Hunt Gilliland

Portable lights will illuminate the driving range before dawn.

Shuttles will move fans between a parking lot and the course, coolers will be full of cold drinks on every tee box, and the scoreboard will be meticulously scripted in calligraphy.

College golfers will surely remember the 2008 NCAA East Regional being held May 15-17 at Council Fire Golf Club.

The tournament committee, club officials, club members and other volunteers have been working behind the scenes to prepare for the Chattanooga area’s biggest amateur event this year.

The days will get longer as the date draws closer.

“It’s a lot of logistics,” said Hunt Gilliland, the Council Fire director of golf. “We want to make it a real positive experience for the kids. We want it to have the feel of a national championship.

“We’re bringing in some of the best players in the world, after all.”

Gilliland and the rest of the committee have the advantage — in some cases, disadvantage — of using a 300-plus-page handbook provided by the NCAA to work from.

They’ve also taken a few pages from the more expansive national championship guide.

“I was surprised at all the stuff you have to do,” committee member Ryan May said. “The NCAA has a lot of regulations, and you have to go through the fine print and make sure the processes are correct.”

The Council Fire grounds crew will begin preparing the course for the tournament about two weeks prior. To improve difficulty, they’ll lengthen the rough, shave the greens as the NCAA desires and coordinate with the USGA to determine hole locations. The course will also play as a par-71 with No. 18 switching from a par-5 to a par-4.

“We’ll be here from before 5 in the morning until after 9 at night,” Gilliland said. “It’s a lot of time and energy, but I think the staff and the membership are pretty fired up.”

Volunteers won’t spend that many hours on the course, but they will be vital to the success of the event.

Gilliland and volunteer chairman Bob Franks still want about 50 more people to donate their time in exchange for a shirt or hat and the experience of working an NCAA regional.

The committee needs walking scorers — the goal is to have one for every group — marshals, spotters, scorers and people to work evacuation (in case of lightning) and parking. People can get more information from the Council Fire pro shop.

“It’s our goal to make this a very memorable experience for the golfers,” Franks said. “We want them to remember Chattanooga and Council Fire 20 years later.”

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