When the world's best golfers tee off at Aronimink Golf Club this week for the PGA Championship, they'll be competing on a course that's as exclusive as it is historic. But getting through the gates as a member? That's a whole different kind of challenge.

Just ask Gary Player. The golf legend won the PGA Championship at Aronimink back in 1962, edging out Bob Goalby by a single shot. It took the club over six decades to recognize that feat with an honorary membership and a namesake room in the clubhouse. That delay says everything about this club's patient, unhurried approach to adding new faces.

Founded in 1896 as the Belmont Golf Association and settled into its current home west of Philadelphia since 1926, Aronimink isn't the kind of place where you can simply write a check and expect a warm welcome. According to a source familiar with the club's process, the application system is deliberately opaque. There's a waiting list, but it's less a queue and more of a pool—and there's no guarantee you'll ever be plucked from it.

"You might wait only six months before you get in," the source explained. "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."

If you do get the nod, be prepared to open your wallet wide. Aronimink has long been one of the priciest clubs in the Philadelphia area. Initiation fees run $150,000—more than double what you'd pay at Philadelphia Cricket Club—and monthly dues hover around $1,800.

For that investment, members gain access to a Donald Ross masterpiece. The course was restored by architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner in 2017 and currently sits at No. 84 on GOLF's Top 100 Courses in the U.S. list. Beyond the fairways, the club offers swimming pools, paddle and tennis courts, trap shooting, and a historic Tudor-style clubhouse complete with a veranda overlooking the action.

For context: when Player won here in 1962, his first-place check was a modest $13,000. This year's PGA Championship winner will take home more than $3 million. That's a massive payday, but even that kind of cash won't fast-track you through Aronimink's front doors. Some things, it seems, are worth the wait.