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The trees are gone. The greens are terrifying. And the world’s best players are already complaining before a single shot has been hit.
Aronimink is a Donald Ross masterpiece — but blight wiped out the fairway trees in the 2010s and nobody replanted them.
Now Rory McIlroy is calling the tee shot strategy “basically nonexistent” at a major championship.
The real trap though? Those greens. Turtlebacked, severely sloped, and firm enough to roll a perfect shot 60 yards off the putting surface.
2 under won here in 1962. 20 under won here in 2018 — on soft, rain-soaked greens.
If they firm up this week, the trees won’t matter at all.
Aronimink didn’t fail golf. The distance debate failed Aronimink.
#golf
#pgachampionship
#golfaddict
#golflife
#playthelonggame
Transcript
Alrighty, y'all. The PGA championship is this week. And although it hasn't started yet, the world's best players are already publicly calling out the golf worse. And honestly, they have a point. Eronomynch is a legendary Donald Ross design. It's historic. It's super iconic. One of the most respected layouts in American golf. And the last time there was a major here, it was in 1962, which Gary Player won the PGA championship at two under par. The last time it was here for a tour event was the twenty eighteen BMW championship where Keegan Bradley won at 20 under par. Same course, 22 shot difference. I'll explain why in a second. Back in the early two thousands, a disease called blight, basically a fungal infection that spreads through a specific tree species and kills them, wiped out all of the red oaks lining the fairways. Once blight hits, the trees are coming down, so they cut them down and nobody ever replanted them. Now you've got Rory McIlroy, the two time better champ, stands at his press conference and says strategy off the tee is basically nonexistent. Bad your driver, figure it out. At a major championship? And if you enjoy golf content like this that actually breaks the game down, hit follow. I got new stuff coming for you every week. But here's what the tree argument is actually missing. The real weapon at No has always been the greens. Donald Ross himself called this course his masterpiece, turtle bad, severely sloped with spines that'll reject a perfect shot right off the putting service. Keegan Bradley said this week, you can land it four feet from the flag and watch it roll completely off the green. The reason the twenty eighteen BMW championship was 20 under, the greens were soaked from rain and playing completely soft. And if those greens firm up this week like they're supposed to, it won't matter how easy the tee shot was. Oronomake doesn't actually really need the trees because the greens were always the trap. Play the long game.
