Confidentially Yours

I've blogged more than once about Tom Doak's cult classic A Confidential Guide to Golf Courses.  Written long before he came to prominence, it was notable for its unvarnished opinions, most

notably about some practitioners of modern golf architecture.  The book has long been out of print and purists such as your humble scribe have long coveted a copy of their own.

Word came many months ago that Doak was going to update the book, expanding it to five volumes and writing in conjunction with unnamed collaborators.  This of course had the chattering classes aflutter, could he keep it real and who would the magic still be there with a team of writers.

I've actually had some prior intelligence on this, as friend of the blog Mark W. has previously sent me excerpts from the first volume (covering the courses of Great Britain and Ireland) the list of golf courses receiving perfect tens as well as the write-up of the two courses at Beloved Ballyliffin.

While the book is not yet available from Amazon and the other usual suspects, Shackelford put out word that the author is selling the first volume directly from his Renaissance Golf site, and has he got a deal for you:

Topping the list and very much not on Amazon.com is the long-awaited re-release of Tom Doak's Confidential Guide To Golf Courses. The cult classic has been re-imagined into a five-volume set, with only the first (Great Britain and Ireland) released to date. The entire set is discounted to $280 right now, or $60 if you want to buy them individually. (You will only be charged as the books are sent.) Considering the original went for as much as $1,000 in recent years, it's a steal.

Yeah, not so sure about it being a steal, but I placed my order for the complete set yesterday.  There's a $10/volume sipping charge on top, so it's an indulgence.

Somebody passing himself off as Joe Passov posted a good preview here, which will let us do some of our call and response schtick in a sec.  Here' Joe's set-up:

This updated guide adds grades and comments for an additional 1,700 courses, bringing

the total to more than 2,500 courses reviewed in a total of five volumes. To assist in assessing the additional courses, Doak enlisted the aid of three other expert design critics -- Ran Morrissett of the United States, Masa Nishijima of Japan and Darius Oliver of Australia. The four other volumes will be released over the next year or two and will span the globe, including the U.S., the Caribbean and the Far East. "Volume 1 will be the least controversial of the set," Doak writes in the introduction, "because Great Britain and Ireland have largely avoided the monstrous displays of earthmoving muscle foisted upon the earth by golf architects in America and, especially, Asia. If there are bad courses in Britain and Ireland, we haven't found many of them -- though perhaps we've been smart enough to avoid a few." 

Still, Doak pulls no punches, as evidenced by the "O" grade he leveled at St. Andrews's Castle Course in Scotland, a David McLay Kidd design. This first volume educates, entertains and engages. Whether you agree or disagree with his assessments, you'll benefit by having them at your fingertips. Here are some of Doak's sharpest insights on the best (and the rest) in Great Britain and Ireland.

First, those are quite the collaborators he's assembled.  I don't know the Japanese gent, but Ran Morrissett is the proprietor of Golf Club Atlas and Darius Oliver of Planet Golf, two of the best known sites dedicated to architectural nerdism.  I do love the dig, pun intended, at excessive moving of dirt in the U.S. and Asia and at Kidd's Castle Course, which has been universally reviled.  Though, to be fair, Kidd got the job of building Mike Kesier's second course in Wisconsin over, you know it, Tom Doak.

So let's get to some of his (Doak's, that is) comments on specific courses:

ST. ANDREWS (The Old Course)St. Andrews, ScotlandForged by nature, with the help of Allan Robertson and Old Tom Morris

"The greatness of the Old Course lies in the unrivaled number of unique holes it puts in front of the golfer. A lot of golfers make a single trip to St. Andrews, spend four hours on the Old Course without a clue what they're looking at, and come away convinced that the reputation of the course is built on its history and tradition. I want to state this emphatically: History and tradition have nothing to do with it. I've included St. Andrews because I think it remains what it has always has been -- the most interesting course in the world."

DOAK GRADE: 10 

No argument whatsoever, but I do want to emphasize how difficult it is to appreciate unless one can play it repeatedly.  On a calm day the Old can be absurdly easy from tee to green, but you've never experienced anything like those greens.

