This thread prompted me to review my copy of the Confidential Guide for the first time in a few years. By my count, I have played 187 of the courses that Tom rated in the book. For what it is worth, I am in general agreement with his rating on the overwhelming majority of those courses. In most cases where there is some disagreement, it is usually just by one rating point. Most of my significant disagreement (2 points +) is on courses that I think he has under-rated. They include: Pine Needles (5), Camden CC (4), Yeamans Hall (5), East Lake (5), and Mountain Lake (4). In each of these cases, significant work has been done since the book was published. In fact, Tom himself did the work at Yeamans Hall. Pine Needles was a 7 in my book even before the recent work.
I have never been among those asking Tom to update the book to reflect additional courses he has seen since it was published. Based on his busy schedule, I'm not sure there would be enough additions to justify the update. However, I think an update would be justified to reflect the changes (hopefully improvements) in many courses that deserve a higher rating. I've only mentioned a few. While he is at it he can upgrade Wannamoisett (7) and Fishers Island (7) and downgrade Pelican Hill (6).
Jim Lewis