Golfadelphia

It’s just like riding a bike, the saying goes. Growing up, my Dad would take my sister and I skiing a couple weeks throughout each year. We came to love it and obviously became more and more adept at it as those skiing miles added up. There were a couple years we stayed in the same routine even when I moved back east but eventually, those trips came to an end. In fact, my Dad sold his place in Lake Tahoe and bought one in La Quinta, so those skiing trips turned into golf. And alas, here we are. Decades later, I found myself on skis yet again as my family wanted to start going. I thought it would take a day or two to get back into the swing of things but I was wrong. It took half a run. After all those years, my body went right back into its way of turning this way and that down the mountain. Like picking up with an old friend as if you had seen them yesterday, the amount of time in between simply didn’t matter.

And so it was with Pine Valley. It had been years since my last visit but it mattered little. My car moved with purpose as if on auto drive to the course, then through the entrance and past the Eighteenth. I moved about the clubhouse and course like I was back home, everything was right where it was years before. It all came rushing back as if I had been there yesterday. Except it had been a while and two notably relevant things had significantly changed. The first was I was better at golf now than I was last time I was here. About seven to eight strokes better but more importantly, I’m at a point where I can pull off most any shot with a good deal of probability whereas on prior visits here, there were shots I would have that were more of the hit and hope variety. There would be a more thoughtful navigation of the course this time around. The second was the amount of playing experiences elsewhere. I had seen much much more this time around. How that would impact my perception of the course remained to be seen. Regardless, I was excited, more excited than I had been to golf some where for a while. With my first round here all those years ago also early Spring, it felt like things had come full circle. It was time for introspection, as well as exploration.

The Pine Valley return is the perfect introduction to the Redux series. Just as golf courses evolve, so do we. Experience and time do wonders in molding and changing our perspective, our preferences and memorability. At the same time, there is no doubt the more one plays a course, the better they get to know it. The Redux series will focus on a return to noteworthy courses and how they have changed, what characteristics stand out now that did not before and how perspectives of the course and its place in course architecture may have changed over the time between visits.

PV has been among my favorite courses since my first round played. What stood out to me initially is how strong every hole was individually yet were better collectively, especially as they were presented sequentially. The intensity of the round was also so distinct. There were no giveaway shots here. One had to think through and pull off each and every shot, or else. The degree of penalty is measured and it’s nary a lost ball or water hazard that ends the suffering; one is allowed to dig deeper and deeper as the strokes continue to pile up. The varying design styles all work well with one another and through the round, the golfer is provided ample opportunity to hit some remarkable shots; all while the converse is always possible as well – getting buried in an avalanche of strokes trying to extricate from some precarious position or another. As time wore on, I began to try and sort my thoughts on the course against everything else I played. A couple courses struck a touch more for various reasons over the ensuing years but then I wondered whether the advantage of primacy was real culprit. After returning, I think I have it.

One gets submerged in the game here. The woods provide a tranquil backdrop but there are no distractions from the golfer staying with the task at hand. This is fitting, as the golfer needs all his focus on the game to properly navigate through the complex exam before him. Also, it’s the extremes the course takes you to, which simply is not matched any where else. I remember every shot of every round for that reason. And as I hit the best tee shot at the First I could think of and followed that up with an approach to a few feet for birdie, those in my group were excited for me but I knew better. I knew there would be a time the course would come calling for its due. So it was at the Third, then Fourth, and yes, then Fifth. Then it was my turn to take control and I had the upper hand until the course once again asserted itself at the Fourteenth. And so on. Through the round, I would hit glorious shots that would launch my confidence into the stratosphere, then it would come crashing down with some missed shot in a deplorable pit or the like. As I sat in the clubhouse after the round, it came to me again, vividly, what is so profoundly impressive here. The golfer is more enlightened in one way or another every time he steps off the Eighteenth. He learns a bit more about himself as a golfer, as well as the game. That is the unique character of Pine Valley.

