The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses [Hardcover]

Tom Doak (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the better young contemporary course designers and a contributing editor to Golf Magazine, Tom Doak has assembled a brash, coffee-table volume of observations and analyses that'll have golfers salivating and pulling their hair out at the same time (when they're not debating his findings over refreshments at the 19th hole). Not only does Doak rate and review hundreds of courses throughout the U.S.--by region and state--and around the world, he offers a "Gourmet Guide" to the 31 layouts he'd personally like to play with friends: Anyone not up for the likes of Pine Valley, Merion, St. Andrews, Riviera, and Ballybunion?

Most fun, though, is the "Gazeteer" Doak concludes with. It offers list after list of roll calls like the most beautiful clubhouses, best walks, courses worth groveling to play, courses most fun to play, hardest courses, longest courses, best opening holes, best finishing holes, and unusual hazards (like the goats at Lahinch, the wild horses at Pennard, and the railway at Prestwick). If The Confidential Guide does not exactly qualify as sacred text, it's certainly one of golf's more deliciously profane ones. --Jeff Silverman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 361 pages
• Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886947090
• ISBN-13: 978-1886947092
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Intelligent (and Irreverent) Examination of Golf Courses, July 27, 2001

By 

Gary Popovich "Retired Banjo Picker" (Chesterfield, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses (Hardcover)

There will be plenty of readers who will disagree or even take offense at some of Tom Doak's course ratings and observations (for example, he does NOT give Augusta National a perfect score of 10), but that's all the more reason to peruse this wonderful guide.

There are essentially three sections to this book. In the first part, Doak serves up his "Gourmet's Choice," which includes the best work from golf's best architects - Ross's Pinehurst No. 2, Perry Maxwell's Prarie Dunes, C.B. MacDonald's National Golf Links, and nature's own St.Andrew's (Doak, being a course designer of note himself, includes his own High Pointe in this section).

The second part is a regional/world wide breakdown of courses that Doak has either played or visited. What becomes apparent in this section is that 1) Doak favors courses that are both challenging to the expert player and playable for the average guy, 2) he's not above critical observation of his peers, and 3) has an affection for older courses that employed a minimalist approach (i.e.; limited land-moving, no waste areas, etc.).

Finally, "The Gazeteer" offers a number of quirky, humorous lists of hazzards, best and worst holes, courses to be avoided at all costs, and courses that one's spouse would enjoy.

Again, some may accuse Doak of arrogance and self-promotion, but there is no denying the love he displays for his craft, or the passion of his convictions. As with most books dealing with golf architecture, this one contains a lot of great photography. Plus it's interesting to note that Doak has been hired on as a consultant to do restorations on a number of courses that he panned in this book, including two Seth Raynor designs (Blue Mound, in Milwaukee WI, and Yeomans Hall, in the Charleston, SC area) that had been either "over beautified" or neglected through the years.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I like it more and more., July 13, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Charlotte NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses (Hardcover)

I sent a note about this book two years ago and I'm sending another because I like it more and more. I've taken some golf trips recently and have used the Confidential Guide to point me in the right direction. Through this book, I've "discovered" some superb courses that I would not have found. And, to boot, said courses are quite often completely unhyped, friendly and unsnobby. If you get the chance to travel quite a bit and you like to find those hidden gems, then this is a great place to start.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to great courses, December 27, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Harpenden, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses (Hardcover)

This guide helps the serious golf enthusiast select courses to play that are not necessarily the most "famous". I have played most of his recommended courses in the UK and I find his assessment very accurate.