Bella Collina Golf Club Shines on The Traveling Golfer

(PHILADELPHIA, Pa.) - Blindfold some unsuspecting travelers ... take them on a long airplane flight ... then drive them by car to Bella Collina Golf Club. Take off the blindfold and tell them you have transported them to the Tuscan countryside in Italy. Nobody will doubt it.

The sights, sounds and - in the restaurants - the smells of Bella Collina are unmistakably Italian. But the actual location is the hill country in Florida, about 45 minutes northwest of Orlando. The modern and visually stunning 18-hole golf course is accentuated by an authentic Tuscan clubhouse, perched high on one of the hills in Montverde, Florida. And it is featured on the award-winning Traveling Golfer television show across a large network of outlets throughout the month of September.
   
Just how authentic is Bella Collina? So authentic that all of the stones used to build the structures and walls surrounding the clubhouse were imported from Italy. And a large force of Italian stone masons also was imported to lend their artistic touches to this masterpiece.
   
"Everything about this property was done with the intention of maintaining the Tuscan theme," explains Bella Collina general manager Jerry Thompson. "When people come here we want them to leave their real lives behind and immerse themselves in the atmosphere we have created.

The Traveling Golfer takes viewers on a trip across the hills and elevation changes of a unique golf course that is open to daily fee play. It takes them inside the mammoth homes that are available for rent by golf groups. And it escorts them through the courtyards and rooms of the expansive clubhouse.

"There is no other way to describe the total Bella Collina experience other than 'jaw dropping,' " said Traveling Golfer host Tony Leodora. "I kept blinking my eyes, doubting that I was really in Florida. I kept expecting to hear the staff chattering away in Italian."

The episode from Bella Collina begins airing September 1 and runs throughout the month on The Traveling Golfer Network of websites ... including The Golf Director Network (see full list of sites on www.travelinggolfervideo.com). It also will air on Monday, September14 as part of the Press Box television show in Myrtle Beach, 5 to 7 p.m. on HTC Ch. 4. As of April, the Traveling Golfer began airing in its entirety as a scheduled weekly feature show on Comcast SportsNet and The Comcast Network throughout the Philadelphia, Mid-Atlantic, North Jersey and Pittsburgh markets.

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 golf trips to some of the most exciting golf locations. The show won a first place award for golf television broadcasts in the prestigious International Network of Golf Media Awards, presented at the PGA Merchandise Show in January.

The Traveling Golfer appears as a series of monthly shows hosted by Leodora, who has 15 years of experience in televised golf shows. The featured destination stays on the website for one month, before being replaced by a new show. The old shows are archived for continued viewing on the home website, www.travelinggolfervideo.com.  Past episodes also can be found on Xfinity On-Demand from Comcast.