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Some places hold history. Valley Forge and the greater Philadelphia region hold the whole story — the birth of a nation at Independence Hall, and the fight to save it at General Washington’s winter encampment a few miles outside the city. In the latest episode of Traveling Golfer, the show heads into Montgomery County and Philadelphia to map out how golf, history, and America’s 250th anniversary are converging into one unmissable travel window.
A Birthday Two Years in the Making
At Valley Forge, Rachel Riley, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board, walks through why 2026 is only the start of the celebration. Valley Forge National Historical Park turns 50 as a national park this year — timed, fittingly, to Independence Day — but the region’s commemoration of the Revolutionary War stretches into 2027 and 2028, marking the actual march-in and march-out of the Continental Army from its winter encampment.
As Riley explains it, Philadelphia is where the nation was born, but Valley Forge is where it was saved. Washington chose the site for its defensibility — British scouts reportedly checked it out and decided to winter in Germantown instead, giving the Continental Army the time it needed to regroup, drill, and become, in effect, the first modern American military. Today the park offers nearly 100 miles of trails across the county for walking, biking, and hiking, alongside more than 50 golf courses, close to 2,000 restaurants, and 40-plus breweries in Montgomery County alone.
Major Championship Golf, Twice Over
This region isn’t just hosting history — it’s hosting golf’s biggest stages in the same window.
Merion Golf Club, in Haverford Township, welcomes the 2026 U.S. Amateur Championship — the seventh time Merion has hosted the event, and one that coincides directly with the America 250 celebration. Championship director Scott Nye — a 24-year veteran as Merion’s director of golf before stepping into this role — points out that Philadelphia Country Club will again serve as co-host for stroke play qualifying, and that Merion has now hosted more USGA championships than any other club in the country. Walking the famous back nine, the episode revisits the sport’s most storied ground: the 11th, where Bobby Jones completed the Grand Slam in 1930, and the fairway near the 18th, where Ben Hogan struck his legendary one-iron approach to force a playoff in the 1950 U.S. Open. One of the appeals Nye highlights for spectators: unlike a U.S. Open, the Amateur lets fans get remarkably close to the action.
Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square hosts the 2026 PGA Championship, May 11–17 — the tournament’s first return to Aronimink since Gary Player won there in 1962. Director of Golf Course Operations John Gosselin, who worked through the Gil Hanse-led renovation preparing the course for this moment, walks the back nine with host commentary on the demanding, uphill par-4 10th, guarded by a pond short-left of the green. Aronimink Club president Bill Berry has called 2026 golf’s “lead-off” in what’s shaping up to be an extraordinary sports year for the region — one that also includes the U.S. Amateur, the MLB All-Star Game, and World Cup soccer.
The Public Courses With Just as Much Story
Not every course on this trip requires a major championship badge. Jeffersonville Golf Club in Norristown, founded in 1931 by Anson Evans, spent much of the 20th century as, by reputation, the worst public course in Pennsylvania before Donald Ross restoration expert Ron Prichard rebuilt it in 2001. It’s since become the 400th recognized Donald Ross course in the country, and under longtime superintendent Rick Schilling’s stewardship, it now features a new clubhouse, a full banquet room, a well-regarded grill room, and six state-of-the-art Trackman simulators in its Bunker Bar — proof that a public course with the right stewardship can climb all the way back.
More Than Golf: A City Bracing for Its Biggest Year
The episode makes clear that 2026 in Philadelphia is bigger than any one sport. Citizens Bank Park hosts the MLB All-Star Game on July 14 — the Phillies’ first time hosting since moving into the ballpark in 2004, and the fifth time overall for the city. Aramark general manager Kevin Tedesco gives a tour of what’s become known as one of the best food operations in professional sports, and previews the atmosphere the ballpark will bring to All-Star Week. Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles’ home, adds World Cup soccer to the region’s 2026 calendar as well — giving Philadelphia a genuine claim to hosting golf, baseball, and international soccer’s biggest stages inside a single year.
For lodging away from the downtown crush, the episode highlights the Marriott Philadelphia West in Conshohocken — a one-square-mile borough that general manager Brad Nuss describes as sitting at the crossroads of every major route into the region, with a five-to-ten-minute walk delivering guests into a strip of ten to fifteen restaurants.
Why This Matters for Trip Planning
Book early. With the PGA Championship in May, the MLB All-Star Game in July, the U.S. Amateur in August, and World Cup matches layered into the same calendar year — all against the backdrop of the nation’s 250th birthday — hotel inventory across the Philadelphia region is going to move fast. The episode’s own advice holds: plan a year out if you can, and treat this as a multi-day trip rather than a single stop. A round at a Donald Ross original in the morning, a walk through Valley Forge in the afternoon, and a cheesesteak and a Yuengling by evening is exactly the kind of full, layered travel experience today’s traveling golfer — golfer or not — is increasingly looking for.
Watch the full episode above, and we’ll see you next time on Traveling Golfer.
