Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black [Hardcover]

John Feinstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2003

In June 2002, the US Open was played, for the first time in history, on a true public golf course. Bethpage State Park is owned by the state of New York, and no membership is required to play there. This is golf at its most populist, most pure - and most challenging. In what Tiger Woods himself would declare 'the most difficult national championship', Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Nick Faldo and the rest would, through days of rain and roughs, learn the hard way that while Bethpage may be open to the public, even for the pros the chance of winning can be closed off to mere mortals. The Bethpage course was so challenging that only one player finished under par; this was golf at its most intense. With unprecedented backstage access, John Feinstein finally removes the mystery shrouding golf's most famous event, unravelling how pairings are made; qualifiers; setting up the golf course; and all the complexities of bringing golf's most exclusive competition to a truly public setting. In fascinating detail, Feinstein takes readers through every step, every thorny hole, every bitter rivalry of one of golf's greatest tournaments.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Feinstein (A Good Walk Spoiled) chronicles the years spent renovating "chewed-up" Bethpage (N.Y.) Black for the first-ever U.S. Open held on a municipal course-and the biggest ever net profit, at $13 million. Many of the behind-the-scenes people he describes (such as former U.S.G.A. president David Fay), though colorful-and colorfully drawn-don't quite pull readers into the 2002 event. Feinstein swings for significance, too, complete with references to September 11, which seldom land near the flag of portent. But unlike his earlier golf bestseller, crossover appeal fades fast. His account is impeccably researched and written with you-are-there clarity, yet the buildup stretches over three-quarters of the text, leaving the best for last but not rewarding readers' patience. Successive chapters-"Countdown," "Last Rehearsal," "Final Preparations," "D-Day"-keep putting off the moment until late in the book when Feinstein writes, "It was time to start playing golf." The skirmishes over which network gets broadcast rights or how 42,000 spectators can be accommodated just don't excite the way a neck-and-neck round does. With so many anecdotes devoted to politics and economics, even devotees may skip ahead to the later chapters centering on Tiger Woods, as the narrative fails to generate much game of its own.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* It's almost inconceivable that the administrators of a large organization could ever be cast as heroes in the modern world, but that's exactly how best-selling sports reporter Feinstein portrays the employees of the United States Golf Association in this remarkably compelling portrait of how the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black came to be. What made Bethpage special was its humble status as a state-owned municipal golf course, the first ever to host a U.S. Open. The idea of playing the Open at the Black course, as it's called by the Long Islanders who arrive before dawn to stand in line for starting times, was the dream of USGA president David Fay. Feinstein tells the story from the points of view of those men and women who made Fay's dream a reality: Dave Catalano, manager of Bethpage Park, home to five golf courses, including the Black; Craig Currier, course superintendent at the Black, who managed the multimillion-dollar refurbishing necessary to make the course suitable for the Open; Tom Meeks, who ran the Open "inside the ropes"; and a cast of hundreds who did the advance work, handled security in the post-September 11 era, and oversaw thousands of other nitty-gritty tasks. Amazingly, Feinstein turns the day-to-day operations of the USGA into the stuff of high drama. It works because the Black was such a dramatic venue; never before had the Open been staged at the home course of the cops and the maintenance workers who labored at the site. And, yes, Tiger Woods--who grew up on public courses--won the Open, but the real winner was the course itself: only Tiger finished under par. Feinstein does the impossible here: he writes a blue-collar tearjerker about a purportedly blue-blood sport. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown; First Edition edition (May 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316170038
• ISBN-13: 978-0316170031
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Feinstein spent years on the staff at the Washington Post, as well as writing for Sports Illustrated and the National Sports Daily. He is a commentator on NPRs "Morning Edition," a regular on ESPNs "The Sports Reporters" and a visiting professor of journalism at Duke University.His first book, A Season on the Brink, is the bestselling sports book of all time. His first book for younger readers, Last Shot, was a bestseller.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Feinstein cold-tops one, July 10, 2003

By 

Crosstie Walker (Morgantown, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black (Hardcover)

Mostly rubbish - as a book and especially as a Feinstein book.

John Feinstein broke new ground with "A Season On The Brink" and successfully used the same formula with "The Majors" and "A Good Walk Spoiled" (although the former was a better book).

"The Open" is confirmation that Feinstein has completely adopted a paint-by-numbers approach. A typical paragraph/chapter follows:

...John Doe was a skilled high school/college golfer, eventually lowering his handicap to 3. He thought about joining the minitours or becoming a club/range pro but was offered a job with <insert corporation> out of the blue. Through mutual contacts, he met <insert USGA staffer> and acted as a <insert golf tournament job> at a local qualifier. He eventually worked his way up the USGA ladder and is now responsible for <insert title or duties> at the US Open and other national USGA events...

