Aronimink Golf Club Director of Agronomy John Gosselin welcomes the PGA Championship this month. Photo by Jason Miczek
Roughly 20 miles separates the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia from Aronimink Golf Club Director of Agronomy John Gosselin.
As that iconic city in Pennsylvania prepares for the 250th anniversary of America this summer, the Liberty Bell represents so much history of the good ol’ U.S.A., and Philly will be front and center on July 4. Two months earlier, Gosselin’s property will take center stage. Actually, it serves as a launching pad for perhaps the most historic and memorable year this part of the world has witnessed regarding monumental sports moments.
From May 11 to 17, Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., is hosting its first men’s major golf championship since 1962. The 108th PGA Championship will kick off the region’s spectacular sports ride in and around Philadelphia. The menu includes World Cup soccer, the Major League All-Star Game and more golf: Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., will host the U.S. Amateur in August.
Red, white and blue and bustling, wouldn’t you say?
For a kid who was born in San Diego before his family moved to the East Coast, perhaps it was kismet that Gosselin’s first golf course job while he was in high school was at a place in Pennsylvania with quite the American name. “General Washington Golf Club,” says Gosselin, a 40-year GCSAA member. “I worked for Barry Laverty. I never thought this would become a career. But, like other people, I kept on coming back.”
At Aronimink GC, Gosselin sure did. He worked there for one year. He moved on to other golf courses, such as the time he was director of sports and facilities at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del. Nevertheless, golf never left his radar. In 2005, Gosselin returned to Aronimink GC, a spot where he and his staff are preparing to be in the heart of the golf universe this month.
To say he’s giddy about what’s happening there is an understatement. “How cool is it to have the best players in the world coming here to play your course?” Gosselin says.
Aronimink last hosted the PGA Championship in 1962. Photo courtesy of the PGA of America
History lesson(s)
Gosselin didn’t know it at the time, but he saw his future even before Aronimink secured its most significant men’s tournament in decades. His summertime job didn’t quite compute for Gosselin, whose learning curve in terms of Aronimink would come in handy down the road.
Gosselin worked in the 1980s for Commodore International Computers. “Computers were the future,” says Gosselin.
Until they weren’t for that company. In 1994, Commodore filed for bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, his golf industry rise featured an internship with legend Richie Valentine at Merion Golf Club and guidance by another legend, Joe Duich, Ph.D., at Penn State University, where he would secure a two-year turfgrass degree. Including that one-year stop at Aronimink, it helped ignite a desire to eventually pursue turf. His résumé featured two stops at DuPont Country Club, including as superintendent for 13 McDonald’s LPGA Championships.
In 1995, Gosselin inadvertently saw his future. While prepping for a job at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pa. (he got the job and worked there 1996-1999), Gosselin visited Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Del. It housed numerous historic images, including aerial shots from Dallin Aerial Survey Company — named after Victor Dallin, who was a World War I Royal Air Force pilot who came to Philadelphia in 1919, aiding the city in creating its airport. Dallin also owned an aerial photography business. He loved golf and took photos of golf courses such as Pine Valley Golf Club in Clementon, N.J; Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.; and Aronimink.
Ultimately, those images of Rolling Green GC are what Gosselin used at his job interview there. Similar images of Aronimink would be used in architect Gil Hanse’s restoration. Their importance turned out to be key for Hanse, along with Total Turf Golf Services, when they used those photographs of original architect Donald Ross’ work to recapture his vision at Aronimink when the restoration began a decade ago. In 2017, as the finishing touches were completed, the PGA of America awarded Aronimink this year’s PGA Championship. Bunkers were a highlight of what was restored to capture the essence of what Ross imagined. For the most part, the greens have never changed through the decades at a club that has hosted all three major PGA of America’s marquee championships — the PGA Championship, Senior PGA Championship and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
“We had pictures from a year after the course was opened (Aronimink was founded in 1896 and designed by Ross in the 1920s). We also had a lot of the Ross drawings and hand-written notes, so we had a good road map,” Gosselin says. “Gil came in around 2014 and 2015 to look at the course. He already had done some fantastic restoration work. Here, his restoration turned back the clock and made it more authentic to what Ross built.” And this is remarkable: There is video on YouTube of Ross on-site during the original construction at Aronimink.
Gosselin’s team includes, from left: Dave Stofanak, Burke Mcfillin, Rich Reimers, Nick Rowden, Max Farbstein, Collin Domblesky and Joe Kopania. Photo by Jason Miczek
Team building
When he sought a fresh start elsewhere, Dave Stofanak approached Aronimink disciples.
“I picked the brain of some Aronimink alums. They said to go work for John. They couldn’t speak highly enough of John. He elevated them to the next level,” says Stofanak.
Stofanak understands that climb. He transitioned from assistant at Hollywood Golf Club in Deal, N.J. He left his golf course job there to join Gosselin as lead assistant in 2021 and now is superintendent overseeing the PGA Championship, which arrives this month following a brutal, snow-clobbered winter at the club. He also knows why previous Gosselin staff flourished. “I feel I have full autonomy on the golf course under John,” says Stofanak, a GCSAA Class A superintendent and 11-year association member. “We had snow cover throughout the entire winter right up until the first week of March. That didn’t stop us. We started plowing vendor compounds to get the build-out going, and we picked away at our to-do list. Now that the weather has warmed up, we are full throttle. The whole AGC team is extremely excited to show the world all our hard work here this month.”
