As the old proverb goes, “too many cooks spoil the broth.” It doesn’t apply to Aronimink Golf Club in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Donald Ross’s original design philosophy has survived the test of time and numerous upgrades and restoration projects since it opened in 1928. Almost a century later, and with the inputs of other course designers including George Fazio, Robert Trent Jones and Gil Hanse, the old masterpiece has managed to retain Ross’s masterful brushstrokes.
Next week’s US PGA, the second Major of the season, where world number one Scottie Scheffler defends the title and world number two Rory McIlroy will aim for a different kind of back-to-back success in aiming to follow up his successful defence of the Masters last month, will be only the second time for Aronimink to play host to the championship.
The first and only previous time was in 1962 when South African Gary Player lifted his first Wanamaker Trophy. It was also due to stage the PGA Championship in 1993 but withdrew due to a lack of an African-American membership at the time, an issue that was subsequently resolved and which led to it holding the Seniors PGA in 2003 and the US Women’s PGA Championship in 2020.
The return of the PGA Championship to Aronimink, though, brings a fresh challenge for many of the field, with only those players who competed in the BMW Championship – part of the FedEx Cup playoffs – in 2018, won by Keegan Bradley, having any advance knowledge of the examination that lies ahead.
READ MORE
The course is an old-school classic. When Ross completed the original design in 1928, he proclaimed: “I intended to make this my masterpiece.” Which is saying something, given that the Scot’s collection of almost 400 designs includes courses like Seminole, East Lake and Pinehurst No 2.
Before the staging of the BMW eight years ago, Hanse and his design collaborator Jim Wagner worked to restore the course’s architecture to Ross’s original design.
Hanse and Wagner were hired by Aronimink in 2015 to follow up on previous restoration projects conducted by William Gordon in the 1950s and later by Fazio and Trent Jones. When they looked at a film showing Ross on site during the construction in the 1920s, Hanse recounted: “We became convinced this was a special place to [Ross] and he was changing [his plans] as he went along. Where he drew one bunker, he put in three or four. We wanted to give a facsimile to the direction he was going.”
There remains a school of thought that Ross’s assistant JB McGovern – the greens chairman at Aronimink – inspired the cluster of bunkers with the designer’s approval.
So it was that Hanse and Wagner focused much of the restoration on bringing back the abundance of bunkers, three and four in some locations and 178 in all. There had only been 72 when they started the project in 2015. Many had been filled in over the years, so Hanse sought to return the course to the original drawings of Ross.
On winning the BMW back in 2018, when poor weather in September dragged it to a Monday finish, Bradley – who defeated Justin Rose in a playoff – was asked: “I know it’s a long way off, but can you envision what it would be like? Can you talk about this being a Major championship-type venue?”
His response. “The venue is incredible. Hopefully it won’t be this wet. It doesn’t matter what course you play; if it’s wet, the tour players are going to shoot low scores on it. I think if this course plays firm and fast with high rough, I think it’s a really difficult golf course, and it’ll be a great test for us.”
Also, ahead of that BMW Championship and with the PGA Championship in mind, Hanse and Wagner oversaw a large-scale tree removal programme and expanded many of the greens to what they believe Ross intended and rebuilt all the tees.
“Ross wanted the tee boxes to be free form, not rectangular,” observed Hanse.
Of the challenge next week, when Bradley’s prediction of nine years ago envisioning a firmer course is set to play out, Hanse observed: “I believe Aronimink will be a full examination of a player’s game. You will have to drive the ball well because the rough will be penal.
“You’re going to have to hit good irons because the greens often feature different sections or quadrants, which will make them challenging to read. You won’t just be able to hit the putting surface, you will have to hit an exact area of the green to be in a position to score. Players will have to strike the ball cleanly and it will be a complete golfer that will play well at Aronimink.”