There are two big problems with this approach:

1) Feinstein tries his hardest to portray each person as unique, but this Mad Libs style of writing gets repetitive when applied to dozens of individuals.

2) It's a transparent attempt to humanize some of the stuffed shirts at the USGA. Unfortunately, some of them are beyond rehabilitation. Tom Meeks, in particular, comes off as even more arrogant and pigheaded (which is quite an accomplishment, in a way).

I don't know if it's an East Coast/Long Island/political thing, but there are far too many groups who demand some form of tribute before they will cooperate. Feinstein attempts to portray the local governments, police, and transportation officials as helpful but watchful; instead, they come off looking like the tinhorns they are. The Masters, the Memorial, any number of tournaments are carried off year after year with similar crowds and logistical problems, but those events are not treated like a moon shot. Our own wonderful Department of Energy (of the people, by the people, for the people...or something) causes problems by refusing to allow vans transporting the players to the 10th tee to drive on their precious service road. In short, the tournament was carried off in spite of all the 'help' the USGA received, not because of it.

I'm sure Feinstein stayed up late trying to think of a way to inject his buddies on tour, particularly Paul Goydos, into the storyline. As luck would have it, Goydos had the very first tee time of the Open, so we are treated to more incredibly boring coverage of this journeyman. This 'everyman' approach worked well in Feinstein's first golf book, but three volumes later it has been worn threadbare.

As others have stated, if you're looking for coverage/insight into the top names in golf, read the newspaper or GolfWorld. If you are dying to find out how Suzy Smith sets up her armada of cash registers in the merchandise tent, pick up a copy of "The Open."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bland, boring look at inconsequential aspects of the Open, July 8, 2003

By 

Tim Russell (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black (Hardcover)

The idea had promise, but Feinstein couldn't identify and develop the more interesting aspects of what goes on behind the scenes to stage a US Open. He reveals that Bethpage Black was always a great course, without giving any supporting reasons why. He goes into minute detail of meaningless stuff like the family histories of junior USGA staffers, yet totally fails to address the efforts or process of renovating the condition of a run-down muni course to US Open standards. He teases us with one anecdote describing USGA exec David Fay's practice of putting together US Open pairings with humorous threesomes such as "Jerk Groups", without naming who the "jerks" were.

About the only interesting thing I can say about this book is that, with Feinstein's history of treating almost every single human being in every one of his books as a saint, it is truly an indictment when he portrays someone in a negative light. In the past it was Bobby Knight (A Season On The Brink), in this book it is Tiger Woods, who he refers to as "soulless", callous, unforgiving, and like most of the other characters in this book, uninteresting.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable....but misleading, December 21, 2004

By 

Phil Carlucci (Valley Stream, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black (Hardcover)

I enjoyed the book, but it certainly occurred to me in the middle of reading it that a lot of people were going to be ticked off at how misleading the title is in relation to the actual direction of the book. As has been previously mentioned repeatedly, the book is more -- MUCH more -- about the behind-the-scenes personalities than the US Open golfers themselves. Feinstein's overall theme is that the US Open is more than a golf tournament, but it's a multi-year planning process with dozens and dozens of vital people playing important roles. The problem is that he spends a few hundred pages beating this idea over the head of the reader, while the reader wonders when the actual golf is going to start. You have to sift through a great deal of mini-bios -- and some not so "mini" -- on USGA and state characters before the Open tees off.

I must say that one of the main reasons I enjoyed the book was because I live 20 minutes from Bethpage Black and drive past the "Bethpage: Home of the 2002 US Open" water tower every day on my way to work -- so the geographical and course info, and other relevant stuff, caught my interest. Obviously I realize that this same info is meaningless and annoying to people not from the area, something Feinstein should have realized, and if he did, he apparently didnt care.

There certainly are a bunch of patches where the reader labors through incredibly unnecessary detail, but I thought most of it was made up for with SOME of the behind-the-scenes planning process, as well as the coverage of the Open Qualifiers. There is a lot of stuff here that is very interesting and entertaining, and you can learn a lot about what goes into putting on an Open. But if you simply want to read about the 2002 US Open's golf play and analysis, I wouldnt be surprised if you quit after 100-150 pages. The actual golf coverage takes up maybe the last 20% of the book, and its not all that fulfilling even when you reach it.

Simply put, the book is way too bogged down in details that have no business being in print. Outside of the families of said USGA officials, state politicians, etc., I dont know who would be the least bit interested in much of what Feinstein wrote. However, if you can stomach the rough patches and the misleading title and marketing -- and if things like network TV negotiations, traffic/parking issues, merchandise tent issues, local vs. state politics, etc. can hold your attention and intrigue you in any way -- I think you'll enjoy it. And you'll probably add a star if you're from the NY Tri-State Area.