Although the Solheim Cup won’t be held in far west Sugar Grove until August 2009, preparations have been ongoing since the day after the last U.S.-hosted event in 2005.

The Solheim Cup, one of the most prestigious team events in women’s professional golf, is a biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition pitting the best U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) against the best European-born players from the Ladies European Tour (LET).

The location alternates between U.S. and foreign soil each time the event is held. Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove will play host to the week-long event, with actual play running from Aug. 21-23.

“Everything we did in 2005, we were thinking about 2009,” said Kelly Hyne, executive director of the Solheim Cup. “The event grows in scope so much that we really do have a four-to-six-year process in place to think through the next event.”

The location of the 2009 event, Rich Harvest Farms, was built in 1989 by architect and sole owner Jerry Rich. In 1999, it was named the fifth-best new private course in the U.S. by “Golf Digest” and in 2003 made its debut on that magazine’s list of Top 100 American Golf Courses; it is currently ranked No. 45.

More than 150,000 fans and media are expected to visit DuPage and Kane counties during the week-long affair, meaning years of coordinating is necessary to fully prepare for such an influx.

“I kind of liken it to building a small city,” Hyne said. “You literally have to do all of the things that you’d think about in building the entire infrastructure for a small city.”

Throughout the four years of preparation necessary between U.S.-hosted events, Hyne sees the first two as the time for building a base of community support: getting committees in place and solidifying corporate sponsorship. The last two years involve a transition into the operations aspects: building volunteer committees, hiring vendors and hosting media and vendor site surveys.

“We want to tie everything together so in the end, we have a detailed timeline for the build,” said Hyne.

The build involves erecting all the temporary, on-site structures, which include high-end hospitality and vendor tents.

“It’s really impressive how far the technology has come,” Hyne said. “When you walk in these hospitality tents, you literally don’t know you’re in a tent. You think you’re in a Macy’s.”

In order to accommodate the expected visitors to the area, the Solheim Cup has worked in coordination with local Convention and Visitors Bureaus, one of which is the Naperville CVB.

“If we look at Rich Harvest Farms and draw a circle around it, we’re probably one of the largest population centers in closest proximity to the actual golf course itself,” said Christine Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership.

“With over 2,000 hotel rooms in Naperville, we’re probably going to see the bulk of the visitors as well as the staff and the media.”

The city of Naperville has been involved with Solheim since its initial stages, when Rich in 2003 first petitioned to host the 2009 event. Naperville sent its support as part of the original application package and its ability to help accommodate the spectators and media assisted in the decision-making process.

“The communities really have to embrace the whole concept because you’re really the concierge for all of those people,” Jeffries said.

The Naperville CVB has already held many site visits with LPGA groups and media, as well as hotel walkthroughs. It has also been in contact with Solheim’s European counterpart, coordinating accommodations for the major overseas sponsors.

“We have people that are online booking hotel rooms and have been for the last six months,” said Jeffries. “Some of the hotel blocks are already sold out.”

The local CVBs have helped the Solheim committee develop a hotel network, creating a diverse mix of locations for visitors to choose from.

“The DuPage CVB had the mechanism by which to put the hotel network in place,” said Hyne. “Any hotels up and down the I-88 corridor who wanted to be incorporated into our hotel network were able to do so.”

Through this network, more than 1,700 hotel rooms have already been booked, Hyne noted.

In the early stages, the Solheim committee worked diligently with area CVBs to create a comprehensive, detailed outline of what each area has to offer, allowing fans easy access to information through Solheim’s Web site, www.solheimcup.com.

“We worked really hard with all of the CVBs so fans could really activate and have available to them a one-stop shop,” Hyne said. “We wanted to make it an easy experience for them to be able to book their accommodations, get their tickets and see what the area has to offer.”

In addition, Naperville has created the Guide to Banquet Facilities for the Solheim Cup, available on the front page of www.visitnaperville.com.

“Anybody who has banquet space is included in this publication,” said Jeffries. “We wanted to be able to refer people in Europe to this site, so they can find venues to accommodate the different events they may be hosting while they’re in town.”

Furthermore, the city of Naperville will have an information booth available at the entrance to Rich Harvest Farms, highlighting the different attractions throughout the town.

“We’ll have ambassadors on site as well as throughout the community,” said Jeffries.

Currently, the Solheim Cup is tying up agreements with its corporate sponsors and identifying its volunteer committees while also focusing on ticket sales.

“The reception from sponsors has been tremendous,” Hyne said.

More than 50 corporations have already signed on at some level to support Solheim, with the value of attracting global clients through exposure in an international event one of the top reasons for involvement.

“This event is very different in that it has the patriotism aspect too,” said Hyne. “So even if you’re not a golf fan and don’t know much about golf, you really can’t help but be swept up in the whole atmosphere.”