In just about all specialised rankings, Pine Valley is considered to be the best golf course in the world. Augusta National, Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Muirfield are just some of the other top courses ranked highly in lists produced by both traditional and digital golf publications. However, Pine Valley, nestled in the New Jersey area that gives the club its name, is one course that especially incites strong and diverse opinions. There are several reasons for its fame. It does, for example, have more globally renowned and international-quality holes than any other course; the most meticulously maintained greens; the best sets of par-threes and par-fives; and the finest three opening holes and best three closing holes. In other words, it has everything.
The course became a key meeting point and focus of discussion for designers during the so-called Golden Age of golf course design. Pine Valley’s golf history began in 1912 when hotel entrepreneur George Crump acquired the farmland where the course was eventually built, and the plot attracted visits by numerous golf architects, some of whom contributed (to a greater or lesser extent) to its design: Harry Colt, Hugh Wilson, George Thomas, William Flynn, Charles Blair Macdonald, Walter Travis, Robert Hunter, AW Tillinghast, Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross, William Fownes, Charles Alison and Perry Maxwell. All of them, creators of the United States’ premier courses, appreciated that Pine Valley raised the design standards of other layouts existing up until then.
Crump hired Colt as an advisor, consulted with many of the aforementioned designers and died at just 46 years of age, before the final four holes were completed, there is no doubt that he deserves all the credit for Pine Valley’s success – due to the incorporation of so many classic design elements. Crump was the one who discovered the farmland, who lived there, who prepared it week after week until finding the ideal routing, and who supervised the construction of 14 of the holes. In short, he was its authentic designer. Pine Valley would be his first and only work – albeit a truly masterful creation.
When, in 1909, Crump came across the 75 hectares of farmland and pine forest where the golf course is now located, the plot was covered in sand deposited by strong winds blowing in the area. One of the first designers who saw the farm with Crump, Charles Blair Macdonald, said, "One of the best golf courses in the world will be built here... if the grass grows." Crump followed a few basic principles when designing the course, a 6,400-metre par-70: no hole should run parallel to the next one; no more than two holes would be played in the same direction; and golfers could not view any holes other than the one they were playing. He also believed that a round of golf at his course should require the use of all clubs in the bag.
Crump, who was familiar with the area from hunting expeditions, sold a hotel he owned in Philadelphia and invested the money in the course. The first 11 holes were opened, unofficially, in 1914, but when Crump died in 1918 (reportedly penniless) four holes had not yet been completed (12 to 15). The official opening date is therefore 1918. After Crump died, the course underwent renovations by several leading designers.
The club, which has a second course comprising 10 short holes, designed by Tom Fazio and Ernest Ransome III, is strictly private and non-members can only play if they are invited and accompanied by a member. Two members lost their membership status because they charged guests $10,000 to play a round at the famous club.
The club prides itself on being home to one of the toughest golf courses in the world. Pine Valley's "house brands" are: "Hell's Half Acre", an extensive area of barren land on the seventh hole that is possibly the largest non-seaside bunker in the world; "The Devil's Asshole”, an extremely deep bunker on the 10th hole; and the famous 18th hole, which incorporates many different golf elements in a spectacular conclusion to the round.
The club opens to the public only one day a year, at the end of September, allowing people to attend as spectators for the Crump Cup, a prestigious national amateur tournament. Pine Valley also hosted, on two occasions (1936 and 1985), the Walker Cup amateur competition between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. As for professional events, the only time Pine Valley “suffered” a visit by a large mass of spectators was in 1962, for a match between Gene Littler and Byron Nelson on Shell's Wonderful World of Golf.
The Designer
In 1910 hotelier George Arthur Crump and his friend Joseph Baker embarked on a European trip in order to play and study the premier golf courses of Britain and the Continent. Their itinerary included rounds at St Andrews, Prestwick, Turnberry, Hoylake, Sandwich, Deal, Prince's, Sunningdale and Walton Heath, as well as golf courses in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
On his return, he focused his attentions on designing and building Pine Valley, which subsequently, at the time of its opening, was considered the toughest golf course in the world.
Born in Philadelphia in 1871, Crump spent most of his formative years in Camden and Merchantville (New Jersey), where he attended local primary and secondary schools but not college. He married Isabelle Henry in 1898, and listed his profession as the “hotel business”. With the hotel in capable hands, Crump was free to pursue golf and, in his case with a fanatical passion: he went on to hold memberships at Philadelphia Country Club, St. David's, Torresdale, Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Atlantic City Country Club.
During the construction of Pine Valley golf course, marshlands had to be drained and approximately 22,000 tree stumps were pulled out with special steam-winches and horse-drawn cables – during an era when many golf courses were still built with minimal earth moving. Not surprisingly, albeit rather unfairly as it turned out, the course was called "Crump's Folly" by some.
Crump died in January 1918 at his home in Merchantville, with the cause of death variously reported as suicide and an infected tooth. At the time of his death four holes – 12 to 15 – were incomplete, and since then alterations have been made by several other leading golf course designers.
Three-Putts!
Women Members
Male-only membership is by invitation from the board of directors. Women are permitted to play the course on Sunday afternoons.
Major Tournament
The famous New Jersey course has never, in its long history, hosted any major professional tournament, as there is not enough space to accommodate tens of thousands of spectators.
Tiger Woods
Interestingly, the one-time undisputed number one player in the world, Tiger Woods, has not yet played at the best course in the world. And not for a lack of invitations!
