PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Montgomery County has long been known as the golf capital of golf-rich Pennsylvania. Once home to 60 golf courses in this tiny county on the outskirts of Philadelphia, contraction has taken its toll but there are still close to 50 courses in the county, including some of the most hallowed names in Pennsylvania.
But, while the real golf world shrinks, the virtual golf world has exploded in Montgomery County. And the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board has been an integral part of promoting and helping virtual golf to grow in the area. Simulator centers provide golf at all hours of the day and night … not to mention, in any type of weather.
Now, Top Golf — the outrageously successful chain of golf, entertainment and dining centers – has launched its new flagship site in Valley Forge.
For all of these reasons, Valley Forge and the surrounding Montgomery County area have been chosen as the subject of the September episode of the award-winning Traveling Golfer television show. And its amazing collection of virtual golf sites is creating all of the golf buzz.
“This virtual golf craze is something that I honestly didn’t see coming … even a few years ago.” admits Mike Bowman, president of the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board. “But now I hear from so many people who go to different centers to play on the simulators all year long. They play in leagues. So many private clubs have built simulator rooms in their clubhouse, to keep their members occupied and engaged all year long. And the new Top Golf center has had a full parking lot ever since it opened.”
“I remember when the first simulator center in the entire area opened, 20 years ago,” recalls Tony Leodora, host of the Traveling Golfer. “It was Play-a-Round Golf on Lancaster Pike in Malvern. A lot of avid golfers were very skeptical about the concept. I tried it and saw the potential but wasn’t sure about the general acceptance. It proved to be a good golf experience, that kept getting better, as the technology improved. Now, I view playing or practicing on simulators as a first-class golf experience.
“We had a blast shooting this show … visiting all of the different sites around the county. And, as usual, we enjoyed showing all of the shopping, dining and tourist spots around the Valley Forge area. Montgomery County was always a great place to live. Now it has grown into one of the greatest places to visit in the entire country.”
The September episode of the Traveling Golfer airs as a scheduled weekly feature show on NBC Sports and NBC Sports + throughout three markets in the Mid-Atlantic regions. NBC Sports airings are 10:30 a.m. on Sundays, 10 p.m. on Tuesdays and 11 a.m. on Thursdays. NBC Sports + airs the show at 8 p.m. Mondays and Fridays. In addition, the show airs nationally, two times every day, on the Fun Roads Network (funroads.tv/schedule) – in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Wichita, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Washington State, North Dakota, Raleigh, Orlando, San Jose, Albany and Boise markets.
Additionally, national and international expansion has taken place via the new wingding™ Network, which reaches more than 275 million households. It is available on Roku (50 Million), Amazon Fire TV (55 Million), Apple TV (40 million), Chromecast (56 million) and iTunes (28 million).
The Traveling Golfer also airs a number of times throughout the month on “Rivertalk” on HTC-4 in Myrtle Beach.
The show also airs on the Traveling Golfer network of websites, including The Golf Director Network and The Myrtle Beach Golf Channel (see full list of sites on www.travelinggolfer.tv).
As part of every Traveling Golfer show there is the feature, “Tech Talk”, hosted by Tour Edge Golf experts, such as President Dave Glod. With years of experience as a club maker, Glod presents an inside look at the research and development of high-quality golf equipment.
Responding to golfers’ never-ending demands to learn more about interesting golf courses and golf resorts across the country and around the world, well-traveled host Tony Leodora created the Traveling Golfer so he could take viewers on video trips to some of the most exciting golf locations. In each of its 10 years on the air, the show has been honored by the International Network of Golf with one of its prestigious awards. In four of those years the Traveling Golfer was named the No. 1 Golf Television Show in America.
The Traveling Golfer is a series of monthly shows hosted by Leodora and his partners, Jeff and Dustin Gilder and produced by Executive Producer Dustin Gilder. All have many years of experience in televised golf. The featured destination stays on the website for one month, before being replaced by a new show. Alternate shows also air in a two-month rotation. All old shows are archived for continued viewing on the YouTube Network and on the home website, www.travelinggolfer.tv.
For more information about the Traveling Golfer, or to find out how a property can be featured on the show, call TL Golf Services at (610) 721-8186 , Zeus Digital Marketing at 843-272-1919 or e-mail Tony Leodora at tleodora@comcast.net. or Jeff Gilder at jeff@wingding.tv.
