Why The Controversial Aronimink Setup Has Divided Fans And Players At The PGA Championship

You can't please everyone. Make a course too difficult, and the players will moan that... well, it's too difficult, especially those who don't make it through to the weekend (they get super angry).

Set the course up so it's easy to make lots of birdies, and fans, generally, complain that the world's best players just aren't getting tested enough.

It's hard being responsible for the setup, and rarely does a Major Championship pass without the course coming in for some criticism.

This week has been no different, with the Donald Ross-designed Aronimink taking quite a bit of flak.

The 108th PGA Championship started with fears that the old course would be overpowered.

Rory McIlroy was one of the first players to question the test it posed, saying that "strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent."

"It’s basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there, which I think is a lot of these newly renovated - I think about Oak Hill in 2023, here… when these traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee."

Well, we've seen lots of bashing of the driver, and the players who have taken that one-dimensional approach have been caught out.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain, Luke Donald, said the fairways had lots of width, but the slopes still made them difficult to find.

"I don’t know about it," Rahm said of the course. "I’ve been making this joke for the last few years where I see a lot of golf courses coming in saying, 'Look, 100 years ago, this golf course was like this, there were no trees.'

"I’m like, well, in the back of my mind, they planted those trees with the future vision of having those trees in play, and now you’re taking them all out?"

As the week has progressed, however, we've been talking far less about the trees and more about the pin positions.

Maybe the PGA was worried about McIlroy's comments and feared that players would find the test too easy.

On Friday, a few holes appeared to be cut on slopes and ridges or hidden away on small platforms, making it difficult for players to attack the flags.

As a result, we've seen an awful lot of three-putts. Again, ask most fans what they think about that, and most will say it's actually quite refreshing to see.

However, it's Okay if you're sat at home watching television.

"This is the hardest set of pin locations that I've seen since I've been on Tour, and that includes US Opens," said World No. 1 and defending PGA champion Scottie Scheffler.

When the best player in the world shoots over par, you know the course must have been hard.

"It's difficult to get the ball close to the hole. It's difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind," he added.

Ah, yes, the wind. For fans, it's been enthralling because add that stiff breeze into the equation and we've been treated to a real grind at times, a war of attrition that appeals to the more sadistic golf fans.

"Most of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd," Scheffler continued. "There's literally just a spine [on the green], and they're like, 'Oh, we'll just put the pin right on top of it.' And you're like, all right, well, I'll see what I can do."

Unsurprisingly, those who fared a little better in the tough conditions - and they were tough, there's no doubting that - weren't so critical.

"I don't think it's unfair by any stretch of the imagination, but you're not going to get any four-and-a-half-hour rounds out here," said Chris Gotterup after he shot a second-round 65.

"So, unfair, no, but tough to make birdies."

Although McIlroy was seething after shooting a four-over-par 74 on the opening day and had been critical of the setup, he was quick to clarify his comments after putting himself back into contention on Saturday.

"What I was trying to say when you have these big old golf courses that are renovated and their wide fairways and wide greens and you tuck the pins away, everyone plays the exact same way and that's why you see such a bunched leaderboard," he said.

"Again, it's frustrating to us, but at the same time, it creates a helluva entering championship.

"If I wasn't playing this tournament, I'd love what's going on this week, but watching and playing are two different things."

Whoever lifts the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday afternoon won't be looking back on how difficult the test was - and there are some very interesting storylines developing at Aronimink.

McIlroy, having got to grips with the course, is now right in the mix for a seventh Major Championship title, which would be his third in six.

There's also the prospect of Aaron Rai or Justin Rose becoming the first English winner of the tournament since 1919.

Time to forget about the course, play it how it is, and see where that gets you - and that might suit Rai, a player who seems happy to get on with it.

What have you made of the setup this week? Let us know in the comments section below.