Anyone playing PVGC in the past 15-20 years has had is easy!! I've played there on a regular basis many many times over the past 30+ years and it's a "shell" of what it once was! The course is more open and frankly easier than when we slogged around it in the 70s, and 80s. Ransome and clan's effort to speed up slow play at PVGC resulted in them clearing most of the debris out of the forced-carry areas making the course play substantially easier. Moreover, terrifying slopes once in the green has been reduced making putting more of a yawner than a nail biter.
The practice area is an embarrassment - looks more like something out of a factory golf resort. Bring back the time when we threw balls down at the weed-infested helicopter landing area and shagged our shots.... with 5 minutes before we had to drive our cars back to the parking lot to make out tee times. Bring back singing in the bar area. Bring back cigars and cognac by a roaring fall fireplace snackin on Ritz and cheddar. Bring back tipping to the staff. Give me dormitories in the annex instead of a something akin to a Day's Inn suite - geez, do I get frequent flyer miles??
McIlroy recently played from the new back tees which taxed him (just a little) on holes like 4, 7 and 18 - but for the pros, PVGC, once harder than diamonds, is now soft around the middle, looking more like a mainstream course than one of the great exceptions in the golfing world.
JC