Pine Valley Golf Club (Short)

Overview: Pine Valley Golf Club’s Short Course is a private ten-hole practice layout beside the famous Pine Valley course in southern New Jersey. Tom Fazio and Ernie Ransome designed it as a concentrated study in approach shots rather than as a conventional 18-hole round. Each hole is a one-shot test, with sandy ground, scrub, pines and elevation changes creating the same broad visual language as the larger course. The available course descriptions give approximate alternative lengths rather than one standard par-and-yardage total, so this profile does not invent a conventional scorecard for the ten-hole routing.

History: The Short Course opened in 1992 after Ransome, then Pine Valley’s chairman, collaborated with Fazio on an unusual training concept. Eight of the ten holes are thoughtful simulations of approach shots into holes on the main course, while two holes are original creations. The design is not meant to compete with the championship course; it is a separate architectural exercise that isolates the decisions around a putting surface and makes them easier to study. That distinction matters because the Short Course has its own identity, routing and ten-hole format.

Did You Know? The first Short Course hole echoes Pine Valley’s famous 10th hole closely enough to reproduce its elevation change within about a foot. The ten holes also borrow shot ideas from the main course’s 2nd, 3rd, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes, turning the layout into a compact architectural conversation with its larger neighbor.