I just received my copy last night and stayed up WAY too late looking through it.
I would recommend this book very highly for anyone with even a passing interest in historical golf course research. Daniel outdoes himself here, and proves himself the "Indiana Jones" of golf course archeological research, as well as providing well-reasoned subjective opinions on the historical significance of most of the courses presented.
I thought the Quaker Ridge and San Francisco essays on lost holes were brilliant, and it's scary to think of how good those courses must have been at one time. I also now need to go find the site of the original 13th green at Merion, as it looked to be a whale of a par three...thankfully, my staff bought me a gift certificate to the proshop there for Christmas, so I actually have a legitimate reason to be there this time...other than my amoebically-stricken dog continually wandering onto the property.
Daniel; just an aside is the present Gene Bates course at Boca Raton on the site of the original North or South course?? I played there two summers ago, and will be at the resort again in June of this year on business, so I'd like to do a little digging myself.
Thanks, Daniel, for this wonderfully researched and well-written treat!