I just got my first copy last night....
Lovely book - Well done Tom, Ran et al....
In general, it is refreshing to hear the concise and critical write-ups and all things equal, it is hard to really find fault with any of them.... But I will comment on the two of the courses closest to my heart: Carne & Portmarnock.
1. The Carne write-up was along the lines I expected and therefore I can have no quibbles with it (apart from a minor one with the misspelling of my name - but when you have a name like Alasdair McIntosh, there is a lot of room for error so all is forgiven). I'm glad to see that Tom found "3 or 4 holes" on the new nine that he really liked. And indeed there are a couple of "ski-slope fairways", the 3rd taking you down the hill and the 6th taking you back up, although the former is quite a strategic wee two-shotter once you play it. 2014 has been spent making big changes to the 12th hole on the Hackett course - described amusingly as a "silly 90 degree dogleg around a dune" - so as to soften the turn and also the green which has been lengthened from 19m to 38m. I look forward to Darius, Masa and Ran visiting again in the future.
2. I have to say I was a little disappointed to see Portmarnock drop from an 8 (previous edition) to a 7, especially considering the big advances in presentation, short grass surrounds and vegetation clearance since any of the reviewers last visited the course. Glad to see Masa held it in high regard (given he seems to be the harshest scorer) but I've still this feeling that the strength of the whole is masked by the lack of obvious world class holes that immediately spring to mind on a first or second visit. Tom doesn't mention this in his review so I don't know his take on it... but I usually judge people's opinion of Portmarnock by whether they are fooled in to believing the fallacy that the course primarily plays through dune valleys rather than over them - because it emphatically doesn't....
Anyway, that's my "sticking up for my own back yard comments" over with...
One other aside from my flick through to date: I was delighted to see Pulborough in the gourmet's choice with a nice write-up by Darius. Don't know why people keep ignoring this course.