I have only glanced once at the original Confidential Guide, but never read it. I didn't have much of a basis for opinion going into receiving the current Confidential Guide in the mail. But I was certainly excited to receive it.
Here are my comments:
1. Maybe the summaries have been softened from the original, but I don't really see them as all that controversial, just honest (I'm about half way thru reading it). But I was surprised (based on what I've read here), as I was expecting much harsher criticisms.
2. This book has to be a dream for some of the lesser known courses. Seeing a Doak 5 or 6 with 2 or 3 very unique holes and awesome views will now jump up on my priority list for subsequent trips.
3. It's definitely not a picture book. You may need to set aside your ADD or desire for Golf porn and just focus a little harder on the reading. But the reading is very fun and hard to put down.
4. I really like the golf hole diagrams. The one of #4 at TOC really brought me back to a great memory of the hole, more so than pictures would have done
5. I would have liked to have seen a simple routing (lines only would have sufficed) for the Gourmet Choice section. I have seen many of the courses, but for the ones I haven't, comparing the summaries with the routing would have given the summaries much more context.
6. It's a sin I have not spent any time playing in England yet.
7. Love the maps with locations of the courses
Great work to all involved. I can't wait to read the entire set. Now I just need to figure out how and when to get to all these special places.
I am excited to take this first volume along with True Links by George Peper and plan some fantastic future trips.
Shane