Pine Valley Wanna-Be Golf Trail

  The real Pine Valley

Compiled by Fat Guy

When I was a young golfer who was more interested in breaking 100 than where I was playing (let alone having any knowledge of the great courses of the world outside of St. Andrew's, Augusta, and Pebble Beach), I can remember stumbling onto to a list of the Top 100 Golf Courses In The World, probably in a magazine in the waiting room at the dentist's office. I was flabbergasted when I saw some course I'd never even heard of listed at #1. I remember exclaiming, "The best course in the world is in New Jersey?!"

Pine Valley Golf Club carries with it a mystique that's altogether different than that of Augusta National. While the brilliant manicured greens of Augusta are splashed all over TV for one long weekend every year for all the world to envy, Pine Valley's rustic natural beauty is only accessible to the public in person, one day a year in late September for the Crump Cup, an amateur tournament where the public can walk the course to watch the matches. In fact, this South Jersey wonder has only been on broadcast television once, for a 1962 Shell's Wonderful Word Of Golf match between Gene Littler and Byron Nelson. Pine Valley doesn't seek the spotlight the way Augusta does.

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Pine Valley Golf Club was started in 1913 by a group of amateur golfers from Philadelphia, led by local hotelier, man of leisure, and obsessed golfer George Crump. The club was founded largely to build a championship course that could develop better local golf talent to enhance the competitiveness of Philadelphia golfers in intra-city competitions with New York and Chicago.

George Crump was the driving force behind the club's formation. His friend A.W. Tillinghast, then still a neophyte course architect (though not a club member), suggested the club target land "in the sands of Jersey" to build their course. The club's orignal plan called for 18 prominent area golfers to each design a hole, but Crump was eventually handed the task of designing the entire layout, though he had never designed a golf course (and would never design another). But, he was an avid student of golf course architecture, having taken a trip to Britain and Europe to study the great courses of the world (he later cited Sunningdale outside London as a major influence).

Crump also knew the South Jersey area from hunting expeditions. The story of how he discovered the glorious sandy property where Pine Valley now sits is a bit murky, and has been the subject of many-a-debate. But it's likely it happened either while Crump was looking out the window during a train ride to Atlantic City (he and other founding members would often take the 2 hour train ride to Atlantic City, which was usually 4-5 degrees warmer than Philadelphia during the shoulder seasons, to play golf), or while on a hunting trip, or some combination of the two. Almost immediately, he recognized its potential for golf. It's interesting to note that the original site examined as a location for the club was in Abescon NJ--current site of Seaview--which was rejected due to the preponderance of mosquitos and the distance from Philadelphia. In doing so, Crump and company rejected a natural bayside linksland that would eventually be a major championship venue (Seaview hosted the 1942 PGA). Obviously, their ambitions were of the highest caliber.

Crump had previously sold his hotel in Philadelphia, and donated some the proceeds to help build the course, along with dues from other founding members. The course was scheduled to be completed in less than 2 years.

George took the assignment to design the course to heart, in a way no other course architect has done before or since. The project quickly became an obsession for him. Without a wife or children, from the beginning Crump lived on-site in a tent, searching the 184 acres of the property for golf holes, often slogging through mud and rain, before a cabin was eventually built for him where the clubhouse now stands. During construction, he insisted on greeting all visitors personally at the train station near the back gate of the property, over which hung a sign that said, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." It would prove to be prophetic.

While his own design ideas were forming for the new course, Crump sought input from consults with some of the best architects of the era, including Tillinghast, and most notably Englishman Harry S. Colt, who spent a week camping and consulting on the site. Colt is widely considered to be the dominant English course architect of the the Golden Age of Architecture.  He was a major influence and former design partner to Alister MacKenzie, and had also orchestrated major changes to Crump's inspiration course, Willie Park Jr.'s Sunningdale Old.

Crump eventually settled on his own set of design principles for the course: No two holes will be parallel, no two consecutive holes will play in the same direction, no other hole should be visible from the one you're playing, and a player should hit every club in the bag during a round. When Colt arrived, Crump already had 7 holes roughed out, and a preliminary routing in mind. Colt suggested significant routing changes, some of which Crump incorporated. Specifically, Colt solved a major routing problem by getting the course across the river which bisects the property, with the creation of the daunting one-shot 5th hole. From there, much of the rest of the routing fell into place. Crump's already thorough vision of the course magnified under the critical analysis of the expert, though 7 of the holes from Crump's original routing remain today, and the highly-regarded 13th was a natural hole subsequently "discovered" by Crump (some stories claim an assist by Tillinghast) while clearing trees for the 12th green. Somewhat ironically, Colt's subsequent design of Sunningdale New Course 9 years later displayed striking similarities to Pine Valley.

