Chesterfield dad and his sons are making the State Open of Virginia a family affair

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- There is a recurring theme surrounding golf and the Dingledine family of Chesterfield County.

Ray Dingledine and his sons Quint and Talon all started playing golf at roughly the same age.

They all also stuck with golf for the same two reasons.

They were all good at golf and not good at much else.

"It was the only one I was probably good at," Ray Dingledine said. "I played a lot of soccer and basketball but golf was the one I had a chance to play in school and I wound up going to William and Mary."

"I have limited athleticism," Quint Dingledine added. "So I had to stick with something where I could make up for that with hand-eye coordination."

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All three have qualified for this year's State Open of Virginia which, even with their success in the sport, is a statistical anomaly.

Quint played in last year's Open but didn't make the cut.

What he did get out of the experience he hopes will help him improve for this year.

"You just have to stay in it, try to avoid any doubles," Quint said. "If you don't have your game, you're not going to make the cut because there are too many good players."

"I don't think last year was the result he had wished for, so he's probably blocked that out a little bit," Quint's brother Talon Dingledine said. "He told me it's a cool tournament and I'm just excited to play in it. Especially out here at a course where I've played a decent amount."

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Ray and Talon both qualified for the first time this year and both did it on the same day at Lakeside Country Club.

"I got to three under in the middle of the back nine and was leading by a pretty good margin," Ray said. "I started getting texts from guys all around the city asking me how in the world I was leading. I tanked my way into posting one under but that was good enough to get me through."

'I was surprised because we were in the same qualifier," Talon said. "I'm looking at the leaderboard because I wasn't playing great starting off. I was just waiting for one hole to just like one of his holes to happen but it never did. He played really solid golf. It was nice to see. It was a bit surprising, but I guess it was just his year."

"I was a little surprised but I was happy for him," Quint said. "Now I just have to make sure I don't lose to him."

All three Dingledeen men know this isn't something that happens every year and they plan to enjoy it as much as possible.

Dad probably has the best perspective on it which usually comes from the wisdom of experience.

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"I think what's helpful at my age now is that I don't care as much as maybe some of the younger players do," Ray said. "I kinda go out there with the expectation of let's give it a go, see what happens and it could be 80, it could be 68."

"You can't win if you don't sign up," he added. "You can't play well if you don't enter the tournament. I think I would probably use this as a good example of putting yourself out there. See what you can do."

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