1/2 at Pleasant Valley Country Club

Pleasant Valley Country Club sits in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was designed by the team of Joe Finger, Jimmy Demaret, and Byron Nelson. This collaboration brought together Finger's architectural expertise with the competitive insights of two major champions—Demaret, a three-time Masters winner, and Nelson, who dominated the tour in the 1940s. The course opened in the 1960s during an era when tour professionals frequently partnered with architects to create layouts that balanced championship challenge with member playability.

The routing takes advantage of the rolling terrain characteristic of central Arkansas, with elevation changes that add strategic interest to approach shots and create natural amphitheater settings around several greens. Tree-lined fairways define playing corridors, and water features come into play on multiple holes, demanding accurate shot placement. The design reflects the mid-century philosophy of rewarding sound course management while providing enough length and hazard placement to test accomplished players.

Pleasant Valley has served the Little Rock golf community for decades as a private club, hosting regional amateur competitions and maintaining a traditional country club atmosphere. The layout remains a testament to the collaborative design approach popular in its era, when successful tour players brought their understanding of shot values and strategic variety to the drawing board alongside experienced golf course architects.