36 Architects’ Choice Top 100 Golf Courses Pine Valley New Jersey, USA George Crump, Harry Colt, 1919 Upon the foundation of the club and acquisition of the land in 1913, the design of Pine Valley became Philadelphia hotelier George Crump’s obsession – consulting with Harry Colt and numerous other architects for his one and only design. Fourteen holes were complete by the time of his death in 1918, with 12-15 completed by the following year, when the full 18 opened. Brandon Johnson of Arnold Palmer Design Company says: “This course confirmed a lot of my beliefs about what great golf course architecture could be. It is an original rustic, natural aesthetic golf course that was created. The golf course is a great combination of routing, site, beauty, design, variety, strategy, challenge and fun.” Crump wanted to create a course to form champion golfers, believing the tracks of the day were insufficiently testing to build true skill. To this day, Pine Valley retains a fearsome reputation for difficulty, even though golfers who have played there regularly point out its wide fairways and relative lack of length by modern championship standards. Yet no course intimidates more: the first timer, raised on tales of Hell’s Half Acre, the Devil’s Asshole and the impossibility of the fifth hole, will do well to remember how to swing a club through his fear. One golfer described the course, after his first visit, thus: “Imagine the best hole on your favourite of the Surrey heathland courses. Now, make it twice as good. Now imagine a course with eighteen holes of that quality. That’s Pine Valley.” ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #3 Photo: Larry Lambrecht Placed in top ten by 44% of architects Placed at No.1 by 14% of architects “ A great combination of routing, site, beauty, design, variety, strategy, challenge and fun” Brandon Johnson
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