Perhaps the PGA's somewhat shaky status as a major could be fixed by adapting what has made each of the other three so successful; a known course identity and/or setup.
What if the PGA simply decided to go back to Whistling Straits every year? By doing so, they guarantee a beautiful, dramatic venue. They learn, by setting up the same course each year, EXACTLY how to set up THAT course; which tees to move up in which winds, how much to water, which pin positions for maximum effect on Sunday, etc., a la ANGC.
Whistling Straits is a public-access course, has a links look (regardless of how it is playing this week), and a pretty fair quirkiness quotient, a la the British Open. (Give me some license here on the public-access aspect of the British rota.)
Finally, the PGA of America, because they are club pros, would have a setup that resembled the U.S. Open, but wouldn't be as likely to go "over the top". They could pioneer the idea that if the best players in the world shoot -15 in perfect conditions, that it can still be compelling golf. On the other hand, if the summer is dry, and the wind does blow, a massive train wreck could also occur hard by Lake Michigan.
As Gene Wilder said in "Young Frankenstein", "THIS COULD WORK!!!!"