One way to join Aronimink Golf Club, host of this week’s PGA Championship, is to win a big-time tournament at the course, then wait.
For 63 years.
That’s how Gary Player did it.
In 1962, the last time Aronimink staged the PGA, Player edged Bob Goalby by a single shot to claim the Wanamaker Trophy. More than six decades later, in the fall of 2025, the club recognized that feat by making Player an honorary member and naming a room in the clubhouse after him.
A belated tribute? Sure. But also befitting of a club that doesn’t fast-track much.
Founded in 1896 as the Belmont Golf Association, and situated at its current address west of Philadelphia since 1926, Aronimink is an old-fashioned enclave that adds to its ranks the old-fashioned way: methodically. You can’t just stroke a check and join, a source with knowledge of the club told GOLF.com. As with many prestigious clubs, the application process is opaque. There’s a waiting list to join that is not so much a list as it is a pool.
“You might wait only six months before you get in,” the source said. “Or you also might wait 10 years and never get in. It’s not like they’re progressing through a roster, one candidate at a time.”
Once you’re accepted, the next step will cost you. Aronimink has long ranked among the more expensive clubs in the area. Initiation is $150,000 (more than double what it is at Philadelphia Cricket Club), plus some $1,800 in monthly dues.
Membership has its privileges. Along with access to a Donald Ross design — restored by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner in 2017 and ranked 84th on GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the U.S. — members enjoy a full complement of amenities: swimming pools, paddle and tennis courts, trap shooting, and a historic Tudor-style clubhouse with a veranda that looks out over the course.
In 1962, Player pocketed a first-place check of $13,000. This year’s winner will receive more than $3 million. That’s a lot of moolah. But it alone won’t get you through the door.
