The PGA Championship could be one for the bombers this week, but could golf’s big hitters overpower Aronimink?
Rory McIlroy is now chief scouter for the Majors and has taken a good look at Donald Ross design just north of Philadelphia, warning that it could be wide open off the tee.
There’s a lot of bunkers, around 180 of them in fact, but with another old Major course having trees removed, Aronimink could be left defenseless to golf’s big hitters.
“I think in this day and age, I’m not sure if it’s going to test all aspects of your bag,” said McIlroy. “Strategy off the tee is pretty non-existent.
“It’s basically, bash driver down there and then figure it out from there, which I think is a lot of these newly renovated – I think about Oak Hill in 2023 – when these traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee.
“It’s a course where you can be super aggressive off the tee, and then there’s a little more strategy and a little more thought going into the greens.”
Why take out the trees at Aronimink?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Some extensive tree removal has again been carried out at Aronimink, as it was at Oakmont for last year’s US Open – to mixed reviews.
The aim is to restore the course to it’s former glory, and it can help with conditioning – but it does leave it more open to be attacked off the tee.
“I don’t know about it,” said Jon Rahm about trees being lost at Aronimink.
“I’ve been making this joke for the last few years where I see a lot of golf courses coming in saying, ‘Look, 100 years ago, this golf course was like this, there were no trees.’ I’m like, well, in the back of my mind, they planted those trees with the future vision of having those trees in play, and now you’re taking them all…
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