The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Las t Wedne sday, 64 ladies f rom the Touchet Valley and as far as La Grande and Sunnyside donned pastel golf shirts and hauled their clubs to the Touchet Valley Golf Course in Dayton for an annual all-ladies invitational.

The ladies, each pair assigned to a cart, mingled with old friends and made new ones. They laughed excitedly about the day's events and about 9 a.m., hurried their golf carts down the paths to start their nine holes of golf.

"It's about just getting together with the ladies, golfing on a nice day and lunch," said Judy Stewart, who came all the way from Richland to attend the invitational. Golfers hailed from Dayton, Waitsburg, Walla Walla, Tri-Cities, Sunnyside, La Grande and other places.

Stewart said she learned to play golf in 2000 when she retired and enjoys playing with her league of women rather than with her husband and other men.

"Women aren't judgmental like men and they're more fun," she said matterof factly.

Her partner for the day, Crystal Freeman, from a different league in Richland, has been playing since 2004 and likes to share her good fortune of once shooting a hole in one. Freeman said in golf she has good days and bad days.

"It's frustrating, but it is still fun," she says with a laugh.

Freeman said while playing golf with her husband, he pushes her to be better and work harder each time. With the ladies in her league, there is no pressure and she can just have a great time, she said.

However, it was an invitational and there was still first place to be earned. Elizabeth Cole from Waitsburg took the best score for the day. Dayton's league winner was Jean Nelson. Ellen Burruss got the low net score.

While Freeman and Stewart wait their turns to tee off from the first hole on the course, the scene is light-hearted. Freeman smiles and jokes under the brim of a large light pink hat. The ladies stretch their bodies a little and their mouths a lot. There are no stuffy golf rules enforced in this invitational - they continue to chat while each lady takes a swing at the ball to kick off the day.

And the invitational held each year in Dayton is a big deal. Stewart said she had to re-schedule a root canal so she could attend this year. She wasn't going to miss out on playing with her friends and meeting new faces. The pairs are drawn at random so each person can meet someone new.

"They try to mix it up so everybody meets different people," Freeman said.

Organizer Sue Little said the invitational is large and everyone wants to come back each year for the neat course and because the course management treats the group so well. Freeman loves the hole that's in the middle of the horse track area. However, she does worry a bit if horses are out when the league is playing.

"You're afraid you might hit them because we're so wild," Freeman said with a laugh. "We're not exactly professionals."

Bill Savage, the vice president of the Dayton Country Club, volunteered his time for the invitational this year. The volunteers wash all of the golf carts, mow, trim and edge the course and simply clean everything up so it is all ready for the ladies, he said.

He said the invitational has been held for many years, though neither he nor Little knows how many. Savage has been volunteering for about 8 years, he said.

The volunteers make sure to treat the group like royalty. The restaurant fixes a delicious lunch (this year it was lasagna) and they meet the cars when they arrive and pack the bags full of clubs onto the carts.

" We treat them like they're at a country club," Savage said. "They really get a kick out of that. And for some reason, they love coming back to Dayton every year."