Seeing the name Dusenbury at the top of a golf leaderboard in Polk County is nothing new.
Trey Dusenbury was a force at Tryon High, winning a state championship as a junior in 1987 and finishing second as a senior. He went on to a career at N.C. State and later coached at Polk County High.
“We had a good run with Will Ballard,” he said. “I loved coaching. It was very enjoyable.”
Get PolkSports delivered to your inbox
Sign up for our free newsletter →
Now, Trey’s getting enjoyment from watching his daughter, Charley. A three-sport standout already for the Wolverines, Charley decided to turn a lifelong love of the game into yet another pursuit for her senior year, competing for the Wolverines during the just-completed season.
“I’ve played golf for fun my entire life,” Charley said. “This year we had the opportunity to have a girls golf team, so I wanted to try that out, especially because it was my senior year and it would be my last chance to be on a golf team. I wanted to try it competitively because I’ve only been playing for fun my entire life.”
Her venture into competitive golf has proven to be just one more athletic endeavor at which Charley shines.
“I would say I’ve been doing pretty well,” she said,. “I’ve been placing in the top ten most every tournament and shooting in the 40s.”
Charley said the mental side of the game is something that attracted her to golf.
“Golf is such a mental game,” she said. “It takes a strong mindset to play golf and make sure that the next shot isn’t affected by your last shot. If you hit a bad shot, you’ve just got to move on because there’s nothing you can do about it. There are opportunities to make up for your mistakes. I like that.”
That’s something Trey helps to reinforce.
“She’s kind of a natural,” Trey said. “I try to focus on the mental aspect of it. One shot at a time, don’t let a bad shot ruin the next one, forget about it and move on.”
Charley’s mental game translates to most everything she does athletically – from the volleyball court to basketball to the soccer pitch. Golf is just one more opportunity to sharpen her focus. Part of that comes from a long-ago drill.
“My dad and I used to play out in the yard,” she said. “We had a small trampoline, and he’d tell me to aim for the trampoline. Now when I’m chipping, I still do that. On a chip, for example, there’s a small spot where you can leave it and it will bleed to the hole. I kind of start to visualize exactly where I want the shot to land, and it helps me out a lot.”
Father and daughter enjoy their time together on the course.
“We love playing Tryon Country Club in the evenings,” Trey said. “It’s just me and her and nature. It’s like a park. It relieves a lot of stress and we have a good time playing together.”
While he’s proud of all of Charley’s athletic accomplishments, Trey treasures the opportunity to watch her on the links. And the opportunities will continue even though Polk’s season has come to an end – Charley plans to join the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour, which holds weekend tournaments throughout the region, and play those until soccer season this spring.
“Golf is special,” he said. “I’ve had several comments that if she wants to play golf in college, that’s something she could do.”
Charley is just having fun learning to play competitively in her final high school season.
“I just want to finish out the year strong,” she said. “I want to really enjoy my time playing competitively because I don’t know how much longer I’ll get to do that.”
