Golf's rarest club is making a PGA Championship appearance | Tour Report

Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches. After one round, Aronimink is proving more difficult off the tee than originally anticipated, and one of the early leaders is navigating that challenge with golf’s rarest club. Yes, Aldrich Potgieter is gaming a 1-iron this week, and it’s helped him contend at the PGA Championship (tied for the lead after the first round and the solo leader at the time of this writing on Friday).

Off-the-tee play wasn’t much of a story in the lead-up at Aronimink, which is hosting a PGA for the first time in 64 years. The Donald Ross gem measures just 7,394 yards, short by modern major championship standards, and players contemplated bomb-and-gouge strategies for the layout. “Strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent,” Rory McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference.

“It’s basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there. … When these traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee. ” The average difference in proximity to the hole from the fairway vs the rough this season on the PGA Tour is 8'11".

So far today at Aronimink, that number is 14'7". — Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) May 14, 2026 That comment came back to bite McIlroy, as he hit just 5 of 14 fairways and lost nearly a half shot to the field off the tee in an opening-round 74. Turns out the wild undulations and firm conditions of Aronimink’s fairways made them difficult to hold.