Gainesville’s own Chattahoochee Golf Course could play host to a professional golf tour next year.

The National Golf Association’s Hooters Tour likely will make a weeklong stop in Gainesville in March 2010, Rodger Hogan, the golf course’s head professional told the Gainesville City Council on Tuesday.

Hogan told the City Council at Tuesday’s meeting that he expects the tour will be a boon to the city’s sales and hotel/motel tax revenues as well as provide a "tremendous" amount of publicity for Gainesville’s municipal golf course.

He anticipates 900 hotel rooms will be booked during the four-day tournament, and expects that the tour could bring more revenue to the golf course than the facility normally generates in a week.

"...Looking at historical data, the income that we would have that week would be at least equal to and has the potential to be much greater than the income that we would have on a normal week without the event," Hogan said.

The tour would require shutting down the golf course’s regular play for a week, Gainesville City Manager Kip Padgett said. But amateur players would be able to participate in a "pro-am" golf tournament where they would be paired with professional golfers during one day of the tour, Hogan said.

Gainesville City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to allow Hogan to move forward with securing the tournament in Gainesville.

The golf course’s advisory committee has also supported the tournament, Hogan said.

"It sounds to me like we may be put on the map again," said Gainesville Mayor Myrtle Figueras.

Hogan said the NGA Hooters Tour is the third largest tour in the United States. It is mostly a developmental tour for golf players who have recently graduated college and want to play professionally, he said.

"It’s more like a minor league’s, triple-A baseball team, kids trying to make it up into the major leagues," Hogan said.

The tour stopped at Royal Lakes golf course in Flowery Branch earlier this year, according to the tour Web site.