Newton honored for teaching sport she loves

Chris Newton spent her childhood on the Whitefish Lake Golf Course and now she teaches others the game she loves on that same course.

A standout golfer, Newton had great success both in high school and at Weber State during her college career. She later spent time competing on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.

“My dad was an avid golfer,” she said. “We would follow him to the driving range. My mom was a golfer too and that got the whole family on the course.”

“My mom and dad really instilled a love of the game in us,” she said of her and her siblings.

Newton began her career in the junior golf program under Mike Dowaliby, who she says was her coach and mentor. Newton began working at the golf course first in high school.

She returned to Whitefish in the early 1990s to begin her own teaching career working with golfers of all ages, where today she serves as the Assistant PGA Golf Professional and Director of Instruction and Player Development.

“Teaching something that I love and being able to come back to Whitefish to do it has been amazing,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be sitting in an office working on a computer. The chance I got to travel to tournaments and cool places and events was amazing too.”

She was recently awarded the Western Montana PGA Chapter Teacher of the Year. Newton and colleague PGA Lyndsie Sebby oversee the junior golf program at the course.

“It’s nice to be honored by my peers,” she said. “To be recognized for something you work hard at feels good.”

Whether it’s a player brand-new to the game or a great golfer with years of experience, Newton says she likes working with them. Students in the junior golf program begin at age 7 and Newton says she often also works with retirees who are taking up the game for the first time.

“I see it as a puzzle,” she said. “I like to look at their swing and figure out where I need to start with this person to improve it. Then I build from there looking for one or two things that I can give them to improve.”

Newton says she’s so busy teaching these days that the only time she gets to play a round of golf is with friends and family on her days off, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Of all the courses I’ve played there’s nothing like this,” she says looking out over the Whitefish course. “There’s nothing like this facility. How lucky are we to have two different courses? It’s really unique.”

Newton says after all these years she’s still learning the game of golf and asking her fellow professionals for their input on how to improve her own swing.

“Golf is such a unique sport,” she said. “Each day is totally different and the way you hit your shots is different. No two days are the same, that’s why it’s the most frustrating, but also the most fun to keep coming back to.”

Newton has a long resume as the Montana State Amateur Championship runner-up in 1981 (at age 15), 1984 and 1986 and winning the title in 1985. She was part of the Weber State team to win the Division II National Championship in 1985.

In 2001 she was inducted into the Montana State Women’s Golf Hall of Fame and inducted into the Whitefish Lake Golf Club Hall of Fame in 2019. In addition to her recent teaching award, she has been honored by her peers in the Western Montana Chapter PGA many times.

From the time she was in high school, Newton says she knew golf would be part of her life. When her friends were off doing other things she was on the course, which led to her college scholarship and a chance to compete on the Women’s PGA tour. And eventually her return home.

“I get to do something that I love,” she said.