New Confidential Guide

[Keith OHalloran]

John,
Since it opened, they have made alterations to the fescue, the bunkers and some bunker placement.  I don't know enough specifics to give you details, but you did not play the same course that opened years ago.

[Niall C]

Having recently purchased a CG as part of Tom's garage sale, what I found interesting in this earlier edition was what was omitted as opposed to what was included. Looking at the Scottish courses, I suspect that most of the non-Open courses were recommendations with a very obvious and heavy bias towards sea-side courses.

In any new edition I would like Tom to go off piste a bit more, looking at some inland courses. Two spring to mind up this neck of the woods, namely Elgin and Duff House Royal. Belleisle in Ayr also tends to get overlooked by many given the riches of links golf nearby. Specifically I think a tour of some of the courses round Glasgow and Edinburgh would be worthwhile. I'll leave the Edinburgh courses for someone else to suggest but in Glasgow, Cawder and East Renfrewshire are two Braid courses that are worth checking out while Bonnyton is a MacKenzie course that I can't help but believe is worth a visit even though I haven't seen it myself yet.

Niall

[Tom_Doak]

Niall:

I have never heard of Bonnyton ... is that the town?

[Phil McDade]

Interesting history of the Bonnyton club here; apparently the first Jewish club of Glasgow:

http://www.bonnytongolfclub.com/html/history1.htm

Good Duff House Royal picture thread here courtesy of the world's fastest golfer:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41428.0.html

Both courses attributed to Mackenzie. If you're in town for Duff House Royal, might be worth just a short jog down the road for the ultra-quirky Cullen: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,51605.0.html

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Whispering Pines
Banbougle Dunes
Lost Farms

[Josh Tarble]

Tom,

I just got a copy of the CG for Christmas and wanted to say that it's an excellent book.  I really enjoy your writing style as well.  I really enjoyed you including your own designs and would still like to see more of your newer included.

However,
You may need to be a bit more harsh on Torrey Pines.  That write-up made me laugh since it stated the cliffs were too high to get close enough for interest.  I believe Cape Kidnappers totally proved that statement false!

[Niall C]

Tom

Phil beat me to it. Moorland course on the south side of Glasgow near Eaglesham. I hesitated about mentioning Bonnyton as even though I was born and brought up less than 10 miles away, I've never seen the course. Given the nature of the club, the course has tended to fly under the radar but from what I gather the course has little done to it over the years and so in theory............ Tell you what, I'll do my homework and let you know.

Duff House Royal - I'm on much safer ground here. All about the greens. Two cracking double greens, a wonderful plateau green and the 18th green with its back slope is just a hoot. The other greens are "just" very good. This was the course that MacKenzie passed over the nearby Royal Tarlair to design. As Phil suggests, Cullen isn't far away and neither is Strathlene and Buckpool.

Niall

[Kevin Pallier]

Castle Stuart

Kauri Cliffs

Lost Farm

[Paul Gray]

From a purely personal perspective, The Surrey/Berkshire/Hampshire sandbelt courses, in light of the ongoing tree removal programs, could well be worth a visit. If in said area, Hayling could be worth a trip to the seaside for, but therein speaks my bias.

[Mark Steffey]

been reading my new book...

the torrey pines review (north-4, south-3) had me chuckling.

[Tom_Doak]

been reading my new book...

the torrey pines review (north-4, south-3) had me chuckling.

Mark:

That wasn't even very controversial at the time it was written.  Until they picked Torrey Pines to host the U.S. Open, I don't think anybody spoke seriously of it being a top-100 course.

[Jud_T]

Any new ideas for the Gazetteer?

[Tom_Doak]

Any new ideas for the Gazetteer?

I have not even thought about the Gazetteer yet.  That will be the hardest part to update, actually ... I've probably forgotten some holes or features of some courses that should make it into that section, over the 17 years since the last edition of the book.

I am starting to think about putting out the book in a series of 3-4 volumes, instead of all at once.  For a while, I was determined just to write about the courses that I rated 5 or higher, and leave the others out to minimize controversy, but I've found that affects the pacing of the book, and there is less variety to the lengths and content of the reviews.

One advantage of this approach would be that I could put out one region of the book sooner, instead of waiting until I'd caught up and seen ALL the courses I wanted to see around the world.

[Joey Chase]

Doing different regions in different volumes would be pretty good.  I am hoping there is more on continental Europe this time around.