The "rating" comment is curious. I use it as a travel guide, and sometimes as an armchair travel guide. The text is the helpful bit.
But why is the book in such demand? Please no lectures on supply and demand -- why are people willing to pay such a premium? I can see a markup owing to its unique status as a global travel guide / trip planner -- if there's something comparable in quality and breadth, I have yet to find it -- but something else is going on here.
Is it this milquetoast "controversy" people keep bringing up?
Is it simply the collector mentality? (Insert argument that scarcity is its own value.)
Is it the ratings?
What?
There are a few things at play here I think, and please correct me if I'm wrong on any of the details.
1) The original book was not intended for mass production, but perhaps only for a handful of friends and associates. This adds a bit to the mystique factor, and the title helps with this as well.
2) The book doesn't have an equal that I'm aware of in terms of how many courses are reviewed combined with the "honesty" of the comments made. I for one want to puke when I read those "infomercial, flowerey, so called reviews" of golf courses. I suspect many others feel the same.
3) It did have limited printing, 12,000 copies i believe. I don't know how that stacks up against other books in its category, whether thats many or few.
4) Tom has only written 1 other book, and co-wrote another one, although Wikipedia credits The Making of Pacific Dunes. There is a scarcity in what he has put out and I think people respect his vast background on the subject and are interested in his thoughts on the subject.
With the current prices, I think there is a collector component to this as well. As to supply and demand, don't beleive for a second that if 10,000 more books were printed and hit the market that the price would stay where it is now. Supply and Demand is at play.
My two cents.