So who is getting me on Pine Valley?

[cluner]

Hahah obviously a joke (maybe), but curious to see if anybody is randomly a member. Ungodly if so, kudos to you.

 

<3

[Bonneville85308]

Sorry, can't help you. That is one Philly area club that I have never met a member from. They don't seem to play in any of the GAP events either. I've met many members from Merion, Aronimink, etc. through GAP but never Pine Valley. I am convinced they are all 80 year old reclusive billionaires who don't associate with people who aren't 80 year old reclusive billionaires.

[dpb5031]

I knew a member but sadly he passed away. He wasn't very old either...mid 50s. I was lucky to have gotten the invite and played there 3 times. The member was more a "friend of a friend," but a really good guy. PV is a great spot and I feel very fortunate to have the memories. Hopefully one day I'll get another shot. Maybe the senior Crump Cup in a few years...

[cluner]

I knew a member but sadly he passed away. He wasn't very old either...mid 50s. I was lucky to have gotten the invite and played there 3 times. The member was more a "friend of a friend," but a really good guy. PV is a great spot and I feel very fortunate to have the memories. Hopefully one day I'll get another shot. Maybe the senior Crump Cup in a few years...

 

That's pretty sweet, I'm jealous.

[PostandGhost]

Benjamin Franklin

[Mob]

I've played it a few times as a guest. There are 4 or 5 guys here in Indy who are members. Very neat experience, wonderful golf course, but I actually prefer Merion to Pine Valley. I really believe that these top 20-30 courses are all wonderful and the difference between the number 1 and 30 course is actually quite small. At the end of the day, a golf course can only be so good. I am surprised that it is consistently ranked number 1 in the country most years, as I feel like any of the top 10 courses could be ranked number 1.

 

Number 2 the at Pine Valley. This gives you a pretty good flavor of what the whole course looks like.

 

 

 

18 fairway at Merion by the famous Ben Hogan plaque.

 

 

[golfer07840]

I knew a member but sadly he passed away. He wasn't very old either...mid 50s. I was lucky to have gotten the invite and played there 3 times. The member was more a "friend of a friend," but a really good guy. PV is a great spot and I feel very fortunate to have the memories. Hopefully one day I'll get another shot. Maybe the senior Crump Cup in a few years...

 

Silly question, but is the course REALLY as hard as they say it is?

[Sir Larry Wildman]

Sorry, can't help you. That is one Philly area club that I have never met a member from. They don't seem to play in any of the GAP events either. I've met many members from Merion, Aronimink, etc. through GAP but never Pine Valley. I am convinced they are all 80 year old reclusive billionaires who don't associate with people who aren't 80 year old reclusive billionaires.

 

So my experience is just the opposite. I know of quite a few PV members; don't know them personally. They're all very old Main Line money types, and truly all doctors and lawyers. I also know two billionaires in the Philly area quite well and many people much, much wealthier than the PV guys. They're not even close to becoming members.

 

Getting into PV isn't like ANGC. It's not a billionaires club. I would bet at least one of the Merion guys you met in GAP is a PV guy; there's a good bit of overlap there (and at Gulph Mills too). But, they tend to never bring it up for obvious reasons.

[Drudersh]

Sorry, can't help you. That is one Philly area club that I have never met a member from. They don't seem to play in any of the GAP events either. I've met many members from Merion, Aronimink, etc. through GAP but never Pine Valley. I am convinced they are all 80 year old reclusive billionaires who don't associate with people who aren't 80 year old reclusive billionaires.

 

So my experience is just the opposite. I know of quite a few PV members; don't know them personally. They're all very old Main Line money types, and truly all doctors and lawyers. I also know two billionaires in the Philly area quite well and many people much, much wealthier than the PV guys. They're not even close to becoming members.

 

Getting into PV isn't like ANGC. It's not a billionaires club. I would bet at least one of the Merion guys you met in GAP is a PV guy; there's a good bit of overlap there (and at Gulph Mills too). But, they tend to never bring it up for obvious reasons.

 

I've met more Pine Valley members at high level GAP events and USGA events than anywhere else. The saying on membership requirements I've heard tossed around these days is "At least 30, $3 million, and 3 cap or less". In 2013 I was paired with a guy at the US Mid Am who had a brand spanking new PV bag. He was from the Carolinas and as it turned out had just been asked to join a couple months before and hadn't even hit 40 yet. Nice guy, good player. Took a 12 on a par three on day 1 though, that was tough to watch.

[scott_Donald]

my dad(Scottish) has a friend(Candian) who he met trough golf outings... its a small world in golf really...

 

I have a shirt and so annoying its too big really!!!

 

Funny I always chat to folk at my course - get a lot of American visitors... one day being nice will pay off...

