Aronimink Golf Club had not hosted a PGA Championship since Gary Player's win in 1962, and that 64-year wait is built into every conversation Jeff Kiddie has had this spring. The club's head professional sat down with The Golfer's Journal podcast 50 days out from the season's second major, the Wanamaker Trophy literally on the table between him and host Jeff Kitty, and walked through the changes, the philosophy, and the players he believes will thrive on Donald Ross's Newtown Square masterpiece.
"It's the PGA of America's championship, and I'm a proud PGA member," Kiddie said. "To have our association's championship coming to the facility that I get to drive up the driveway of every day, I don't take it lightly. It's a pretty unique opportunity. We haven't done this at Aronimink or in Philadelphia since 1962. That's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity."
The Wanamaker Trophy itself has a Philadelphia origin story Kiddie was eager to revisit. John Wanamaker founded the city's first department store, and his son Rodman organised a January 1916 meeting of 35 golf professionals that led to the formation of the PGA of America, and to the trophy that bears the family name. There is also a more recent footnote: a brand-new locking system on the lid.
"Scottie dropped it last year and Colin Morikawa dropped it in 2020 also," Kiddie said. "They've got it secured now. It's almost 30 pounds."
What will set the championship apart, in Kiddie's view, are the greens. Restored by Gil Hanse in 2015 and 2016, all 18 sit on their original Ross fill pads.
"What makes them unique is they're the original greens. They haven't been rebuilt. They're almost 100 years old," Kiddie said. "They got bit into a couple of the corners with some renovation work in the '50s and '80s, but the original fill pads have been restored. All 18 are in the original locations. There's not many greens from one to the next that are like each other. They got little cool wings and fingers for hole locations, some can be feeder hole locations and some where the ball can run away."
The golf course will play roughly 7,400 yards as a par 70, with five new tees, a handful of pinched fairways and rough that Kiddie expects to be "healthy" and, more importantly, dense.
Asked where Kerry Haigh's setup will decide the championship, Kiddie pointed straight at the closing stretch.
"It's our finishing stretch," he said. "Kerry may make the 13th drivable one day, maybe two. Fourteen is a 220, 230-ish-yard par three. Fifteen is going to be a 545-yard par four, so that's going to be a monster. Sixteen is a super-gettable par five with mid-irons in. Seventeen is a 230-yard par three. Then 18 is like 495, back up the hill. It's a very balanced finish where there's gettable holes and holes where you're going to have to make a good par. I think it will provide good theatre."
The head pro is comfortable with the idea that someone could go very low. He pointed to recent winners who have hoisted the trophy at red double-digits without diluting the drama.
"Twenty-under was the winning score at Valhalla a couple of years ago, and it was super compelling," Kiddie said, "right down to the end where Xander Schauffele birdies the last hole to win. People remember that more than they do the winning score."
The history of Aronimink's tour winners, Player, Justin Rose at the 2010 AT&T National, Nick Watney also at the AT&T, Keegan Bradley at the 2018 BMW, guides Kiddie's pick. Length is welcome but not the trump card; iron play is.
"None of those three were the longest, but all good drivers of the ball, all really good iron players," Kiddie said. "You don't need to bomb it. You certainly have to be long enough. You've got to hit it straight. Cam Young is my pick. He is one of the longest players, but he's just a fabulous iron player and he's got the flat stick. Kyle Struby, who's from our area, is his caddie. They've made a real nice pair."
Kiddie has been on the PGA of America rules committee since 2013 and worked his first PGA Championship at Baltusrol in 2016, so the operational side comes naturally. The emotional side, with 40,000 spectators a day arriving at a club where Donald Ross once said, "I built better than I knew," is what is taking longer to settle.
"There is a little bit of anxiety, but most of it's out of our control," Kiddie said. "We just want it to go great."
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*Originally published on [Golf News](https://golfnews.global/article/aronimink-head-pro-jeff-kiddie-pga-championship-preview). Visit for full coverage.*