While his fingerprints are on portions of the routing and he no doubt contributed to the design, it could hardly be said that Colt designed, or even co-designed, the course. Crump mimicked some of Colt's design principles, but he saw no purpose in Colt's trademark ease-in or breather holes. He wanted Pine Valley to be the ultimate test of golf. A comparison of Colt's other courses and design philosophies against Pine Valley reveal Crump's vision and the land itself as the driving forces behind the true character of the course. Jim Govan, a St. Andrew's native, was hired early on as the resident pro/superintendent, and became Crump's construction foreman. Govan also undoubtedly contributed suggestions to Pine Valley's routing and large undulating greens.

To say the hilly, sandy site was challenging to the course-building technology of 1914 would have been a massive understatement. Though nature had already laid out many of the holes, there were still forests to be cleared, marshlands to be drained, greens and tees to be built, and bunkers to be dug. When dynamite failed due to the soft sandy soil, upwards of 50,000 tree stumps had to be pulled out with special steam-winches and horse-drawn cables manned by an army of laborers. All of the earth to build the course had to be moved by hand. A near-perfect Indian hatchet was unearthed in digging up one bunker, and an earthquake tremor followed immediately afterward. Winter brought snow, ice, and frozen ground. The work was painfully slow-going, and eventually the construction schedule began to stretch out.

George Crump supervised the work every day, living through each stubborn stump and shovel full of dirt. Even after the sun went down, he could be found pouring over site drawings under the light of an oil lantern. He was noted to have taken at least two vacations during the building of Pine Valley; one to Detroit, where he qualified for the U.S. Amateur at the Country Club of Detroit (a Colt design), but lost his first match 15-and-14 to Jerry Travers, a margin-of-victory record that still stands; the other was to South Carolina, where he set the course record (75) at Pine Forest in Summerville. Even his downtime from building a golf course was spent... golfing.

Five years and countless obstacles later, Crump was still living on the site, and only 14 holes had been finished. Though the existing holes were being billed as brilliant by golf course architects and newspaper articles, completion of the course was now 3 years overdue. Even after many of the holes had been built, the sandy soil would scarely support grass seed, taking the better part of a year and numerous failed attempts to grow in even partially. Despite the promise and progress, as the months and problems stretched out, local newspapers eventually dubbed the unopened course, "Crump's Folly."

Then, as if the site itself hadn't been enough, World War I started. Resources, materials, and money dried up, bringing construction to a halt. By this point, it's estimated that Crump had sunk $250,000 of his own money into building Pine Valley, all or nearly all of the fortune he'd made from selling his hotel. Building the course had become his entire life.

Eventually his obsession to make Pine Valley a viable course and club had caused Crump's health to deteriorate. Before he could finish his life's work, he committed suicide in 1918. Though no suicide note was found, the widespread speculation remains that his end came as a result of his frustrations with bringing his dream course to fruition. In essence, Pine Valley killed him. The course was still not finished when he died, as four holes (#'s 12-15) were incomplete.

Thankfully, Crump's brother-in-law, Howard Street, picked up the torch after George's passing. Crump had already laid out the four remaining holes on paper. Noted local architect Hugh Wilson (Merion) oversaw their completion, and Colt's partner, C.H. Alison, refined the final product. Grinnell Willis, a local retired textile merchant and Merchantville NJ neighbor of Crump, provided the funds to finish the course. Wilson's brother Alan solved the agronomic issues with seeding grass. It took nearly another four years after Crump's death to finish the last four holes, but his dream course eventually opened for play in 1921, having fully grown in to "perfect shape" for the 1922 golf season.

Several other notable architects have made minor adjustments in the intervening 100 or so years, including Perry Maxwell.

[Source: Tom Macwood's definitive profile of George Crump at www.golfclubatlas.com]

The results of Crump's tragic labor of love have been lauded with accolades ever since. Between the rustic beauty of the varied terrain and Crump's trademark sandy waste carries, plus design features that eventually garnered famous nicknames like, "Hell's Half Acre" and "The Devil's Asshole", it has largely been considered the best course and best test of golf in the world.

