Aronimink Golf Club: Complete Course Guide for the 2026 PGA Championship

Photo by Geoffrey Moffett on Unsplash

Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania is about to host its second PGA Championship — 64 years after Gary Player claimed the Wanamaker Trophy there in 1962. Donald Ross called it his masterpiece. The restoration by Gil Hanse between 2016 and 2018 brought it back to Ross's original vision. Here is everything you need to know about the course that will define the 2026 PGA Championship.

The Basics

Aronimink plays as a par 70 from the championship tees at approximately 7,267 yards. That is an unusually low par for a major championship venue — most major courses play as par 71 or 72. With only two par fives on the course, birdies are at a premium and the scoring will be tight. The slope rating is 138 and the course rating is 75.5, reflecting genuine championship difficulty.

Donald Ross and the Design Philosophy

Donald Ross designed Aronimink in 1928 at the height of his career. Ross had already designed Pinehurst No. 2, Seminole Golf Club, and Oakland Hills — three of the most celebrated courses in America. He considered Aronimink his finest work. His design philosophy at Aronimink centered on what he described as the supreme test of golf: exceptional long-iron play. The course rewards precise tee shots and demands equally precise approach shots into greens that are complex, sloped, and unforgiving of mis-hits. Ross incorporated more than 100 bunkers in his original design, clustered in ways that punish the wrong lines off the tee and force difficult recovery shots.

The Gil Hanse Restoration (2016-2018)

The 2016-2018 restoration by architect Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner brought Aronimink back to Ross's original design intent. Using aerial photographs from 1929, period film of Ross on site, and surviving ground photographs, the restoration team widened fairways, expanded greens back to their original size, rebuilt more than 100 bunkers to restore clustered schemes, and added 18 new tee boxes to maintain hole character at modern yardages. The result is a course with 18 original Donald Ross greens — an extraordinarily rare distinction for a nearly 100-year-old course — and more than 170 total bunkers.

Key Holes

The opening hole is one of the most distinctive starts in championship golf. The tee shot plunges downhill into a valley, followed by a 250-yard uphill approach to a well-guarded, two-tiered green. Four bunkers border the right side of the fairway and two protect the front of the green. It establishes immediately what Aronimink demands.

The 8th hole is a 242-yard par three that many consider the hardest hole on the course relative to par. It plays downhill and the green sits at an angle where the surface runs from front-left to back-right, creating one of the most challenging approaches of the championship week. Tiger Woods chose a soft 4-iron here during the 2018 BMW Championship on his way to a first-round 62.

The 10th hole — a 444-yard par four — is considered by many the most demanding par four on the course. A narrow fairway, a bunker on the right, and deep rough on the left set up an approach to a sharply terraced green protected by a water hazard at the front left.

The 17th is a 229-yard par three where an errant tee shot will often find the lake guarding the green. And the 18th — a 463-yard uphill par four — finishes in front of the clubhouse with one of the finest settings in golf. The approach must carry bunkers to reach a winding, sloped green with multiple difficult pin locations.

Aronimink's History with Major Championships

The 1962 PGA Championship was the course's first major, with Gary Player winning at two under par — a reflection of how demanding the course plays. Aronimink has since hosted the 1977 US Amateur, the 2003 Senior PGA Championship, the 2010 and 2011 AT&T National PGA Tour events, the 2018 BMW Championship (won by Keegan Bradley over Justin Rose in a playoff), and the 2020 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. The 2026 PGA Championship is its return to the biggest stage in professional golf.

What to Expect Scoring-Wise

At par 70 with only two par fives and relentless difficulty on the par fours, winning scores at Aronimink are likely to be modest by modern major championship standards. If conditions firm up during the week, even par could be competitive. In 2018, the course record of 62 was shot by multiple players during the BMW Championship — but that was without the rough and pin positions of a major setup. Expect the winning score to land somewhere between eight and fifteen under par depending on weather and course conditions during championship week.