The course began with play on five holes, then to an eleven hole routing in 1914. Those holes were constructed in just about nineteen months. While the remaining seven holes were scheduled to be built at the dawn of the next season, it would take another six years for them to be completed. Drought, war, global financial struggles and Crump taking his own life all transpired in between. Everyone involved in its design recognized the course would evolve with play, so many of the holes were purposely left unfinished, then altered according to the play observed on them. Harry Colt was one of the architects that worked with Crump and modified some of the holes to be more playable but Crump ramped up their challenge. Colt’s main contribution is the Fifth. Once the course was complete Charles Alison was asked to review the plans and was generally satisfied, not feeling the need to impart any significant revisionary work. The club was determined to capture the specifics of Crump’s vision as much as possible so in addition to Alison, they formed a committee of his close friends and confidants: Simon Carr, W.C. Fownes (Oakmont), W.P. Smith and Joseph Bole. While the committee came up with much of the same suggestions as Alison, signifying a consistency in what Crump communicated to others, there were changes to the course that stand even to present day. Some of these more significant changes included the driving bunker facing the golfer at the tee on the Fourth, the Fifth green modified in shape to rectangular, the alternate green on the right at the Ninth, a new green altogether at the Eleventh, the tee was moved to the far side of the water at the Fifteenth, the green was remodeled and bunkered made more severe at the Seventeenth and a large central hump in the green was removed at the Eighteenth.

Simon Carr corresponded with the club in 1921 and laid out in some detail what Crump had told him about his plans for the course. The letter outlines how Crump wanted four par 3’s, two for each nine, that each should address the four principal clubs (mashie (the Tenth), midiron (the Fourteenth), cleek (The Third) and a full one shot (take a wild guess)). Crump viewed the, “let up” holes as the Tenth and Fourteenth, placed strategically after a row of more challenging ones. The letter details that the Eighth should play as a, “genuine drive and pitch hole,” the Twelfth as a, “drive and then pitch and run hole,” the Fourth and Sixteenth should require two long shots to reach the green, the par 5’s well separated, four holes which require a drive and midiron (The Second, Sixth, Eleventh and Seventeenth), four holes where a healthy approach is required after decent drives (The First, Ninth, Thirteenth and Eighteenth) and for the Ninth and Seventeenth, Carr wrote that Crump, “particularly delighted in the sight of the greens up against the sky-line” and prized these features very high. Not bad for what was once the ocean floor.

Pine Valley was a carefully designed course that endured comprehensive construction and agronomy to see that design through in the right way. The members both early on and certainly over the ensuing decades ensure that these design principles and vision of Crump remain manifest. This certainly is felt by the golfer as he pulls up to its gates and tenfold as he becomes enamored on its fairways and greens. My first writings on Pine Valley emphasized that it was difficult to put into words what is so special here. It is certainly something that is best felt. There is an aspect here that presents a higher degree of appreciation for the golfer that is more skilled. This allowed me to see the course in tones I was unable to in prior plays, as I was able to delve more into its strategic fabric as opposed to remaining in sheer survival mode. This is something most every other course cannot pull off or should not even try but here, is part of what the course set out to do in ensuring a well-suited round for the golfer, no matter how skilled. Having played many other courses since the last time I was here helped put this in perspective, as well as the very intricately balanced greens. Tree removal was also evident and some of the views were opened up, including the space behind the Ninth to reveal the glorious sky line background Crump prized. It may have been years and many many courses visited since I last set foot upon Pine Valley but the passage of time and experience helped crystallize my appreciation for its traits that make it one of the best golf courses in the world.

In a video of PV, Jerry Tarde of Golf Digest tells us to, “Savor the experience. You will never forget it or any of its holes all the days of your life.” This resonated with me, as every time I’m on the premises, I can’t help but to savor every moment. From the round I suffered from the shanks to the time we were the only group on the property to the time I took my son to the Crump Cup and he declared without any prompting, “this is a beautiful golf course,” Pine Valley is terrifyingly exquisite and memorably haunting in all the right ways. Jerry is right that you will never forget. And those fortunate to return get to re-live those holes played over and over in one’s head on a seemingly endless loop. Lord knows if or when I will return but if it happens, it will indeed be just like old times with an old friend for that reason.