Pine Valley Golf Club
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| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Pine Valley, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Established | 1913 |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Tournaments hosted | Walker Cup (1936, 1985) |
| Designed by | George Arthur Crump, Harry Colt, Charles Hugh Alison, A. W. Tillinghast, Perry Maxwell |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 6,999 (championship tees) |
| Course rating | 75.2 |
Pine Valley Golf Club is a golf course in Pine Valley, Camden County, in southern New Jersey. It was ranked the number one course in Golf Magazine's 100 Top Courses in the U.S. and the World in 2012, and 2015.
Pine Valley was founded in 1913 by a group of amateur golfers from Philadelphia. They purchased 184 acres (0.7 km²) of rolling, sandy ground deep in the pinelands of southern New Jersey, and gave George Arthur Crump, who knew the area from hunting expeditions, the opportunity to design the course. This was Crump's first and only golf course design, and he set himself some idiosyncratic principles: no hole should be laid out parallel to the next; no more than two consecutive holes should play in the same direction; and players shouldn't be able to see any hole other than the one they were playing. He also felt that a round of golf on his course should require a player to use every club in the bag.
The site was challenging and the project became something of an obsession for Crump, who sold his hotel in Philadelphia and plowed his money into the course. Marshlands had to be drained and 22,000 tree stumps had to be pulled with special steam-winches and horse-drawn cables. This was all done at a time when many golf courses were still built with minimal earth moving, and the course was called "Crump's Folly" by some. The first eleven holes opened unofficially in 1914, but when Crump died in 1918 four holes - #12, #13, #14, #15 - were incomplete.
Pine Valley later spread to 623 acres (2.5 km²), of which 416 acres (1.7 km²) remain virgin woodland. Since Crump's death, alterations have been made by several other leading golf course designers. The club also has a ten-hole short course designed by Tom Fazio and Ernest Ransome III. It is a private club, and non-members can play only if invited and accompanied by a member.
Although it is rich in golf tradition, the clubhouse is plain, and simple. The clubhouse consists of the great room and the bar. There is also the pro shop, several dining rooms, the main dining room, the private board room, and the patio. There are numerous pictures of Crump, as well as much history and antique golf memorabilia. Upstairs are member's lockers, several guest rooms, and a small lounge named the John Arthur Brown room.
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