Barleys learn to love life on the links.

Byline: Kevin Anthony The Register-Guard

Charlotte and Ken Barley have imparted much golfing wisdom to their three boys down through the years, but Ken still remembers the day it was his turn to learn a lesson.

Thirty-year veterans of the game, the Springfield couple involved the kids in their recreational passion from an early age. By the time each boy was 3 - Chris, Kelly and Kyle - he already had his own sawed-off iron and putter.

The parents would coach each youngster's putting by straddling the hole and encouraging, `Hit it to me! Hit it to me!'

That was the scene between Ken and Chris not long after the oldest sibling had played his first hole at the Springfield Country Club, shooting a 23, as Ken remembers. His father standing over the hole on the putting green - `Hit it to me!' - Chris did just that.

`He hit one hard and high,' Ken recalled with a laugh, `and I had to duck to save my life. I never stood in front of him again.'

Thus began the Barleys' family foray into the grand ol' game.

`It's something we've done together for 30 years, and it was just a natural progression for the kids,' Charlotte said. `They were doing it before they could walk. We'd have them on the putting green, gathering balls. They'd push them into the hole. They understood the concept before they could walk.'

It all started with the family patriarch.

Ken was introduced to golf by his oldest brother, Rich, when he was growing up in Michigan. His father moved the family to Springfield while Ken was still young, and by the time he was in college, he was hooked. When he met Charlotte, who had never golfed but was a natural athlete, it was a quick conversion.

`It's a lifetime activity, no doubt about it,' Ken said. `I told all three kids they can golf all their life. Relatively speaking, they're all good players. And especially if you hit the ball long, they'll want you for the scrambles.'

The Barleys' fascination with the sport has paid dividends to the Springfield High golf team.

As Chris neared his freshman year, Charlotte stepped into the opening for the Millers boys' golf coach. The math teacher already was the boys' swimming coach and would hold both positions until Chris began playing basketball, when she opted to be in the stands as a fan rather than coaching in the pool. Chris, who graduated in 2003, finished second at the Midwestern League championships as a junior and senior and was the first Springfield High golfer to qualify for state in 10 years.

Last season, with Kelly a senior and Kyle a sophomore, the Millers made it to state as a team for the first time in 17 years and placed seventh, the highest team finish ever. It was a true family affair, with Ken a volunteer assistant for the varsity after coaching the JV two years earlier.

`It was really cool,' Kelly said. `I really wanted to do it for my mom. I was a senior this year and I wanted to give her that chance. I think she enjoyed it even more than me.'

Though the boys have shared the same coaches over the years, they have some real differences in their approach to the game.

`With Chris, it was pretty serious,' Charlotte said. `He was out there to do the job. Kelly was more relaxed when he played, and Kyle gets upset when he hits a bad shot.

`Kelly was the practice fanatic and Chris was not. Chris just wanted to play.'

Indeed, Kyle is not the links-lover that his brothers and parents are - `I think they like it a little bit more than I do.' - but he doesn't shy away from the family competitions that naturally break out.

`Every time we go out, it's parents vs. children,' he said. `My brother and I usually win.'

Competition seeps out at every turn. Asked who is the best golfer in the family, Kelly replied: `Oh, I am. I'm the best player.'

Better than Chris?

`The best in this house now.'

No one in the family is too shabby. Charlotte carries an eight handicap, Ken a nine. Chris is `one or less,' his mom said, Kelly is a four and Kyle an `eight or nine.'

Chris is the one family member turning his recreational love into a career. He begins his senior year at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas this fall and will finish with a degree in professional golf management. He interned with the PGA this summer, helping organize many of the junior events. He worked with early preparations for the recent PGA Championship in Tulsa, Okla., but had come back to Springfield before the start of the tournament after the death of his uncle and Ken's brother, Bob Barley.

Kelly is headed to the University of Oregon and plans to study broadcast journalism. That leaves Kyle, soon to be a junior, as the last Barley brother on the Miller team. But don't expect the family competitions to dry up anytime soon.

`It's a lifetime thing,' Charlotte said. `Ken and I will do it - as long as we can walk, we can golf. And we all get to spend quality time together. We all do it and enjoy it. There's all the competitions with each other, and you can't do that with other sports. In basketball, I'd quit after two minutes.

`Speaking for myself, I've loved every minute of it.'