"During the following winter and early spring, enough of the land was cleared to reveal the main features of the property, and to disclose the contour of the ground.
In order to procure the very best design for the golf course, Mr. Crump secured the services of that brilliant master of golf architecture, Mr. H. S. Colt, of international fame.
Mr. Colt visited Pine Valley in May, 1913. After making a general inspection of the land, he declared his amazement that such a rare opportunity for a genuinely classical course should be found so near to Philadelphia. He spent a full week examining the ground thoroughly, and then submitted plans of an eighteen-hole golf course, which, in his opinion, would be the equal of any inland course in the world..."
"...With the plans in hand, work upon the construction of the course was begun in earnest. Fairways were cleared and ploughed; roads were built; a vast amount of grading done; and many of the large bunkers were cut. A small army of men were set to work digging thousands of tons of humus out of the low places. A compost of this humus with sand and barnyard manure forms an almost ideal mixture for putting greens. All the greens and tees at Pine Valley are built of this mixture, to a depth of twelve inches.
The land on which the Pine Valley golf course is located is a unique formation, confined to the locality. There is nothing like it in South Jersey. It looks to have been some upheaval of the bed of the sea in bygone ages. There are ridges and rolls in every direction; big ones and little ones; long ones and short ones; hills and knolls, with every variety of shape and size. You could not fancy any contour of ground more admirably suited for golf purposes. Mr. Colt was greatly impressed with it, and he has surely made the most of its opportunities in the superb plan which he designed. Nature made the golf holes. Mr. Colt discovered them."
Simon Carr (founding member PV), Golf Illustrated - Janaury 1915