Aronimink Golf Club Braces for 200,000 Fans as PGA Championship Returns for First Time Since 1962

Newtown Square, Pennsylvania — In a little more than a month, Aronimink Golf Club will reopen its gates to major-championship golf for the first time in 63 years, and the deluge is already measurable: roughly 200,000 spectators are expected to stream through the property from May 14-17 for the 2025 PGA Championship, making it one of the most heavily attended sporting events in Philadelphia-area history.

Built in 1928 from a Donald Ross blueprint that still dictates every twist and turn of the 300-acre layout, the club has spent the past two years retrofitting itself for the modern championship era. Temporary grandstands capable of holding up to 750 fans apiece now ring the closing stretch—holes 17 and 18—as well as strategic vantage points on Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13. Construction crews began erecting the steel and decking last November, a timeline that survived a mid-winter snow spell and is on pace to finish days before practice rounds begin Monday, May 11.

“All 18 greens are original green sites,” head golf professional Jeff Kiddie said during a Thursday walk-through of the grounds. “A golf course that’s that old, that’s very unusual. I think that’s one of the most unique features.”

The course itself has required only modest tweaking—five or six fairways narrowed, a handful of tees extended—leaving Ross’s restored vision largely intact. Kiddie declined to forecast a winning score, noting that turf firmness and weather will ultimately decide how Aronimink defends par.

Ticket demand has already outpaced supply. Jackie Endsley, the PGA of America’s championship director, said the event “sold out relatively early on,” with secondary-market seats now ranging from roughly $300 to four-figure hospitality packages. Practice-round tickets remain available starting at about $90. Spectators are encouraged to purchase parking in advance; two off-site lots—Delaware County Veterans Memorial and Delaware County Community College—will run 12-minute shuttles to the club.

The championship represents the region’s most significant men’s major since Justin Rose captured the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. Defending PGA champion Scottie Scheffler will attempt to retain the Wanamaker Trophy on the same turf where Gary Player edged Bob Goalby by one stroke in 1962. That edition was the only previous PGA Championship contested at Aronimink.

Economic projections put the regional impact at $125 million, a figure that dwarfs the 120,000-person attendance at the 2018 BMW Championship, the club’s last PGA Tour-sanctioned event with fans. Organizers have prioritized local vendors and coordinated with Newtown Square police on traffic flow through the residential corridors surrounding the club.

“You can pretty much see several holes from one area, so there’s not a bad seat in the house out here,” said Tyler Curtis, operations manager for the 2026 PGA Championship, who is overseeing infrastructure this year. “It will feel pretty intimate … where you’ll hear roars and cheers nearby that you’ll be able to feel even if you’re not on that hole.”

Beyond the ropes, Philadelphia’s golf renaissance continues. Restoration of the century-old, public Cobbs Creek course in West Philly is scheduled for completion next spring, and PGA officials have praised the project as a potential future championship venue. For now, the spotlight belongs to Aronimink, its Ross pedigree, and the quarter-million voices poised to echo across the beaver-dam hills of Delaware County.