By Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly
For the first time in many years, under the leadership of Coach Parrish Deans and Assistant Coach Dusty Rish, Wagener Salley High School has a Golf Team and has finished second in the region and tenth in the state championship held at Cheraw State Park.
The WSHS golf team began with four and grew to seven players. While the players are all male, Deans is welcome to female players as well and prefers to keep his team to under 12 players. In high school golf, many players can play the match, but the coach has to list his top five for the match and then add up the top four for scoring.
The team is very young and Deans is looking forward to many good years with them. Sophomore Bryson Shealey made all-region and was low man at the region championship. Seventh grader Trey Romines was our low man at the state. Freshman Brett Yon had the lowest 9-hole score for the year. Other players include junior Tanner Turner, eighth grader Justin Widener and seventh graders Jordan Widener and Lance Brown.
The Indian Trail Golf Course serves as host for the WSHS golf team. Melanie and Michael Hartley have made a lot of improvements on the course and the team enjoys playing there. Deans and the team are very grateful to the Hartleys for their generosity in letting the team practice daily. They let the kids practice on the range and chipping green and hold matches out there. Deans anticipates holding a state championship out there in a year or two.
Also over the summer, the players are signed up for swing lessons and will participate in Aiken County’s First Tee program. This program will teach them the game and rules and also give them challenges to do. “Golf is such a fine-tuned sport,” Deans explained. “You don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest, but you’ve got to develop a skill of consistently hitting the ball the least amount of times.
“The kids have worked hard.” Deans is beyond proud of his team. “The neat part is that the championship is two days. In the first day, we were tenth, but on the second day, we were sixth. We actually shot better than four other teams on the second day. We improved by 35 shots the second day. Our goal is to drastically improve next year. To just build our foundation. Our goal is also to win region and then win state and even host a state championship. I’m very proud of these guys.”
Coach Deans wants to thank the Hartleys at the Indian Trail Golf Course for all they do letting the team play over there every single day. He also thanks Johnny Tyler and Tyler Brothers for providing a complete set of new Titleist golf bags for the team. Deans also thanks the Booster Club and Athletic Department for getting the team’s shirts and hats. And a last thank-you to Mr. Buddy at Ponderosa Golf Course in Batesburg for handling the order for the bags and for being an integral part of making our team look good.