The legend of PV would seem to be in its difficulty. Yet it is great fun to play. I believe a good player (single digit) can birdie any hole on the course. The first time I played it was from the white tees and I was one over after a perfect drive on #8, at which time I hit a sand wedge from 85 yards to a back pin, urging the ball to go in the hole. One big bounce later I was on my way to an 8. I ended up in bunkers where I could not even figure out what direction would be best. Unfair? Not really, just a bad break on a tough course. I also made another 8 in #13 on the way to 83. Anyone can make a hard golf course. One that is hard, but fun, and spectacular? Not so many. I think I can score better at PV than at a number of other courses but for me Merion and PV stand out as the hardest courses that you can go low on if you play well, or shoot a million if you play badly, and that is the primary way how I judge a golf course. They are both great exams mentally and physically. I have a book on the history of the course and the old pictures show just how many thousands of trees were taken out during construction and now you can see over the years how nature is coming back hard. There still is good width but at some point some pruning will probably need to be done.