[the700level]

Find me someone to take me to Pine Valley and I'll get you on Merion :)

[Sir Larry Wildman]

Find me someone to take me to Pine Valley and I'll get you on Merion :)

 

Not to be a jerk, but if someone has the juice to get a dude from the internet on PV they can get on Merion whenever they want.

[PAgolfer85]

I knew a member but sadly he passed away. He wasn't very old either...mid 50s. I was lucky to have gotten the invite and played there 3 times. The member was more a "friend of a friend," but a really good guy. PV is a great spot and I feel very fortunate to have the memories. Hopefully one day I'll get another shot. Maybe the senior Crump Cup in a few years...

 

Silly question, but is the course REALLY as hard as they say it is?

 

I was lucky enough to get to play it this past August. We played from the regular tees which is a par 70, 6540 yards, rating 73.5, slope 153.

 

Our warm up for the day was to just play the short course, which is a 10-hole course, nine holes play as "par 3s" and one a par 4. Eight of the ten holes are designed as replica holes of the actual course. If actually a par 3 on the real course, the hole is designed as very close to being the actual hole with yardage, elevation, and green. If an actual par 4 on the course, the fairway area is re-created with the green and they drop tees somewhere on the fairway with the distance on the tee and play in (not teed up) as a par 3. There is one hole that is a par 4 which replicates the par-5 #15 on the actual course. It's an awesome warm up as you get to play a little and get a sense of the green speeds, slopes, etc.

 

In terms of how hard it actual is entirely dependent on how good and consistent of a shot maker you are- I'll explain this as this is "common sense". The entire course is designed to be islands- tee boxes, fairways and greens are islands. If you are a good enough player to hit the generously sized fairways and greens, you can score well. With that said, even if you hit a lot of greens, you can easily three putt as they're huge and some have severe slopes. However, if you can't hit fairways and greens, you're absolutely dead. To put this in perspective, I played with another guest who is a 1 handicap and saw him make a 9 on #2 going from bunkers on left to fairway to bunkers before the green up the hill.

 

Higher handicaps will get slaughtered as they will have trouble carrying some tee shots over waste areas (eg, #4, #6, etc.). They'll also be putting it in bunkers/shrubs left or right of fairways often. Then there is the actual putting once on the greens which isn't easy.

 

But, lower handicaps, eg sub-4/5 won't find it as hard if they can be consistent off the tee and hit greens. Personally, I am a 1 handicap and shot 78 on my first attempt and my biggest struggle all day was three puts as I'd never seen the greens and left myself some very lengthy birdie putts. Also, there are many blind or somewhat blind tee shots where I would have hit more 3-irons or hybrids vs. driver and played the course slightly differently after seeing it once. The only double I made all day was on the par 3 14th as I put it in the shrubbery/bunker right of the green.

 

To sum up, definitely the best golf experience of my life. It absolutely exceeded expectations. It is specifically designed for hard-core golfers. There's no pool, no tennis courts (I believe) and just about the raw golf experience. The clubhouse is simple and the other members I talked to were not showy or snobs at all. They were just there to play golf and enjoy it. Epic experience.

[KCCO]

There are several members at my course that belong to pine valley as well...you would be amazed at the guests that play there. Amazing as it has its own zip code, police (prob 3 total). It's definitely a beautiful well designed course, but it's hard to use the word beautiful when I've seen so many other course that are much more desirable and would make my bucket list before PV. If I had the opportunity to play any course tomorrow, it wouldn't be there. Just my opinion from someone who has been there and lives within 5-10 mins of course.

[KCCO]

Find me someone to take me to Pine Valley and I'll get you on Merion :)

 

Not to be a jerk, but if someone has the juice to get a dude from the internet on PV they can get on Merion whenever they want.

This is so true. When PGA tour players don't have ability to walk on, yet Michael Jordan, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton do....you need some serious connects to get on

 

I do remember Bryson DeChambeau playing this past summer.

[andyk856]

I played in a scramble with a guy thats a member at PV, Great guy and i kissed his a** all day hoping he would invite me to play it lol.I also know a guy that works there and a caddie that works there. I have only been there to watch the crump cup and it was so damn good i couldn't believe it. If you ever get the chance atleast go to the crump cup and walk it. well worth it.

[monty09]

> @Mob said:

> I've played it a few times as a guest. There are 4 or 5 guys here in Indy who are members. Very neat experience, wonderful golf course, but I actually prefer Merion to Pine Valley. I really believe that these top 20-30 courses are all wonderful and the difference between the number 1 and 30 course is actually quite small. At the end of the day, a golf course can only be so good. I am surprised that it is consistently ranked number 1 in the country most years, as I feel like any of the top 10 courses could be ranked number 1.

>

>

>

> Number 2 the at Pine Valley. This gives you a pretty good flavor of what the whole course looks like.

 

tend to agree 100%. we do an annual PV and ANGC trip and i played Oakmont which i felt was the best golf exp i ever had.... I am playing Merion in a few weeks and wil report back