But the process for any site to become a National Historic Landmark requires considerable research, preparation and documentation. Once the site qualifies for the National Register, which Baltusrol has done, nominations are then filed through state preservation offices to the Department of the Interior National Park Service for consideration as a National Historic Landmark.

Baltusrol’s nomination will go before the National Historic Landmarks Committee, a subcommittee of the National Park Service Advisory Board, in November. That subcommittee is made up of specialists from many disciplines, including academia, and they consider 10 to 15 nominations twice a year. The committee examines the nominations and their supporting documentation and makes recommendations to the advisory board.

If Baltusrol’s bid to become a National Historic Landmark makes it through the November meeting, the committee moves the nominations on to the advisory board, which then submits its recommendation for designation to Sally Jewell, the secretary of the interior. National Historic Landmark designation for Baltusrol could come as soon as late spring or early summer of 2014, two years before it hosts the P.G.A. Championship again.

“Baltusrol Golf Club has been in the mainstream of American golf since its founding,” Wolffe said, “and our membership is honored to be a nominee for designation as a National Historic Landmark.”

Among the benefits of being on the state and national registers is to be recognized for playing a significant role in the history of golf in the United States, Wolffe said.

But a more tangible benefit is preserving and protecting Baltusrol for future generations, he said.

“The National Register and the National Historic Landmark designations provide various levels of protection from future outside development projects that could have a negative impact on the historic integrity of Baltusrol’s two Tillinghast courses and its clubhouse,” Wolffe said.

The goal of the National Historic Landmark program, created in 1935, and the National Register of Historic Places, created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, was to recognize the nation’s history through key events, individuals, periods of history and archaeological sites.