments played during 1998, and the drama accompanying winning and losing. Feinstein does not only focus on the sporting ability of the players but brings an intimacy to the book by bringing the personal lives of the players to readers' attentions, and the impact of this on the performances on the course.

Funniest story for me is one that does not even cover the Majors, but focus on an event prior to the 1999 Ryder Cup, a biennial team tournament between Europe and the USA. The USA captain, Ben Crenshaw, brought in then Texas governor, George W. Bush, to give his team a team-talk. The latter read a poem about the Alamo as part of the pep talk. In the words of the author: "Whether he or anyone else bothered to note that the Americans lost at the Alamo and everyone died, no one knows for sure." Before you start snickering , the USA managed to snatch a dramatic come from behind win.

The book is also an illustration of how serious social issues can disappear beneath the prestige and drama of major sporting events. I live in the Southern Cape region of South Africa also known as the Garden Route, where tourism is an important contributor to the local economy. Golf courses form an integral ingredientof the package used to lure the tourism buck and the Southern Cape Golf Union has 26 golf clubs affiliated to it. The size of land required to establish 26 courses and the attendant water demands to maintain postcard pretty greens however brings it in direct opposition to the demand for low-cost housing from the poor sections of local communities. The housing demand from the more affluent is partly met, in my opinion, through the establishment of housing estates on courses.

I have to confess that I have also acquired a set of clubs in a drive towards personal fitness and health, and have to confront the contradiction of enjoying hitting a little white ball (not yet in my case) with the just demands of my community. A further confession is that I enjoyed Feinstein's commentary on 1998's spills and thrills in the Majors.

[Spencer Levin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was tremendous. John Feinstein writes about golf's elusive four majors: Masters, US open, British Open, and PGA Championship. He shows the great moments of winning one of these tournaments and also the great hardships of being defeated in one. He writes this book during the 1999 PGA Tour season. Feinstein tells us all about many golfers great golf game but also gives us a detailed look into their personal life as well. He ties it together very nicely to make a great piece of literature. You get to take a deep look into lives of players such as; Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, and Fred Couples. He also gives you an in depth look at each course and some of their rich History. My favorite part of the whole book though is when he gives us the look at players who have made golf there whole life but are looking for their first win to leap them to becoming somebody's not nobody's. Tying all of these aspects of the book together it makes for a really good read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not quite as good as A Good Walk Spoiled, but this book allows Feinstein to revisit some of those characters (Fred Couples, John Daly, et al.) while discussing new ones (Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, David Duval, et al.) in the context of the golf's four big tent-pole events. Roughly 40% of the book is devoted to the Masters - it's the Masters or bust for Duke U alum/honorary Southerner Feinstein - which is good because it's the year fortysomething Mark O'Meara, previously better known as Woods' gray-haired buddy, broke through to win that major as well as the British Open while contending pretty much everywhere. If nothing else, O'Meara ought to be paying royalties to Feinstein for chronicling his "annus mirabilis" in such detail. Feinstein also excels at portraits of less well-known golfers, such as Steve Stricker and Scott McCarron (who became a pretty big money winner on the senior tour over the past few years), though it's a shame he didn't hop on the Vijay Singh train until the end of the book (in part because Singh won the PGA Championship, the last and least interesting of the big four); I'd have enjoyed a more detailed treatment, but there's at least something there.

Feinstein is fairly by the numbers - he never probes too deep or hits too hard - but he gets a ton on the record, and his books are always at least decent. Ever since I read "A March to Madness" as a teen, this kind of long-form reportage, constructed from hours upon hours of quotes, was the higher-quality junk food content I craved (and the content I create, both in my day job and in my various freelance gigs). Yes, I have stacks of other books I should be reading, books by real heavy hitters, but I'm sure I'll again set that stuff aside to read Feinstein's book on the women's tennis tour, his book about life in the minor leagues, his Army/Navy book (how have I not read that?), his look at the '92 baseball season, etc. The man's sold tons of books but I'd actually say he's somewhat underrated. He's no Halberstam or Krakauer, but he does the work.

[Russ Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who enjoys golf's four major tournament broadcasts year to year but has never attended in person, this book got me inside the ropes. I enjoyed his treatment of various golfers on the leader-board, not just the ones who won the the trophies (and the cash) in 1998. I am old enough to remember cheering for them twenty-three years ago. I could feel the tension in each golfer who played his heart out and in those who ran the tournaments. I was surprised and pleased to read the name of a doctor friend who served as a rules official for the USGA at the time and who helped set up the hole locations at the Olympic Club where the US Open was held.

The only downside to the book were where Feinstein repeated anecdotes and commentary from other golf books he has written. I just fast fowarded over those paragraphs and got on to the fresh material.

Interestingly enough, after I finished the book I played nine holes with my son and felt I was hitting the ball better than usual. Maybe positive visualization does work! Thank you John Feinstein.

[Howard Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book describing the 4 Major golf tournaments of 1998 in detail. If you don’t know what the majors are you would probably not have much interest in this book. Feinstein is regarded as probably the pre-eminent golf writer. He does provide the detail in the actual competitions but of course the joy of this book is in the stories of the competitors, how they met or didn’t meet the challenge. Very enjoyable read for the golf enthusiast

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fine book, and was well written. Unfortunately it was really the history of majors and major winners that I thought it would be. Feinstein pick a couple tournaments and players from each major to focus on, usually these aren’t the star players or most memorable majors. It was a solid book, just wasn’t what I was expecting to read.