It also may be the only palindromic scorecard in golf.  Betcha didn't know that.

ST. ANDREWS (Castle Course)St. Andrews, ScotlandDavid McLay Kidd, 2008

"A friend of mine who had never played the Old Course waited for hours at the starter's box in July to get out as a single, and as the day was starting to wane, he told the starter he was thinking of going up to the Castle Course instead. "No, laddie, you don't want to do that," came the reply. "We'll get you out yet." I'm with the starter on this one. I feel for David Kidd because a lot of the criticisms of the course are things one might say about the Old Course if it wasn't so famous: The greens are huge and wild, and it's hard to discern the strategy from the tee. However, the severe tilt of the land and the size of the greens yields a lot of recovery shots to greens that are up over your head, and the moonscape of the course is only appealing when you are looking away from it, across the bay toward town. Trying to one-up Kingsbarns turned out to be a formula for excess."

DOAK GRADE: 0 

I've not played nor am I likely to, though who doesn't like a good old-fashioned train wreck?

OLD HEAD GOLF LINKSKinsale, Co. Cork, IrelandRon Kirby, 1997

"Eight of the 18 holes are built on the brink of the cliffs -- sometimes the

slopes are so steep that it's scary to look for your ball in the rough. Many greens are so exposed that they had to build berms to keep the wind and salt spray from destroying the turf, and these berms are the most awkward feature of the design, since the top of them is the last thing your ball might see before the bottom of the Atlantic. But the inland holes are just mundane, and for all the spectacle of the cliff edge there really aren't enough great holes to live up to the hype. It was a great place, but it's not great golf."

DOAK GRADE: 5 

It's not uncommon for the property to be more interesting than the golf course.  I've never bothered to trundle the extra two hours past Waterville to overpay for it, and nothing I've heard or read has caused me to regret that decision.

THE BELFRY (Brabazon Course)Wishaw, Staffordshire, EnglandPeter Alliss and David Thomas, 1979

"Four times host to the Ryder Cup Matches, this Midlands resort course is

full of great memories for European golfers. The course itself is almost completely forgettable except for two holes -- the short par-4 10th, which Seve Ballesteros turned into the ultimate match play hole by driving over the water to the green and daring his opponents to do the same, and the long par-4 18th, with its drive across the water and a long second shot to a 3-tiered green, the scene of some nervous collapses at the end of big matches. It's more proof that match play can yield dramatic results regardless of the venue, and that tournament courses are often overrated."

DOAK GRADE: 5 

Exactly so.  In fact, I'm not even sure No. 10 is such a good hole, but it is a great match play hole for the best players in the world, a limited endorsement at best.   I did like No. 18 though...

Plus, as we just found out, people get stabbed there.

PRESTWICK GOLF CLUBPrestwick, Ayrshire, ScotlandOld Tom Morris, 1858, with revisions by James Braid and John R. Stutt

"It's eccentric and at times confusing. You may walk away from a round

here with a new perspective on our ancient Scottish game. If I had to pick one course to play out my days on, this may well be it. Not because it's the best course in the world, but because for even the longest serving member there remains at Prestwick more putts, pitches, stances and situations left unseen than on any other course I know. In every sense this is a links course one could not possibly tire of playing."

DOAK GRADE: 8

Prestwick is like a golf museum, and doesn't lend itself to analysis all that well.  But it's an experience that every golfer should have, though a caddie is an absolute necessity.  By the way, that picture is of the Sahara bunker, which you don't see hitting the approach into the 17th because it's tucked behind a massive dune.  It's almost wrong to give Prestwick a grade, as it's above mere mortals.

TRUMP INTERNATIONAL GOLF LINKSBalmedie, ScotlandMartin Hawtree, 2012 

"Its owner declared it the world's best course before it was built. It's best to give it time to grow. The best aspect of the course are its outstanding, varied par 3s. But the par 5s are cluttered with too many bunkers. Worst of all, the turf is not a true links surface. Mr. Trump will have his staff eagerly working at these things because he wants the course to achieve what he's already claimed for it."

