Five years before the PGA Championship arrived at Aronimink Golf Club, our confidential client was already planning. With a backyard along the first fairway, the vision for what could happen there when the world's best golfers came to town held no bounds.
We helped bring that vision to life: a four-day experience hosting more than 1,000 guests, coordinated across 40+ vendors, with a different theme, menu, and atmosphere every night. Attendance swung from 100 to 350 people a day. Every evening had to feel like its own event — not a repeat of the night before — and every detail had to hold up next to a live major championship taking place just over the fence.
This is how it came together.
Four Days, Forty Vendors, First Fairway
A Vantage Point Worth Building Around
The home's position along the first hole was its single most valuable asset. From the right elevation, guests could hear tee shots, watch approach play, and see putts drop. To unlock it, a local contractor designed and built a custom platform: the Sky Deck.
Sky Deck design, engineering, and installation became the structural backbone of the entire week.
First Impressions: The Brand
The guest experience began long before anyone arrived on property. A full event identity — anchored to our client’s personal logo but reinvented for the occasion — carried through invitations, signage, wayfinding, printed collateral, accents, and décor.
Invitations took the form of custom scorecard holders, embossed with the client’s logo and modeled on classic tournament materials. Inside: daily schedules, hospitality details, and a QR code routing guests to a dedicated event site for RSVPs and programming.
This first impression created a buzz that pulled people in right away.
Four Nights, Four Experiences
A core principle of the week: no evening could feel like the night before. Each had its own theme, menu, entertainment, and mood.
Thursday — Philly.
It only felt right to pay homage to Philadelphia as the setting of the PGA Championship. On the menu were local favorites like cheesesteaks, Angelo’s pizza and Philly Pretzel while one of the most iconic Mummers troupes, The Polish American String Band, kicked off the event.
Friday — Americana.
Curated food trucks, outdoor social spaces, and a deliberate energy that matched the momentum of championship weekend. Bruce Springsteen tribute band E-Street Shuffle took the stage.
Saturday — Elevated Dining for Disco Night.
A different gear entirely. One of the Main Line's premier caterers brought sophisticated tabletop and floral design, premium bar service, and lounge-style hospitality. The Sensational Soul Cruisers took the energy up a notch and the Disco Night was a hit.
Sunday — Finale.
An intimate closing day that opened with Mass and gave way to final-round hospitality catered by The Wilmington Club — a quieter, more reflective end to the week.
The Logistics Underneath
Hosting hundreds of guests a day at a private residence inside a residential neighborhood adjacent to a live major championship meant logistics had to be airtight or the entire experience would suffer.
A full valet operation handled off-site and overflow parking, drop-off and pick-up flow, vendor and service vehicle access, and property-wide wayfinding — all calibrated around peak PGA Championship traffic.
On-site security personnel managed guest list and entry, vendor credentialing, access points, and crowd flow throughout the week.
Production stretched across 40+ vendors and every category an event of this scale demands: catering, bartending, entertainment, rentals, tenting, florals, signage, transportation, and security — plus the daily resets between themes, weather contingencies, neighbor coordination, and the constant operational reality of running a luxury venue out of someone's home.
The Result
The Bellew Invitational was a backyard. And it wasn't.
For four days it stood alongside the PGA Championship as a destination of its own — championship energy, distinct experiences every evening, and the kind of polished, personal hospitality that makes guests feel like they've been let in on something. Our client’s five-year vision lived in every corner of it.
