"The
Aronimink That Donald Ross Intended"
By Ron Romanik
Pennsylvania Golfer
May 2003 Issue The PGA of America and Aronimink
Golf Club welcome the strongest senior field of the year when they
bring the PGA of
America’s 64th Senior PGA Championship to Newtown Square, Delaware
County, the week of June 2-8, 2003. Giants of the game such as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin,
Gary Player, Fuzzy Zoeller, Ben Crenshaw, and Tom Kite will grind
it out on the hallowed holes of Aronimink. The most accomplished
rookie entrant is Craig Stadler, who will be competing in his first
event as a senior. Also in the field will be local heroes Jay Sigel,
Ed Dougherty and Jim Masserio, the Head Pro at Aronimink.
Over the past few years, an ambitious restoration project has returned
Aronimink to the course that legendary course designer Donald Ross “intended” when
the course was constructed in 1928. The membership is confident
that the Ross restoration, player response and TV exposure will
remind the golf scene powers-that-be that Aronimink deserves to
be mentioned in the same breath as Open venues of the past and
future. Truth be told, Aronimink is a man-sized course that could
host a U.S. Open in a heartbeat.
Of course, the U.S. Open may have been on
the minds of the membership when they decided to “modernize” the course in the mid-’80s.
In the broadest sense, that usually meant pushing back tees, adding
fairway bunkers in the landing zone of well-struck drives and adding
or re-facing greenside bunkers. You can’t blame the membership necessarily, for this was all
the rage back then, and there’s no need to point fingers now.
Most – if not all – of the “modernizations” of
that time have now been eradicated from Aronimink permanently. From
the stellar results and reviews of the recent wholesale restoration,
maybe the U.S. Open never left the members’ minds. Two areas that required the most attention
in the restoration were the bunkering and the greens. Fairway and
greenside bunkers were
reshaped, repositioned, and even removed altogether, bringing back
more strategic elements. “Now there’s more thinking required,” says
longtime Aronimink member Jay Sigel. “Before, it was just take
the driver and smash it.” The greens needed special attention as, gradually over time, they
changed shape. Mowing patterns had caused the greens at Aronimink
to become circular and 30% smaller, on average, than they were built
in 1928. Many of the greens have been expanded back to their original
boundaries, recapturing long-lost pinning positions. The cups can
now be cut farther behind hazards or nearer steep greenside slopes,
as Ross intended. The restoration even removed greenside bunkers – at
the 2nd, 4th, 10th and 12th. Where once bunkers guarded both sides,
now only
one will give players pause. And pause they should, because the non-bunker
side might really be the more dangerous side. Strategic features
such as these were restored as Aronimink was returned to the course
Donald Ross intended in 1928. In some ways, the course had fallen
short of that intention even in its infancy.
In 1994, Club President John Trickett was beginning was beginning
his second term as president of Aronimink, having also served from ’77
to ’79. The membership in 1994 recognized the need for some
substantial bunker reworking. But before any work would be performed,
Trickett put his foot down and declared that nothing was going
to be done to the course until they consulted someone who knew
Ross courses thoroughly.
If Trickett was the guiding force behind
the restoration, Ron Prichard was the point man. Prichard, regarded
as a leading authority on the
restoration of classic courses, proposed an extensive restoration
project to the membership. Of the roughly 400 courses Ross and his
firm designed, Prichard has restored close to 30 of them. Prichard
is currently working on three Ross courses: St. Davids CC in Wayne,
Beverly CC in Chicago and The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis. Among
Prichard’s own designs are Pine Crest GC in Lansdale, PA, and
the TPC at Southwind in Memphis, host of the PGA Tour’s Saint
Jude Classic. The Ross restoration Prichard proposed was not a hard sell to the
Aronimink membership, who eagerly embraced the wholesale project
as the first stages of the restoration were completed. But interestingly
enough, the PGA of America awarded the 2003 Senior PGA to Aronimink
before the bulk of the extensive course restoration was performed. The PGA of America did not ask for details
about the restoration, nor did they direct the restoration at all,
but were delighted with
the results. The essential routing of the course – the positions
of the tees, directions of fairways and slopes of greens – was
not tampered with. All improvements were strictly restorative. In the summer of 2001, Prichard would often be spotted on the course
toting copies of the field sketches by Ross and re-sketching bunkers
himself to see how close they were getting. Prichard was meticulous
in his recommendations. Referring to aerial photographs taken in
1938, Prichard noted that the bunkers had even been tampered with
sometime during that first decade. Relying as much on the original
Ross sketches as on photos of the course in 1928, the restoration
team also relied heavily on the fax machine. The Donald Ross greens are much more receptive
from the optimal approach angle. That angle can change daily, and
the player must
consider that off the tee. Instead of just avoiding hazards, “Now
you have the opportunity to play to a particular side of the fairway,” explains
Masserio, Aronimink’s Head Pro and Senior PGA qualifier, and
an integral member of the restoration team.
Prichard was surprised when he first started the restoration project.
He quickly discovered that the greens still had the same topographic
personality as the day Ross finished his work. Modest about his
role in the project, Prichard claims he merely dusted off the years
at Aronimink to recover the gem that was always there. “You
can’t improve on perfection,” Prichard flatly remarks.
As it was in vogue to “modernize” older courses in the ’80s,
now the pendulum has swung back the other way, and Prichard is happy
for that. Having worked on close to 30 Ross restoration projects,
Prichard is one busy man. Superintendent Rick Holanda, whose resume
includes Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, was also instrumental in
bringing the Ross design back. “The
result was beyond all our expectations,” marvels Holanda. “It
is nice to bring back a masterpiece.” Some of the beauty of
the course was lost as new bunkers changed the framing of holes,
and some was lost as numerous trees needlessly crowded fairways and
greens. During the prolonged restoration, hundreds of trees were
cut back – and hundreds removed altogether.
One fact that many golf fans forget is that – like the U.S.
Senior Open – carts have never been allowed during Senior PGA
Championship play. If early June temperatures stay seasonably mild,
this esteemed tournament on this exceptional site should produce
an outstanding atmosphere.
The back nine at Aronimink will surely separate
the pure ball-strikers from the less-than-pure, and the mentally
strong from the pretenders.
The 10th through the 13th are all solid par-fours between 390 and
450 yards. Aronimink’s last five holes, however, will illustrate
what Donald Ross called the “supreme test” – demanding
long-iron play. The par-three 14th will play to 202 yards with a large green flanked
by two deep and long bunkers. The par-four 15th will play longer
that its listed 465 yards, as the landing area and second shot are
slightly uphill. The 16th may be a two-shot par-five for the longer hitters, but
many players will probably lay back to wedge distance for their third
shot. A small lake guards the front of the 187-yard par-three 17th,
and the steep bank on the left front is tightly mown from the green
to the water. Anything short of the green on that side will roll
back into the pond, a la #12 at Augusta National. The 18th is a strong finisher that will yield few birdies. The second
shot to this 430-yard hole is significantly uphill, and it can be
difficult to get a good look at the target. Being on the wrong level
of this multi-terraced green will usually take birdie out of the
equation. The course will play a reasonable 6900 yards for the seniors, but
many landing areas for drives are uphill and will produce little
or no roll. In concert with the restoration, it can be argued that
the course should be played firm and fast, as Ross intended. But
if Mother Nature makes the course play wet and long, it will feel
a lot like a U.S. Open, and aggressive approach shots will have to
be carefully chosen. Either way, the senior players are in for
a true and complete test of golf. As Tournament Director Jason
Soucy reminds us, “Donald
Ross courses, traditionally, do not need a lot of help to play hard.”
|