DOAK GRADE: 7

That's the first rumblings I've heard about the turf.  I've heard mostly good things, with most of the criticism related to the course's difficulty, especially for resort guests.  That is, assuming a resort is ever built...

I'd very much like to play it, I just don't really want to pay to play it...

MACHRIHANISH GOLF CLUBMachrihanish, ScotlandCharles Hunter, 1876, with revisions by Old Tom Morris and Sir Guy Campbell

"The best opening hole in the world is an open-and-shut case. The first tee

lies just outside the pro shop door, on a small peninsula known as the Battery. To the north is a long cove of beach, with the Atlantic to the left and a fairway running diagonally from right to left, forcing the golfer to choose how much he can carry for the tee shot. The safer you play to the right to stay off the beach, the longer the second shot -- and the worse the angle to the green, which slopes away from a high point at the front right. The anticipation of this tee shot is the strongest in the game, and it whets the appetite for an exhilarating run of holes that follow."

DOAK GRADE: 7

Dear Reader, I need your help here.  The world, including Tom Friggin" Doak, revere this golf hole and I just don't get it.   I'm not saying it's a bad hole, it's a perfectly fine golf hole, especially for an opener in a part of the world with many weak opening and closing holes, but the worship simply escapes me.

 Here's a screen shot from the club's website:

As Doak describes, it's a pretty typical Cape hole, the essence of which is an angled tee shot over some kind of hazard requiring the player to be precise in line and distance.  And while the Atlantic Ocean is a more formidable hazard than most, it's not an especially daunting shot because you have room to the wazoo to the right, where you'll find their finishing hole's fairway.  Though, as noted, it is a somewhat cool how the small tee boxes hug the golf shop.

Doak is again correct about the angle, but the green complex is not particularly severe and the hole is not excessively long (436 yards from the tips) and, importantly in this environment, plays with the prevailing wind.  It's a fun tee shot, again in the nature of Cape holes, but nothing like the challenge of the 18th at Sawgrass, as just one example...

In any event, since we just discussed Prestwick, I'd nominate their Railway hole as a better opener than this one.  Though if the world thinks one thing and Scott thinks the contrary, you'd be well-advised to take the world and give the points.

THE MACHRIE GOLF CLUBPort Ellen, Isle of Islay

Willie Campbell, 1891, with revisions by Donald Steel, 1982"Golf as it was played in the 19th century, Islay is a blast. If you can't stomach blind shots, stay away -- or come here to learn to love them."

DOAK GRADE: 5

I'm thrilled that this little-known gem was included, as we're trying to included it on our Askernish pilgrimage, though it's what in the military would be considered geographically undesirable.  Islay (pronounced EYE-lay), is single malt heaven, which should appeal to the bride.

NORTH BERWICK (West Links)North Berwick, ScotlandEvolved with help from David Strath, Tom Dunn and Sir Guy Campbell

"Possibly my favorite hole in the world is the Pit, the 387-yard, par-4 13th.

The hole uses an ancient stone wall as the most ingenious of hazards. The hole plays down the line of the wall, with the fairway on one side and the green on the other, so that the golfer's position off the tee determines the nature of the approach shot. If the tee shot is played safely away to the right, then the second will have to carry the wall and stop fairly quickly; but if the golfer dares to hug the wall closely off the tee, then the second shot can be played over it easily on a long and shallow angle, affording an open look at the green in its natural hollow. Should you leave your second shot out to the right of the green, getting over the two-foot-high wall with your short pitch is a knee-knocker of a shot, even though it is the simplest of matters."

DOAK GRADE: 9  

The 13th, pictured above, is a hoot and Doak makes a good point about the angle.  North Berwick (pronounced Berrick) also boasts the original Redan, so it's must-play golf leading me to ask, why such a low grade, Tom?

There's other worthies discussed in Joe's piece, including Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, so click through if these gems are of interest.  My copy of Volume I should be here when I return from Utah, so I'll look forward to the delights on each page.