Mike,
I'll concede the groundbreaking point regarding The Confidential Guide, however, very simply put, a lot of the analysis is not very good or is rooted in a somewhat myopic view. The attempts at humor within are, at best, contrived and obviously designed to make the review stand out. He included Hershey East even though he could only drive around the perimeter, and then makes a non-too-subtle jab about the reason why he wasn't able to walk around.
You mention Sgt. Pepper, but really, that was the follow up to the real breakthrough album, Revolver. Tom has yet to publish a follow up of that calibre, but he did write Anatomy of a Golf Course which I feel is both superb and superior in content to The Confidential Guide. I would appreciate Tom's comment more if he were to follow up on some his initial thoughts in The Confidential Guide and provide some form of continuum as to why his opinions may have changed.
Since the Doak Scale is designed to be a regionally comparative scale, how can it work without a comprehensive understanding of what that region has to offer? If I'm driving two hours to play somewhere, I don't want to have to worry about the opportunity cost.
You'll have to excuse Ryan, however, with the relative success of his sports teams of late, and the fact that he around some of the most attractive Co-eds in the world out there at Arizona State, I think he's feeling a bit too big for his britches.