John Feinstein's Tales from Q School

Here's a book, Tales from Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major, that's worth reading if you are a golf fan and a golfer. Finished it this morning. Saw a lot of golfers in the book who have made a splash here and there on the PGA. What the author does is follow a bunch of golfing aspirants through Q school. That school is a grueling three event (for some only one) test to claim exempt status in the Bigs. And that's important because in the Bigs you play in $5 million tournaments and get courtesy cars and free food and lots of television exposure and the chance to play with Tiger Woods (!) rather than $500000 tournaments as in the Nationwide Tour, or even further down the golfing pipeline. The year is 2005 but the author updates the whereabouts of his stars though 2007. I found it pretty easy to see how they all did in 2008 with espn's Money Leader Board. From the book link at amazon.com:

What makes this account so compelling is the way Feinstein drives home the point recreational golfers know all too well: golf is, above all, a humbling, even humiliating, game. Bill Ott

I would add that it is grand and rewarding and fun as well.