Pine Valley lore would have you believe the 1982 Crump Cup qualifying round was the hardest set up ever. Pins back right on #1, #3 right front, front middle on #15. Green speeds off the charts....I believe Jay Sigel was low with 77 and the championship flight broke at 85.....yep 85! Superintendent Dick Bator had seethed for a year after fiuture Walker Cup captain Bob Lewis had shot 64 the previous year and whispers that technology had left PV defenseless it was soft and no longer relevant had set him off.....lol! Bator was crazy, and got his revenge, for his beloved golf course.
However at the caddy tournament the following year he may have outdid himself. An argument could be made that it was even tougher , but I don't think the greens were quite as fast, they may have been close . Never have I seen the greens with a deathlike sheen as evident in the qualifier!
Caddie tourney day 1982
Every tee box was one foot in the rough, Pins all the way back on #1,5',6 and 16. #2 was classic tucked all the way right middle up on a shelf that may have only been used this day. You literally had to walk to the left side of the fairway to see the pin...more trees then. Bator had a love hate relationship with caddies, and members for that matter, and he just wanted to embarrass us that day. He vowed none of us golf bums, present company excluded would break 80 that day. . He was wrong , one did, and it pissed him off big time ! I to this day love the guy, he was a true genius at what he did, certainly top five ever.
In retrospect the toughest pin ever would have to be front right on #3 on Crump day. You actually had to hit it three feet past and make the downhill terror that followed the leave. One or two feet past or anything short rolled back off the green. This was one day the speed and course got away from it's intent , and I know it will bring a warm feeling to Dick just thinking about it!