Pop-up parking lots near the PGA Championship abound, with homeowners looking to cash in on the crowds

Nick Scamuffa’s Newtown Square hair salon is closed through the weekend due to projected traffic congestion from the PGA Championship at nearby Aronimink Golf Club.

But the expansive parking lot at Nicholas Sebastian Salon & Spa on State Route 252 will still be bustling.

To offset four days with no appointments, Scamuffa is getting into the parking business, selling spots to tournament attendees for between $150 and $200 a day.

From the salon, patrons can walk through a neighborhood to the nearest course entrance in less than 10 minutes, Scamuffa said, or be ferried there in one of his golf carts.

If Scamuffa were a spectator, “I would be my customer,” he said. The salon owner said some customers and community members have told him he should charge more, while others say his weekend rate of $200 a day is too high.

“We can’t just be closed,” Scamuffa said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re expecting 200,000 people [at the tournament], I just need a few hundred of them to park” in order to make money.

Scamuffa said he could fit as many as 100 cars, meaning he could make as much as $20,000 a day over the weekend. He had about 100 total reservations on the books earlier this week, but said he expects most of his business to come from people driving up.

Signs for lots like Scamuffa’s, as well as makeshift ones on homeowner’s lawns, dot the leafy green landscape near Aronimink Golf Club, where the PGA Championship is being held this week for the first time in 64 years. Street parking is prohibited in neighborhoods surrounding the course, and spectators can’t park on-site.

Those who secured prepaid parking through the PGA paid $40 or more for spaces in off-site lots that are a 10-minute shuttle ride from Aronimink.

These official parking passes appeared to be sold out on the primary market as of Wednesday, with resellers asking between $400 and $800 per spot.

In its online spectator guide, the PGA “highly encouraged” fans to take SEPTA Regional Rail to the Paoli station, and then ride a 12-minute shuttle to the course.

» READ MORE: Going to the PGA Championship at Aronimink? Here’s what to know, including transit, parking, food options, and more

With parking at a premium, local homeowners are also capitalizing on expected PGA crowds.

Using lawn signs and Facebook posts, they’re selling spots for sometimes $150 or more during later rounds over the weekend.

The pop-up parking lots represent a short-term side hustle of sorts for some residents of Newtown Square, where the average household income is $135,000 a year and Zillow says the average home value is around $800,000.

Lexi Dahlin is renting out nine spots on her lawn and a few more in her driveway about half a mile from the course. She is charging between $100 and $150 a day.

“You don’t have this happen very often,” said Dahlin, 41, co-owner of an event rental company called Beyond Tablescapes Main Line. “If there is an opportunity to make money, why not?”

The family hopes to make a few thousand dollars on their parking endeavor, while teaching their young children some of the logistics involved in running a business.

Initially, Dahlin said she had listed their 2,800-square-foot home on Airbnb for about $32,000 for the week. She began cleaning out the four-bedroom house room by room, and made reservations for her family to stay at a hotel in Conshohocken.

But then Dahlin started Beyond Tablescapes, and decided the timing wasn’t right to move out for a week, she said. She removed the Airbnb listing before she got any renters.

Many short-term-rental hosts in the Philadelphia market were left with unbooked homes during the tournament, according to AirDNA, which analyzes Airbnb and VRBO data.

This week, “demand and occupancy barely moved compared to a typical May week,” AirDNA analyst Camilo Schmid Rivas wrote in a report released Wednesday. “For an event known for driving major short-term rental surges, the market response was surprisingly muted.”

Rivas cited several possible reasons. Many bookings were made earlier than usual and the Philadelphia region has more active hosts than prior PGA Championship host cities Charlotte, N.C., and Louisville, Ky.

» READ MORE: Six weeks before the World Cup, thousands of Philly-area Airbnbs and hotel rooms remain unbooked

For Philly-area residents attending the PGA Championship, one of the big questions this week is how to get to Aronimink.

Some have taken to social media platforms like Facebook and Reddit, inquiring about parking options and seeking advice about taking PATCO and SEPTA to the course.

Sami Spieller, a 33-year-old project manager, was among them.

Spieller said she bought a Friday ticket for $225 on the resale platform StubHub, and then started looking for nearby parking options.

She exchanged a few messages with someone renting out spots at their home, but decided not to reserve a space after the person mentioned that Spieller may still have to Uber to the course gate.

She felt too much uncertainty about parking in an unofficial lot, she said. Instead, Spieller and her friend plan to walk to the Wayne train station near Spieller’s home, ride to Paoli, and then get a shuttle to the course.

That choice will save them money — the train ride is $10 per person roundtrip — but not time.

“It’s crazy, because I live 10 minutes away,” Spieller said, “and its probably going to end up taking an hour.”