Aronimink still bears Donald Ross' mark

National television audiences have seen golf tournaments played on courses designed by the legendary Donald Ross. They've seen U.S. Opens at Pinehurst No. 2 and Oakland Hills, and PGA Championships at Inverness and Oak Hill.

When they tune in this week for the AT&T National event at Aronimink Golf Club, they'll see one of Ross' most classic designs. He said of the course in 1948: "I intended to make this my masterpiece, but not until today did I realize that I build better than I know."

The Scottish-born Ross, who was credited with putting his stamp on more than 400 layouts across the country in his 50 years as a designer, died at age 76 shortly after his visit to Aronimink. That kept him from seeing the multitude of changes made to the Newtown Square layout over the next four decades, which took it away from what Ross intended.

Club officials were all in favor of bringing in architects to keep the course up with the times. So Dick Wilson came in to toughen the course before the 1962 PGA Championship, George and Tom Fazio arrived one year after the 1977 U.S. Amateur to make some changes, and Robert Trent Jones Sr. was hired in the mid-1980s to put his stamp on the course.

Jones' style was to challenge the player on every shot. He installed a number of fairway bunkers that required precise drives off the tee. Forced carries on tee balls and approach shots became more of the norm, and not in line with Ross' philosophy.

Eventually, the members got the message, especially as Aronimink's rating in national publications fell. In 1994, they contacted the Donald Ross Society to find an architect who could return the course to something closer to its original design, and welcomed in Ron Prichard, who specialized in restoring classic courses.

In an interview last week, Prichard, 67, of Lansdale, Montgomery County, said he was originally brought in to check out some new teeing grounds. After a tour of the course, however, he gave his opinions to the members in a direct, no-nonsense manner.

"I came back and told them, 'From my point of view, you've got more serious decisions to make,' " he said. "I told them I felt the course had lost its identity as one of Donald Ross' great classic golf courses. They had me do some plan of restoration. They recognized the merits of what I had suggested."