Aronimink Golf Club
I finally played Aronimink in 2018. I probably had about a half dozen previous invites throughout the years but for one reason or another was never able to play it. My buddy Wayne just became a member and I got the first of several invites now a couple of years ago in 2018.
I am happy to see that Aronimink is starting to get a lot of love from the golf magazines (top 100 in both latest Golf magazine and Golf Digest rankings along with it being a long-time Golf World top classic course). They also just held the LPGA Championship here and got the PGA back in Philly for a few years before that. And they will be hosting the 2026 PGA Championship.
It is no doubt the best Ross design in the Philly area and most would argue it’s third in the area behind only Merion and Pine Valley. I’d say it’s a toss-up between here and Philly Cricket. It’s certainly long, tough but the conditioning is excellent. It has a great clubhouse – outdoor terrace is great, great locker room and men’s grille in there. And the green complexes are typical Ross.
I’ve only played it since they did all the tree removal so can’t really speak to how it played before. To the course. We play the blues here which measure 6,521. The whites are only 6,000 so I guess it’s probably right to play the blues but makes this feel super long. You get a great first hole and it’s tough. Even though you have a nice drop down to the fairway from an elevated tee, you have to come back up to get to the green. It’s driver-hybrid on one. In fact, for the average length driver here, you will have a boatload of driver-hybrid or driver-3-wood holes so get prepared. The only knock I have heard about the course is that there are too many of the same type of holes like that. I guess I get it but there’s also enough variety in the green complexes to keep it from getting boring.
My favorite holes are #2, a short dogleg left. A trap protects the dogleg and a severe drop awaits any shot too long or any low flyers hitting the green. Eight is a downhill par three with a brutal bunker protecting the front of the green. And nine is an uphill beast of a par five – it’s not long but is a slow march up a steep hill. It’s an overall nice golfing experience, even though it is tough.
If you’re in from out of town, I’d stay up off Lancaster Ave. in and around Wayne. There’s a really nice Flemings right at the Blue Route (476) Rt. 30 exit that is close to the course and there’s a hotel next door – The Radnor Inn.
It’s funny if you’re not from the area and you ask anyone from Philly directions you will get lost. Our highways have nicknames that may or may not be posted in your GPS and may or may not be on any signs. And they change names randomly. For example, 476 is the Blue Route, but you’d never know it (of course we all call it that though). And of course the Blue Route ends (name not the road) north of the Turnpike where 476 becomes the Northeast Extension.
The Turnpike is I76 but it becomes the Schuylkill Expressway at King of Prussia (pronounced SKOO-cull). The Turnpike at that point becomes I276 but no one calls it that. Recently, they renumbered the Turnpike to I-95 east of the Bensalem exit. Nobody calls it that.
My dad used to call I95 the Delaware Expressway – I still hear that here and there. Route 1 is the Roosevelt Boulevard until it becomes a highway south of Broad (or Route 611 that no one calls Route 611 except for up by the Turnpike). Below Broad, Rt. 1 is the Lincoln Highway, which shouldn’t be confused with Old Lincoln Highway up in Bucks County that is really just a road and is parallel to Route One which is no longer called the Roosevelt Boulevard above that point. There’s more but I’ll stop here and just warn you, use your GPS and don’t trust it if it takes you up Broad to anywhere north of the city from the airport or center city. That is hell in a hole there so be warned.
Golf Scrapbook 