North Georgia has announced it will add men’s and women’s golf this coming fall and that Tom Fowler will coach both programs.

The school has also partnered with Achasta Golf Course (a Jack Nicklaus signature course located just minutes from campus) to be the new home for the Saints. Fowler has been the head golf pro there and has been a PGA professional since 1994.

“We are pleased to initiate these programs at North Georgia,” said President David Potter. “This should enable us to recruit strong scholar-athletes to the university, and it will provide greater visibility to our institution throughout the region and the state.”

North Georgia also announced that 1973 Masters Champion and PGA tour legend Tommy Aaron has agreed to serve as honorary coach. Aaron, a native of Gainesville, Georgia, captured back-to-back Southeastern Conference individual golf titles for the University of Florida in 1957 and 1958. He played on the PGA Tour from 1961 to 1979.

The addition corresponds with a Peach Belt Conference announcement earlier that the league had voted to add women’s golf as a championship sport beginning in fall 2009, with the first championship tournament to be played in April 2010.

“Providing championship opportunities to our student-athletes is one of the cornerstones of our conference,” said Peach Belt Commissioner Dave Brunk. “We have been actively trying to add more championship sports and are thrilled that women’s golf will be a part of the Peach Belt. Men’s golf has been a very successful sport for us and the southeast has the best collegiate golf in the country, at all levels, and the addition of the women’s championship is a natural fit for us.”