Bullet point summary by AI
- Aronimink Golf Club hosts the 2026 PGA Championship for only the second time since 1962.
- The course stands out with its moderate length and wide fairways, a rare setup among modern major venues.
- Fast greens and strategic approach shots will test players, with winning scores expected far above recent PGA Tour events.
While the PGA Championship doesn’t officially have a set rotation of courses, we’ve certainly gotten used to seeing some familiar tracks for the only all-professional men’s major.
For example, last year’s host, the beautiful Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, has hosted the PGA twice in the last decade alone, also entertaining the world’s best in 2017. The 2024 site, Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club, also hosted in 2014. The 2023 venue, Rochester’s Oak Hill Country Club, has hosted three times since the turn of the century, also accommodating in 2003 and 2013. The list goes on.
But then you’ve got this week’s host, Aronimink Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia, which hasn’t hosted a men’s major since Gary Player hoisted the famed Wanamaker Trophy at the 1962 PGA Championship.
It’s not that the Donald Ross design hasn’t seen major championship golf since then, as Aronimink is unique in the fact that it was the first course ever to host the men’s PGA Championship (1962), the Senior PGA Championship (2003), and the Women’s PGA Championship (2020). And the PGA Tour has been here three times in somewhat recent years for the 2010 and 2011 playings of the now-defunct AT&T National and the 2018 BMW Championship. But still, it’s not as if we see this beautiful layout all the time.
And make no mistake about it; we’re in for a treat, as Aronimink is not your normal major championship venue.
Aronimink Golf Club is not long or tight, but the greens are ridiculously fast
Now, given today’s technology, combined with the fact that golfers nowadays are stronger than ever, the vast majority of major championship venues are either ridiculously long or ridiculously tight, with plenty being both.
But that’s not what you’re going to see at Aronimink this week.
For starters, while tee boxes will naturally vary a touch from day to day, the average length of this golf course is going to be roughly 7,400 yards, which isn’t long at all in today’s game. You know how some places have multiple par-4s over 500 yards? Aronimink only has one, that being the 546-yard 15th.
Well, if it’s not long, it’s gotta be tight, right? That’s also a no. Roughly 10 years ago, the club brought in renowned architect Gil Hanse to restore the original vision Ross had for the course when he first created it back in the 1920s. And that meant widening fairways and removing trees. Don’t get things totally twisted, though, as players will still have close to 200 bunkers to deal with.
Overall, however, there’s not a ton of difficulty off the tee, at least not on the par-4s and par-5s, that is. Truth be told, a lot of guys this week will just pull out the big stick and bomb it down as far as they can. In his pre-tourney presser, Rory McIlroy flat-out said that would likely be his plan, saying that when “traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee.”
So, we’re in for some unique golf this week, as we just don’t see this kind of thing on a week-to-week basis on the PGA Tour. And certainly not in major championship golf.
But as it goes with most Ross designs, it’s the greens that are going to get these guys, as they’re expected to play lightning fast, with most expecting the putting surfaces to hit 13.5 on the Stimpmeter. And not only does that make putting more difficult, but approach shots become a little tricky as well, especially those shorter ones where one has to get the spin just right.
Oh, and did we forget to mention that the average green around Aronimink is about 8,300 square feet? So, imagine facing a 75-footer at that speed. Sure, back in 2018 at the BMW, players hit the green roughly 11 percent more than they did during a normal PGA Tour event.
But it also has to be noted that the course played very soft that week due to heavy rain, which is why the event ultimately had to be shortened to 54 holes. That’s also why Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose each shot 20-under in just those 54 holes before Bradley won in a playoff.
Unless heavy rain falls again, do NOT expect the winning score to be anywhere near 20-under this week. It’ll be better than the 2-under that Player posted back in 1962, but one has to wonder by just how much.
Get excited, golf fans. The 2026 PGA Championship from Aronimink has arrived.
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