When Jim Arnold went to work at Chattanooga Christian School after the girls' golf team won the Region 4-A/AA tournament Sept. 22 at Fall Creek Falls, he outwardly let everyone at school know who was in charge.
He wore golf shoes with his suit. He strategically placed a golf tee behind his ear.
"I couldn't coach a swing if I had to," Arnold said.
Nonetheless, the man who took over the program halfway through this season is taking a trip - or being taken by the Lady Chargers - to Manchester this week to the state tournament at WillowBrook.
Macon County's boys are the other team champion from Region 4. The two-day, 36-hole tournament begins Tuesday at 9 a.m. EDT.
Arnold is a basketball coach by trade, having spent 19 years as either an assistant or head coach working with both boys and girls. Most recently he's been Laura Cottrell's assistant with CCS's high school girls' team.
He said administrators asked him if he could take the CCS golfers to go play a match against fellow District 7 member Signal Mountain about 10 matches ago. Jimmy Whitaker had begun the season as the golf coach.
"He resigned midyear," Arnold said. "I think it was job-related, I'm not sure. I know he's getting married. He's helped me with some things. I'm not really a golf coach."
That's OK with the Lady Chargers' No. 1 player, senior Anna Beth Harris. She has a swing coach in Deck Cheatham at The Farm in Rocky Face, Ga.
Harris gives him credit for working some things out with her swing and believes that's what helped her improve from shooting 84 in the district tournament to shooting 76 in the region event on the same course.
What she likes about Arnold is the invigoration he's brought to the program.
"That positive influence really helped us out," Harris said. "He's really encouraging. He's had a lot of different experiences coaching."
Harris's score coupled with Kylan Nash's 88 proved to be three strokes better than that of Signal Mountain, which not only had become a fixture at the state tournament as the Region 4 representative but had won state titles from 2009 through 2012 and in 2014. Taylor Gardner and Lindsey Hollis will represent Signal Mountain this week as individuals.
"I have a lot of friends from Signal Mountain's team," Harris said. "We're pretty close. It's exciting but it's bittersweet. It definitely feels good. CCS has not been to state in a while."
Harris qualified for the state tournament as an individual as a sophomore and a junior, so she's familiar with WillowBrook.
"It's all about where you hit it," she said.
Arnold isn't so familiar with the course - or all the rules of the sport, for that matter. But as a veteran coach who has helped guide 11 basketball teams to region tournaments but never to a state tournament, he appreciates the reward and wants the players to treasure it, too.
"My objective for them is to really enjoy the moment," Arnold said. "A lot of kids play interscholastic sports, but not a lot get to play for a state championship. I just want them to put their best foot forward and take it all in."
Also advancing as teams to the state tournament from Hamilton County are the Region 3 winners: Boyd-Buchanan's girls and Silverdale Baptist Academy's boys. The Lady Buccaneers are led by Lydia Campbell, and the Seahawks are paced by Dalton Sutton. Both were medalists in the District 5 and region tournaments.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.