[Kevin Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for golf fans

Even 20 years later, the stories of this remarkable season still resonate. It's great to get an inside look at these big time golf tournaments. Loved the insight.

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rescued from somewhere, probably the town transfer station stuff trailer. Being a TV golf fan has been a somewhat guilty pleasure for me over the years. That's pretty much over now, but I'm still enjoying reading this. I've heard Feinstein interviewed on sports talk radio a number of times, but this is the first book of his for me. There is a family legacy of golf-ness going back to my father and my step-mother. He was not-bad weekend golfer in and around Worcester, Mass. in the second half of the 1950-60's. Patti(my father's second wife)was a serious competitive golfer in the state of Massachusetts during the same time period and later. I played my last round in Boulder in the late 70's(early 80's?). I was a year behind Hale Irwin at Casey Jr. High in Boulder. He won the U.S. Open three times. Pretty good! Almost won a fourth after those three, but Fuzzy Zoeller did him in on the final day. Psyched him out, I think.

Finished up last night with this enjoyable book. It might be a bit much for a non-golf fan as it's packed with details and anecdotes relating to the 1998 season. Excellent reading for a fan of pro golf history.

[Christa (haines) Sheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a fantastic writing style. I love reading Feinstein's sports books. He gets close to the major players and draws in the audience so well with such great stories.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Great story telling that gives the reader a behind the scenes sense of the importance of the majors. My favorite feinstein book so far.

[Jay Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was definitely an interesting book. I would say it's all about the golfers, and true to John Feinstein, he mentions a LOT of names. He likes to interview people and tell their stories.

[David Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’ve been following the golf majors your whole life then read this.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason although I can never watch golf on television I do love reading about it. I can't explain that. Maybe it's because John Feinstein is such a great writer.
In this book (the 19th I've read by him, more than anyone. They are always in the bargain section what can I say)Feinstein details the four major golf events during the 1998 year-- the Masters, U.S. Open, the Open and the PGA Championship.
This book really took me back to 1998 and it was great reading about David Duval, Tiger Woods, Mark O' Meara, Fred Couples, John Daly, VJ Singh, Justin Rose (who won the U.S. Open this year while I was reading this but was just a rookie then), Casey Martin, Lee Janzen, Tom Watson, and of course the late Payne Stewart. Stewart, who was the guy that wore the cool socks while golfing, died just a short time after this. I actually remember being on my S.F. Orientation when that happened. Or was that JFK Jr? Sometime in 99.
Anyway it was also great to read about the U.S. Open that took place that year at the Olympic Club, which is right across the street from the dorms at SF State. I've actually played that course with Sean McBride and Ed Robinson. Well at least the first four holes anyway.
This book is very detailed, sometimes too detailed and the fact is this is a book about golf so I can't get too excited about it. I was going to give it a 3, but the reporting and research are so good I thought I'd go with a four. Much better than the last book by Feinstein I read, Tales from Q School. This book was basically the natural follow up to A Good Walk Spoiled. If you liked that book and like golf, you'll like The Majors.

[Willie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone asked me what made 1998 so special that John Feinstein wrote a book covering golf's four major championships of that year. The truth of it is, he picked 1998 before the Masters began that year. He follows each major through the qualifying process, the tournament preparations, and then through the action. He has interviews and quotes from dudes trying to qualify for the US Open who shoot 85 in the local qualifiers. In other words, guys you never hear about when the US Open rolls around.

I always wondered if the guys who win the Open Championship actually get to keep a trophy after they give the real Claret Jug back. He answers that, and I never would have guessed how all that works. This book was fabulous. All the stuff that nobody really knows about regarding the majors...plus the stuff they do know.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good read for anyone who really likes golf. Captures what makes each major special, and in true golf book fashion, tells every player's story in the process. Esecially enjoyed reading about Stricker, Couples, Furyk, Payne Stewart, Daly and O'Meara. Feistein really doesn't like Tiger, though, probably because he didn't seem to help out with the book. If yo're a golf freak like me, Feinstein's profiles on guys like David Duval and Dudley Hart are just gravy on top.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Majors: In Pursuit of Golf's Holy Grail by John Feinstein (Little, Brown & Co. 1999) (796.352). John Feinstein brings his sportswriting skills and his golf connections to get this behind-the-scenes look at professional golf's four most prestigious tournaments. My rating: 7/10, finished 2010.

[Kevin Dolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read even two decades after the fact.

I watched the 1998 majors, and the ones he describes in the epilogue from the following year. This book helped relive those days and added several layers of detail and insight.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty in depth look at those tournaments in professional golf that are considered major championships.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love a feinstein golf book...this is probably one of his top 3

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed account of the four major gold tournaments in 1988. In addition to good descriptions of the golf, there is significant information about the personal lives of the contenders.

[Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward and fascinating account of what golf's Majors mean to touring pros.

[Eblong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best golf book I've ever read.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read about golf and its people, though more golf than I really needed.

[Phil Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about the tourneys that matter most to the pros.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great golf book

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, if you like golf. The coverage of the Major tournaments and the profiles of many of the great and not so great golfers is really good. John Feinstein has written an awesome book.

[Lavada · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about golf which I don't play. I loved the stories of the golfers and their lives as well as the information about the golf courses but did not like the blow by blow coverage of the games.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great golf book about the grandaddy of all tournaments.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read on all 4 majors in 1998 season