Aronimink Golf Club is a private country club in the eastern United States, located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, a suburb west of Philadelphia. Its championship layout is consistently rated among the nation's top golf courses. Aronimink is currently ranked 78th in Golf Digest's "Greatest Courses," 44th in "Toughest Courses" and 55th in Golfweek's "Classic Courses." In 2010, Aronimink was ranked #4 among the toughest courses on the PGA Tour by Links magazine. The club has been host to multiple USGA and PGA championships in its history. Additionally, Aronimink has indoor and outdoor tennis and paddle courts, trap shooting, three swimming pools, a fitness center and a classic Tudor clubhouse with multiple dining options. History The club's roots can be traced to 1896 when the Royal and Ancient game made its way to America and the Belmont Golf Association (BGA), the forerunner of the Aronimink Golf Club, spun off from the Belmont Cricket Club. A year later, the Belmont Golf Association teamed up with Philadelphia Country Club, Merion Cricket Club and Philadelphia Cricket Club to form the Golf Association of Philadelphia, the first sectional golf association in the United States. By 1897 the BGA had a full nine holes in play at 52nd Street and Chester Avenue, its first location, in what is today Southwest Philadelphia. Playing to a length of 3,070 yards, par for the course was established at 36½. In that same year, the BGA was the first and only founding club to host its own championship. The tournament was won by Hugh Wilson who designed Merion's golf courses. History has it that Aronimink was named after the chief of the Lenape tribe who once occupied the small farmhouse being used as the original clubhouse. From inception to the mid-1920s, as the City of Philadelphia continued to expand, Aronimink operated from three different sites. Finally, in 1926 the club sold its Drexel Hill location and purchased a large tract in Newtown Square, from the center of Philadelphia. Scottish-born Donald Ross, at the time one of the country's most respected golf course architects, was commissioned to design the new course, which opened for play on Memorial Day in 1928. The greens, fairways and hazards of his championship course design are the same today as they were in 1928. The Club's impressive British-inspired clubhouse was designed by architects Charles Barton Keen and Franklin D. Edmonds, a member of the club. Aronimink