The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Golf is a whole different ball game for fall and winter sports players like Dayton senior Dain Henderson and freshman Kale Sunderland, both fresh off the basketball court.

""It's a chance to work on my own," Henderson said. "Whatever I put into it is what I get out of it."

Henderson, though a varsity starter in football and basketball, confessed that golf is actually his "favorite sport by far." Coach Mike McGhan said Henderson is one of his top golfers, most likely to practice until dark nearly every day.

"I'm with the kids," Mc- Ghan said. "I like the personal challenge of the game."

For young ladies like senior Molly Payne and junior Abby Chapman, both Dayton cheerleaders, it's a chance to focus on their own game rather than support others with cheers, kicks and high spirits.

In the Touchet Valley, only Dayton is able to provide high school golf, but it's not an exclusive club. Golfers from Waitsburg and Prescott have been known to join the team at the Touchet Valley Golf Course.

This year, sophomore Dakota Baker of Waitsburg is playing with the team, though when it comes time to tallying points, Baker is on his own. He is the sole member, offi cially, of the WP golf team.

"We treat him like he's one of us, though," McGhan said. Baker joins the Dayton golfers for practice and traveling to competitions.

Baker is another of Mc- Ghan's "top male golfers." Together with Henderson and senior Jaron Button, McGhan said this is a group of young men to keep your eyes on.

"We're really looking for big things from them this year," he said.

Button, who ran cross country in the fall, said he's been golfing since he was 14.

"It's a sport you can do for the rest of your life," he said. Like Henderson, Button likes how "your own effort is what pays off" on the course. "That's why I like cross country too," he said.

Henderson has been to state three years. Baker, who played with DeSales last year, "didn't make it to state, but we really felt he should have," McGhan said. "There's a lot of pressure in golf when you get to the tournament level."

Other young men playing for Dayton on the course this spring are sophomores Andre Fayette and Traskx Rawlings, freshman Tim Ihle and Palestinian exchange student Mohannad Owiwi, junior.

"One of the great things about golf is being able to give exchange students an experience of a lifetime," McGhan said. "Mohannad had never played golf before. Often, students from other countries can't afford to play."

In the women's division, Payne is Dayton's veteran to state. She's been three times and holds every record for young women's golf in town.

Other young women to watch will be seniors Taylor Brown and Kyla Ihle.

Dayton's golf team got started in 2005, when a group of five or six boys went to the school board and proposed the idea. They got the okay, provided they could find a coach.

"When they asked me, I said, 'Yeah, sure. What's it pay?'" McGhan said. "Tony Henderson, Dain's dad, looked at me and said, 'Did I mention you get to play as much golf as you want for free?'"

McGhan said he's not a pro, but he loves the sport. He's been playing for over 40 years. And he loves working with the kids. He has an unusual job as golf coach, watching out for 12 kids who are spread over 30 acres. He spends a lot of time in his golf cart.

When not racing over the greens to check in on golfers, McGhan helps out first timers and works with older kids as needed. "They're pretty responsible," he said.

To help kids afford the game, the Columbia County Commissioners waive course fees. And the kids get a lot of support from member of the golf course. The kids, in return, help out with maintenance and keep the course clear of garbage and debris, McGhan said.

Clubs are often donated or a collection of what the kids can get, McGhan himself has, and what they can "scrounge," he said.

The students play their first competitive golf of the season this Thursday, March 17, at the District 9 Jamboree in Pasco at 1 p.m.