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Born
in Philadelphia in 1871, Crump spent his formative years across the
Delaware in New Jersey, particularly Merchantville and Camden, which is
just 14 miles from the product of his obsession - Pine Valley Golf Club,
the finest collection of golf holes on the planet.
Since
the inception of its "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses" rankings in
1966, Golf Digest's list has become the standard by which elite golf
courses are measured. In the 43 years the list has been published, which
is done so biennially, there has only been a single instance when Pine
Valley didn't occupy the apex of American golf.
Much
of the details about Pine Valley's formation are now lost on the
readers who simply equate the course with its top-tier status. But
before Pine Valley became synonymous with and virtually unchallenged for
the title of "Greatest Golf Course Ever Constructed Anywhere", the
course was synonymous with Crump.
Crump
was a member of many golf clubs, notably Philadelphia Cricket Club,
Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Atlantic City Country Club. His
single-minded focus would begin to manifest itself, as Crump's passion
made him one of the best golfers in the city a few short years after
taking up the game.
But
Crump and his close friends, often referred to as the "Ballsome", which
included then journalist A.W. Tillinghast, who would eventually become
famous as a golf course designer, deemed the Philadelphia golf scene an
inadequate breeding ground for championship golfers. The men believed
the city's courses were not of championship merit and its location
wasn't suitable for year-round play. If the city were to develop
world-class players, it was necessary to build a true test that would
give rise to greater abilities.
This
ideology and a philosophy that championship-level golf courses would
spawn highly-skilled golfers is said to be the primary inspiration in
the creation of Pine Valley.
It's
ironic that the exclusivity of the club hasn't allowed it to become a
golf factory, producing champion golfers year after year. The design of
the course, which doesn't allocate room for thousands of spectators, has
also kept Pine Valley from hosting any significant professional
tournaments. Except for two Walker Cup matches - and those nearly 50
years apart - Pine Valley has never hosted a national or international
competition. The only time the club has had mainstream exposure was a
1962 Shell's Wonderful World of Golf match between Gene Littler and Lord
Byron Nelson.
The
most significant competition to annually take place on the grounds is
the Crump Cup, an invitational golf tournament for mid-amateurs that was
first held in 1922 and is named for the club's distinguished founder.
Aside from the tournament-play aspect of the event, the Crump Cup is the
one time each year that Pine Valley opens its gates to the public.
During the final round spectators who wish to are able to tour the
course and view tournament play.
Many
outside forces influenced the development of Pine Valley, but make no
mistake; Crump was the mastermind, the driving force and the
unquestioned heart and soul of the project. Creating Pine Valley was
Crump's destiny, the vision and passion to do so came from within, and
while external forces were required to bring the project to its eventual
conclusion, Pine Valley was the byproduct of Crump's tireless effort.
Family, friends and significant others certainly help to shape our
lifetimes, often changing their course, but in the end, we are the lone
architects as Crump was here.
The
other man credited with having a significant footprint on Pine Valley
is H.S. Colt, a famous English architect of that time. Crump brought in
Colt for a consultation, which he was paid for, and Colt echoed Crump's
belief that the land had all the potential of becoming a legendary
layout. While Colt had an impact on the final product, he wasn't nearly
as instrumental as Crump and contributed more in the technical aspects
of design. As one writer put it, "Pine Valley's framework was Colt's,
but the course's spirit was Crump.
There
are two different accounts of how exactly Crump discovered Pine Valley
that have become popular, and both stories have more or less coalesced
into one credible tale. It is said that Crump was making a regular trip
to the coast, specifically Atlantic City by way of the Reading Railroad,
when he peered out his window and gazed upon the site that would become
Pine Valley. But legend has it that Crump was smitten with the site as a
hunting ground, not a golf course. However, when he finally walked the
land with gun in hand, he noticed it was remarkably well suited for his
vision of America's greatest golf course.
Crump
would purchase the land with the money he made from the sale of the
Colonnade Hotel in Philadelphia, which he had sold for anywhere between
$300,000 and $1 million. It is estimated that Crump spent upward of
$250,000 of his own money on Pine Valley; a figure that would be in the
neighborhood of $4 million today.
At
a time when earth moving was not a popular practice among golf course
architects, Crump brought in enough man power to transform the
sandy-soiled forest into an 18-hole course. It is estimated that 22,000
trees were uprooted during this process.
The
project began in 1913 and it was initially predicted to be complete and
ready for play by fall of 1914. However, a variety of problems were
encountered throughout construction which included establishing the turf
and the stalemate created by World War I. When the course was still
incomplete in the fall of 1917 despite the massive amount of money that
had been poured into the project some started to label it as "Crump's
Folly."
Crump
never lived to see his life's work completed; he died of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound in January of 1918 in Merchantville.
The
duo of Alan Wilson, who took care of the turf problems and Hugh Wilson,
celebrated amateur golf architect, completed the final four holes and
in 1921 Pine Valley introduced its full 18. Just a year later, the
course had grown in and was experiencing ideal playing conditions.
His
death was greeted with great surprise and sadness by his friends in the
golf community. Tillinghast wrote, "This course must ever be a monument
to the man who found it and made it."
A Course Recognized for its Cumulative Strength
A
famous quote by Robert Trent Jones, one of the world's most noted golf
architects, quickly answers the question as to why Pine Valley is so
revered. "To my way of thinking, Pine Valley possesses more classic
holes than any other course in the world - ten of eighteen," said Jones.
"Of the remaining holes, five are outstanding, two are good, and one,
the twelfth, is ordinary, which at Pine Valley, is tantamount to being a
misfit."
Before
you start feeling badly for poor No. 12, Pine Valley isn't a bad place
to be characterized as the runt of the litter. The place is home to more
great golf holes than any other course on the globe.
Perhaps
the most recognizable hole is the par-5, 580 yard 7th. In comparison
with the course's other 17 holes, the undulation on this three-shot
beauty is relatively tame. What has been called the flattest stretch of
land on the course, No. 7 is protected by the course's single most
famous hazard - Hell's Half Acre, which bisects the fairway from the 285
to the 380 yard mark.
The
design principles utilized by Crump are legendary. First he stuck by
the belief that no hole should be laid out parallel to the next. By
utilizing all 184 acres of the land he purchased, which later grew to
over 600, Crump could constantly change the direction of holes; there
were never more than two holes in succession that followed the same
direction. Also, Crump believed that players shouldn't be able to see
any hole other than the one he was playing. He also thought it was
necessary to make a golfer use every club in his bag and this was
accomplished by requiring a well-balanced variety of approach shots.
In
addition to it being a famously difficult test of golf, Pine Valley
became a gathering point for architects during the golden age of golf
design. Visitors to the property to discuss the finer points of their
trade included Harry Colt, Charles Blair MacDonald, Walter Travis,
William Flynn, Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie, A.W. Tillinghast and
Perry Maxwell.
Overall
the most fascinating aspect has to be the level of difficulty, which
remains to this day. From the championship tees the course measures less
than 7,000 yards and is sloped at 155 and rated 75.2; some of the
highest figures in the world. Pine Valley is a par-70.
Maybe
the finished product was exactly what Crump envisioned after all. When
he started this healthy undertaking, Crump envisioned Pine Valley as the
supreme test for the strong with no concessions for the weak - survival
of the fittest; an accurate description, ahead of its time.
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