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So if you're temporarily light on connections to get on the real thing (aren't we all), here's a list of public courses that emulate the South Jersey sandy terrain, George Crump's design principles, and the rustic beauty of Pine Valley (at least in appearance, if not execution). It's no surprise that several are located in the same sandy soil of South Jersey, or similar locales.

Pine Valley Wanna-Be Golf Trail

First, let's start with the replica and openly "inspired-by" holes/courses.

16.  Purgatory Golf Club, Noblesville IN.  While the layout is Midwest-plains flat, there's plenty of sand to worry about, the worst being a "Hell's Half Acre" on the par-3 17th. "Turns out Hell's waiting room has 133 bunkers, knee-high rough and only three par 4s less than 450 yards. The unlucky 13th is a 741-yard par 5. Devilish." [Golf Digest]

15.  Wooden Sticks, Uxbridge ON.  #9 was inspired by Pine Valley.

14.  International World Tour Open Course, Myrtle Beach SC.  #6 is a replica of Pine Valley's 12th.

13.  Taranwould GC, Newark NY.  #4 is a replica of Pine Valley's 13th.

12.  RLR Golden Ocala, Ocala FL.  One composite "pattern" hole, based on three Pine Valley holes.

11.  Tour 18 Dallas, Dallas TX.  #13 is a replica of Pine Valley's par-4 17th, hopping from one green grass island to another, in an ocean of sand.

Now on to the courses that evoke Crump's design on a more pervasive basis.

10.  May River GC, Hilton Head Island, SC.  "In soft focus, Nicklaus' May River is like Pine Valley. Each hole is firmly isolated by forest, and the fairways and greens, though manicured, blend into the surroundings like natural clearings. Life grows quickly, and when it comes to pruning, superintendent Chris Johnson says, 'We try to always tread the perfect middle between manicured and rugged.' The course is demanding, but the sandy hardwood forest floor is kept clean in the areas you're most likely to miss." [Golf Digest]

9.  Atlantic City Country Club, Atlantic City NJ.  George Crump was a member here prior to designing Pine Valley, back when ACCC was a private haven for captains of industry. These days it's public, and holes 1-12 are an interesting taste of the archtectural era that came before Pine Valley, as well as a taste of ACCC's probable subtle influence on George Crump. The back is even more fun for modern golfers after a 1998 re-do by Tom Doak. While most of the course is too classic to resemble Pine Valley all that closely, ACCC does adhere to at least one of George's design prinicples: You'll use every club in the bag here. It's also a study in the heavy use of strategic bunkering, which was certainly a Pine Valley trait. There's a bit of modern day irony at play on the short uphill par-3 17th, a sandy fescue-covered moonscape carry which evokes Pine Valley from the moment you step on the tee; it's a definite nod to former member Crump. My research shows that this hole is mostly a Tom Doak creation, and is despised by some modern archtecture critics. Personally I thought it was a great, quirky little wink to the crown jewel of South Jersey golf. Fun and challenging, but not a stupid-difficult shot if struck cleanly, and a good change of pace hole that served as a nice transition from the 3 new bayside marsh holes back to the more traditional parkland 18th.

8.  Blue Heron PInes, West Course, Cologne NJ (www.blueheronpines.com).  A country-club-for-a-day experience. Blue Heron's straightforward front 9 is repised by a tougher back, highlighted by the par-5 14th, its gaping fairway hazard inspired by "Hell's Half Acre" at Pine Valley. Here, Stephen Kay's tree-lined parkland course lacks many of his usual nods to quirky British Isles designs.

7.  Running Deer GC, Pittsgrove NJ.  

Designer Ed Carmen blends a nice mix of South Jersey sandy pine barrens and modern parkland, with snaking fairways, plenty of strategically-placed bunkers, and subtle doglegs dictating preferred halves of fairways for better approach angles. He also throws in some nice touches of the same rustic, rough-edged, exposed dirt slopes used so well in other South Jersey stunners like Twisted Dune, Scotland Run, and the former Pine Hill (now Trump National Philly). Tee shots are challenging but manageable, having to skirt encroaching bunkers or dogleg corners. Due to some of the quirky depressions next to the fairways, plus false green fronts, putting surface undulations, dogleg cutouts, etc., it's the kind of course you'd keep discovering on subsequent rounds, learning all the nuances until you're a practiced local, but it's still very enjoyable for the first-timer. The layout is largely flat with subtle slopes, and the next tee is usually just a short stroll through a wooded section, so it's a great walking course. Seriously cute cart girl too.