With 10-year GCSAA member Joe Kopania and Robert Welsh as his assistants and equipment manager Hamo Krkbesevic, “There’s no challenge we can’t overcome as a team,” Stofanak adds. “Something special is about to happen here. I’ve never seen so many smiling faces. John’s assembled a strong team. It’s great to be part of our team. We truly all love what we do.”
Rich Reimers is well versed in the Gosselin way. Reimers, a four-year GCSAA member who serves as irrigation and project manager, started in 2000 at Aronimink. “He (Gosselin) is a big reason I’m still here. He delegates a task and entrusts you with it. He trusts his crew. He lets you do your thing,” Reimers says. “The weather this year hasn’t made this easy, but I think we’re going to showcase that this really is a beautiful property.”
Those who champion what Gosselin has achieved are thrilled to see what is happening at their former spot. “John’s not a man of many words. But they’re powerful words. He’s so polished, having done grow-ins and hosting tournaments, and what a way for him in such a long career to host a major championship,” says Collin Harley, a 14-year GCSAA member and Class A superintendent at St. Davids Golf Club in Wayne, Pa., who also was an assistant-in-training and later lead assistant at Aronimink.
Pat Michener, CGCS, says people should know that Gosselin is a solid golfer (in 2019, Gosselin won the Delaware State Senior Amateur) and possesses what it takes to present a successful golf course. “He really has a way to teach, like the business side of turf management and how to think of things from a player’s perspective. Whatever you do, you should consider the playability of the golf course,” says Michener, a 22-year GCSAA member and Class A superintendent at Bidermann Golf Club in Wilmington, Del., who spent 2011-12 at Aronimink. “He has an eye for detail. Being with him was a game changer for me.”
In 2025, Gosselin was recognized for his lifelong efforts. He received the Philadelphia Association of Golf Course Superintendents’ Eberhard “Eb” Steiniger Award that’s presented to an individual in the turfgrass profession who exemplifies the spirit and legacy of Steiniger, the PAGCS president in 1966-67. “It was a big surprise. Some who won it were my mentors. When your peers recognize you, it means a lot,” says Gosselin, who was the chapter president in 2010-11.
Before and after images of the Gil Hanse-led restoration a decade ago at Aronimink. Photos courtesy of Aronimink Golf Club
Coming at ya
This isn’t your Gary Player’s Aronimink.
Player — GCSAA’s Old Tom Morris Award recipient in 2020 and the third golfer to win the men’s grand slam — prevailed by one stroke over Bob Goalby in a different era when he won the 1962 PGA Championship. Sixty-four years ago, the championship was played in late July. The par-70 course measured 7,045 yards. It’s still par 70 but is longer at nearly 7,400 yards. When the Hanse restoration was finished, Aronimink reclaimed lost green space, restored fairways and restored original bunkers both in style and shape at the bentgrass facility.
“We got all the green edges and green space back, put in the original bunker scheme back,” Gosselin says.
It was quite an undertaking.
The club made what resulted in a wise decision last fall. Aronimink’s course was closed to membership. “In most cases, the course never closes if we don’t get a lot of (poor) weather or under-50-degree days,” Gosselin says. “We got a lot of work done in November and December. I had a feeling something (inclement weather) would happen later. So, we mapped out our agronomic program, made a list of volunteers (70 to 80, including from places such as Dubai and Switzerland) and hauled snow out of the PGA’s way. They had over 100 people here for the buildup. It was like a city out here.”
And it’s not as if all of this is new for Gosselin, who hosted the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2020. “We’ve had big buildouts before (Aronimink has hosted various prestigious events, such as the BMW Championship and AT&T National while also having hosted the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur and Senior PGA Championship). I knew this place would be good for a PGA,” he says. It turned out to be a great place for an Aronimink legend who was on the scene way before Gosselin and his team arrived. John J. McDermott, who caddied at the club, in 1911 became the first U.S.-born player to win the U.S. Open. He still is the youngest (19) ever to triumph in the championship.
Besides the restoration a decade ago, Gosselin indicated not much has needed to be done as far as major changes leading up to the PGA Championship. Perhaps the most notable change from the restoration is bunkers. Now there are 183 of them compared to 190 in the course’s storied past. Also, some tees were added. Otherwise, it’s go time.
For Gosselin, he’s ready and willing — along with his team — to complement this Philly suburb in what is anticipated to be a banner year for this part of the country. Coinciding with the U.S.’s 250th celebration adds to the grandeur of Philadelphia, which revels in being part of the country’s founding in 1776.
“It’s excitement. Pride. People at Aronimink are very proud of their club, proud of their golf course,” says Gosselin, who with wife Lisa are parents to three children and have three grandchildren, with another on the way. “What we are going to have feels like a once-in-a-generation thing. It can’t start soon enough for us.”
Howard Richman (hrichman@gcsaa.org) is GCM’s associate editor.