Photo by Cristina Anne Costello on Unsplash Augusta National Golf Club is the most famous golf course in the world — home of The Masters, guarded by strict secrecy, and accessible to virtually no one. Yet its story, history, and mythology captivate millions of golfers who will never set foot on its grounds. Here's what's actually known about Augusta National — the history, the membership, the traditions, and what it's like for those rare few who get to play it. The Founding Vision Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie designed Augusta National on the grounds of a former indigo plantation in Augusta, Georgia, creating it in 1932 as a winter retreat for Jones and his associates. Jones had just completed the Grand Slam (winning all four majors in 1930) and retired from competitive golf at 28. He envisioned Augusta National as a course where members could play without the pressure of competition — gentlemen golfers enjoying the game they loved on a course built for strategic pl...
When Donald Ross called Aronimink Golf Club his masterpiece, it carried the weight of a career that produced some of the most celebrated golf courses in American history. Understanding Ross is understanding Aronimink — and understanding Aronimink is understanding what the 2026 PGA Championship will demand of its competitors.
Who Was Donald Ross
Donald Ross was born in Dornoch, Scotland in 1872 and emigrated to the United States in 1899. Over the following five decades, he designed more than 400 golf courses across America, establishing himself as the most prolific and arguably the most influential golf course architect in American history. His design philosophy was rooted in the linksland golf of his native Scotland — a belief that the terrain should influence the ball, that hazards should present genuine strategic choices, and that every level of golfer should find the course challenging and rewarding.
His Greatest Works
Ross's most celebrated courses include Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina (host of multiple US Opens), Seminole Golf Club in Florida (considered one of the finest courses in the world), Oakland Hills in Michigan, and Aronimink in Pennsylvania. Each reflects his core design principles: natural routing that works with the land, greens that slope away at the edges to punish anything less than precise approaches, and strategic bunkering that rewards thoughtful course management over brute power.
The Ross Green
The defining characteristic of a Donald Ross golf course is the green. Ross designed greens that slope away at the edges — what are called turtle-back or inverted-saucer greens — meaning that balls landing even slightly offline will roll off into collection areas, bunkers, or rough. This design punishes inaccurate approach shots and rewards players who can land the ball precisely on the correct portion of the putting surface. At Aronimink, all 18 original Ross greens remain intact and unaltered since 1928 — an extraordinary preservation of his design intent.
Aronimink as His Masterpiece
Ross returned to Aronimink in 1948, two decades after designing it, and said: he intended it to be his masterpiece and only upon seeing it that day did he realize he had built better than he knew. That statement is displayed on a plaque behind the first tee and has defined how golfers and architects have viewed the course ever since. The Gil Hanse restoration between 2016 and 2018 — using aerial photographs from 1929 and historical records — brought the course back to what Ross built, restoring bunker schemes, expanding greens, and reopening vistas that had been obscured by decades of tree growth.
What Ross's Design Means for the 2026 PGA Championship
A Donald Ross design at championship setup is one of the most demanding tests in golf. The premium on approach play means that driving the ball long but offline is actually counterproductive — an inaccurate tee shot leaves an awkward angle into a demanding green, and missing those greens at Aronimink creates genuinely difficult recoveries. The players who thrive at Aronimink will be those who accept the course's demand for precision and execute it across all four rounds.
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