6.  Lakewood Shores Resort (Blackwood Course), Oscada MI.  "This 6,900 yard layout was designed by Kevin Aldridge, and was largely influenced by the infamous Pine Valley Golf Club - which is annually ranked as the number one golf course in the country. Sculpted bent grass fairways meander amongst magnificent pines and hardwoods with vast sand waste areas present on nearly every hole. This is a beautiful setting." [TwoGuysWhoGolf.com].  The sister Gailes course was ranked as the Best New Resort Course by Golf Digest in 1996, and there's even a Wee Links for kids at this highly recommended resort.

4.  World Woods GC, Pine Barrens Course, Brooksville FL. 

This stunning Tom Fazio design is probably the public course most often mentioned in the same sentence with Pine Valley. It was inspired by Crump's creation, with similar sandy waste carries and frog-haired bunkers. The Pine Barrens course is often ranked in the Top 10 public courses in the country as a result. It also doesn't hurt that the sister course, Royal Oaks, is modeled after Augusta, making for an attractive wanna-be pairing. Although in my opinion, Pine Barrens' tribute sand features and overall design are more modernized, less rustic, more peripheral, and less "Pine-Valley-penal" than some of the other courses on this list.

3.  Pine Barrens, Swainton NJ.  "A Dead Ringer For Number One:  Anyone seeking to own a sure-fire moneymaking public course could do worse than emulate the look and feel of perennially top-ranked but extremely private Pine Valley Golf Club. But such flattery only works on sites with similar vegetation and sand. Enter Eric Bergstol, 42, who found such a site an hour north of Atlantic City, part of the vast stretch of New Jersey "pine barrens" that also contains Pine Valley. Bergstol, a real-estate developer and scratch golfer, designed brand-new Pine Barrens Golf Club himself. He has played Pine Valley only twice, and downplays comparisons. But we think he's created a terrific substitute for those who can't get an invitation to the real thing. The expanses of sand, native vegetation and dense pines are all the same, and from the back tees, so are the bite-what-you-can-chew strategies." [Golf Digest Review, Ron Whitten, Senior Architecture Editor, 1999]

2.  Tobacco Road, Sanford NC.  "This is Mike Strantz's version of Pine Valley, as seen through a funhouse mirror. Bunkers become craters, greens become sinkholes. The sand hills are taller and more eroded, the pits are steeper and deeper. Some greens are three times as wide as they are deep, and others are twice as long as they are wide. What's not distorted is that there are five blind shots at Tobacco Road. That makes it cotton-pickin' hard." [Golf Digest]

1.  Scotland Run GC, Williamstown NJ. Diabolical architect Stephen Kay twisted this routing through the New Jersey pine barrens and a former sand quarry. By borrowing design elements from both Old Tom Morris' Prestwick and legendary nearby Pine Valley, Kay achieves the same Stateside visual stratosphere as Mike Stranz' target masterpiece Tobacco Road. A study in extremes, the Run offers numerous quirky elements such as clifftop tees, cape holes over yawning sand pits 3 stories deep (don't worry, there's a staircase if you don't clear the carry--but you still gotta play it down there), dual greens, blind shots, stacked sod pot bunkers, railroad tie walls as crossing hazards, and sandy lies next to a rusting steamshovel or an old airplane from a small nearby airport. Cart paths spill randomly into massive, free-range waste bunkers, adding to the sense of adventure. The dog right par-5 18th, with water creeping in off the tee and an uphill approach over a sand cliff, is a memorable finish. Whether going for it or laying up, the second swing on the 18th is one of the most nerve-racking middle shots anywhere. The overall experience at Scotland Run is closer to X-Box golf than traditional links. But for the adventurous, this is the most grin-inducing 18 daily fee holes the Philadelphia area has to offer.

Honorable Mention: Trump National Philadelphia, Pine Hill NJ.  Normally I wouldn't give such an exclusive private club any ink, but I played this course when it was still an upscale public club named Pine Hill. This Tom Fazio layout is located on property adjacent to Pine Valley, and boasts the same sandy hills. While Fazio claims his design isn't an ode to its more famous neighbor, the strikingly similar terrain coupled with Fazio's flashed-up bunkering and waste area carries draw the inevitiable comparisons. A Trump National course may be only slightly less difficult to get on than the original, but if you ever get an invite or a chance to bid on a round in a charity auction, this may be as close to a Pine Valley round as you'll ever come.