'A first-class event': The NAIA Men's Golf National Championship comes to Dalton

May 12—The golf course at Dalton Golf and Country Club is often used by one of the best college golf programs in the NAIA.

The Dalton State College men's team, which resides regularly at or near the top of the NAIA rankings, utilizes the course for its usual local practices.

But, starting May 20, the course will host the rest of the nation's best programs too.

The 2024 NAIA Men's Golf National Championship will be played in Dalton at the Dalton Golf and Country Club.

Hosted by Dalton State at the club, the national championship tournament will feature 30 teams — including 156 total golfers — vying for a national title. A practice round is set for Monday, May 20, and the first of the tournament's four rounds starts the next day. A national champion will be crowned after Friday, May 24's final round.

"It's going to be a first-class event that this community can be proud of, not only during the championship but also as we look back on it after it is over with," said Jon Jaudon, the executive director of athletics at Dalton State.

'We needed a golf course'

The process to land the collegiate national championship tournament in Dalton has been in the works for around two years.

Jaudon and Ben Rickett, Dalton State's director of golf, prepared a written bid to submit to the NAIA in the summer of 2022.

Dalton State has been the host for some NAIA events in the past — the men's soccer team hosted opening-round brackets in the NAIA national tournament in each of the last two seasons — but the men's golf national championship provided the college, and the city, the opportunity to host the crowning of an NAIA national champion for the first time.

"Obviously we needed a golf course," Jaudon said.

With the Roadrunners practicing at the club, and with the club undergoing renovations planned by famed course designer Bill Bergin at the time, Dalton Golf and Country Club was the right fit.

"Once they found out that they could put in to host the tournament, they came to us to see if we'd be interested," said Nancy Ruppert, the membership director at the club.

After Dalton State submitted the bid — with help from the club, the Dalton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce on logistical concerns — NAIA officials arrived in town for a visit in November 2022.

"We showed that we're not just supplying a golf course like they'd been used to in the past," Ruppert said. "We would supply food and inside places for the players to be. We are letting them utilize all of our facilities and everything we have to offer while they're here, instead of it just being the golf tournament itself."

In early 2023, it became official. The tournament was coming to Dalton.

"They seemed very intrigued by what we had to offer, and then we got the information that, yes, we would be able to host it."

Will Perkins, the general manager at Dalton Golf and Country Club, said that he's honored that the club was chosen as host.

"It just speaks to the quality of this course," Perkins said. "The job that Bill Bergin did and the job that our maintenance supervisor Kenny Davis does in maintaining it. I think that anybody interested in golf is really going to enjoy this course."

Putting together the plan

"It's a pretty decent undertaking," Jaudon said of the planning process for the tournament. "The first thing we had to do was to secure hotels."

The tournament requires lodging for the 156 competing golfers, coaches, school staffs and NAIA officials.

"It's been a lot of meetings on the administrative level in terms of meeting the needs of the NAIA while they're here," said Perkins. "We had to find out what their specific needs and goals were."

Dalton State and the country club worked with NAIA administration on planning for the tournament, from major elements down to details like parking arrangements and how much ice to put in the coolers that will populate the course.

The NAIA fall preview, a smaller-scare tournament hosted at the national championship site, was held at Dalton Golf and Country Club in October.

For the main event later this month, several volunteers from the college, club and the public will help ensure the smooth operation of the tournament. Volunteers will serve as spotters, groundskeepers, shuttle drivers and several other roles.

"The number of roles and responsibilities are endless when putting on something like this," Jaudon said.

The course will be closed to members during play in the week-long tournament, but Perkins hopes the public will enjoy the experience of seeing high-level collegiate golf played close to home.

"It's been very important to the club to support the community and especially encourage golf in the youth," Perkins said. "Hopefully the community brings them out so they can experience this event and have a connection to some of these players."

'Find a way to win the thing'

Not only is Dalton State hosting the national championship tournament, the Roadrunners also have a shot at winning a national championship in their own city.

Dalton State is ranked No. 1 in the NAIA headed into the national championship tournament. The Roadrunners are red hot, having won four of the five tournaments they have played during the spring portion of the schedule, and the other tournament resulted in a second-place finish.

Dalton State won the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament, and the Roadrunners also took first place at the Roadrunner Classic played at The Farm in Rocky Face, a field that featured seven of the top 10 teams in the NAIA.

The Roadrunners will meet many of those same teams in the national championship tournament.

"It's special to have a team that is senior laden and with a lot of experience," Jaudon said. "We've been there before and have done it before, so we know what it takes."

Dalton State won the national championship in 2021 and was the national runner-up in 2022. Two of this year's seniors, Trevor Bassett and Steve Kibare, were freshmen on the national title team of 2021.

"It would be very special for us to be the host and for us to go forward and find a way to win the thing," Jaudon said. "But that's certainly not going to be easy. There are a bunch of quality teams that could come in here and win it."