Pine Valley Golf Club

Pine Valley Golf Club was the dream of a Philadelphian hotelier, George Crump, who sadly died before its completion. The legacy he left behind is universally considered to be the perfect example of penal golf course architecture.

The course is located on the New Jersey side of Philadelphia and it’s impossible to believe that one of the world’s best golf courses is set in such featureless countryside. Crump started work on this desolate piece of land in 1912 and, after receiving Harry Colt’s seal of approval on the routing, 14 holes were ready for play in 1916. Crump died in 1918 and his dream 18-hole course was one year away from completion.

Pine Valley officially opened in 1919 but it took three years for anybody to get round in 70 strokes and it quickly became renowned the world over as the ultimate test of golf. The members were quick to realise there was an opportunity for a quick buck and offered a standing bet to anyone playing for the first time that they won’t break 80. In 1954, Arnold Palmer took all bets going and cleaned up, shooting a 68. “I was desperate for money at the time,” he explained. “I was about to be married. So I collected all the bets I could find. I don’t know what I would have done If I had lost – it was far more money than I could afford.”

“Pine Valley fills you with dread and delight… it takes your breath away… it’s a monster, but it’s beautiful.” Wrote Robert Trent Jones in the Complete Golfer. “It is frequently alluded to as the most difficult course in the world, and this reputation is justified. To my way of thinking, it also possesses more classic holes than any other course in the world – ten of the eighteen. Of the remaining holes, five are outstanding, two are good, and one, the 12th, is ordinary, which, at Pine Valley, is tantamount to being a misfit.

I remember playing a round at Pine Valley not so long ago with Lowell Thomas, who as you know, has travelled the world as widely as any man. On this 15th, after we had driven across the lake that separates the tee from the start of the fairway, Thomas turned and looked back across the water, then quietly gazed at the rest of the scene around us. ‘In all my travels,’ he said, ‘I do not think I’ve seen a more beautiful landscape. This is as thrilling as Versailles or Fontainebleau.’”