content: Feinstein takes a different tack in The Open versus his previous golf books, A Good Walk Spoiled and The Majors. Instead of stories about the players on the tour, this story focuses on the people behind the transformation of the worn-out municipal golf course Bethpage Black into the great course that hosted the 2002 U.S. Open championship. I found I couldn't stop reading, as Feinstein's prose is once again funny, heartwarming, and flowing. My only critique is that I wished for more detail on Rees Jones' changes to A.G. Tillinghast's design, with illustrations. For a book about the transformation of the golf course, there isn't enough about the physical changes that were done. The book does a great job portraying the enormity of the project that was undertaken, so the satisfaction that is felt with the success of the championship seems to be well deserved.