Ron, in answer to your question on the low running hook, no shot is punished more at Pine Valley. It is anathema to posting a good score.
I chatted with Tom Paul yesterday about hole number seven and Hells Half Acre. . Tom mentioned writings reflect that Crump talked of a double dogleg on #7, which would have moved the second half of the fairway over by what is now the practice field. It struck me that this would have made the third shot easier. We talked some more and this prompted me to post the topic here.
Caddying for so many great players there I was blessed to see how they thought . listening and watching their reactions to the shots required to score. Getting to play there every night for a couple years helped me understand it a little better. I was lucky that my natural miss was a push block, which is the right miss at PVGC. More to that later.
On another level , I remember quite clearly Pete Dye jumping in a pot bunker way left off the sixth fairway, shaking his head and no doubt thinking , why here? Only a low running snipe could find its way here. Ah ha Ron! 'm quite confident that I understand the defenses PVGC has to scoring today, but perhaps you have to go back in time to understand the genesis for the design . When I thought of Crump last night before posting my query, I wasn't begging Mac's question, but his response illuminated it it for me!
If you built a fortress of golf today, you would use rough, water and firm and fast conditions. In Crump's experiences, both playing and studying , he saw just those conditions . The great players of his day found a way to overcome these. But, given the technology available to them, could they carry the hazards and "gronkel" that defined Pine Valley at its inception. Probably not.
Bobby Jones statement that Nicklaus "played a game with which I am not familiar" is really telling. In watching Jones on his fantastic educational tapes Its striking how much lag he had in his swing, which resulted in the fantastic , slinging shots that he hit. Wouldn't Jones be the epitome of an "expert" Crump was defending against. My good friend Billy Care, a reclusive golf legend in our area, told me he was struck by the height Nicklaus hit the ball. Nicklaus changed the game , today the trend continues, everything is straight up . In Crump's time, no one hit shots like this.
Crump and his fellow Philadelphians played at course that were likely hard , fast and windy. They played at the shore all winter and I just have to walk outside to see a low runner is the shot of the day . The best players of Crump's day hit low hard running draws, which would allow you to score. No doubt his experiences overseas mirrored this, as anyone who has played there knows. Pine Valley is the antithesis , in fact it does not reward the low running shot with the exception of holes four and twelve. It is built for someone who hit it like young Jack Nicklaus, not Johnny McDermott. Soft , high carrying shots work best, low running hooks often end up in spots that you can't describe without expletives.
Thanks gentleman, enjoying the discourse on George Crump's masterpiece.