Feel like walking off school grounds and on to a golf course?

At St. Wendelin School, it's all part of the curriculum.

St. Wendelin joined forces with Hiland Golf Course this spring to provide seventh- and eighth-graders the opportunity to learn the sport of golf during gym class.

"We started a seventh and eighth grade here a few years ago," St. Wendelin principal Charlene Fleming said. "We'd been trying to think of ideas to entice kids to stay with our school after the sixth grade.

"A lot of them leave because of sports. Here was a way we could interest them in a sport."

St. Wendelin School has 77 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, but only eight seventh and eighth-graders. It has 40 pre-school students.

Hiland Golf Course is located only a quarter of a mile down the road from St. Wendelin.

"(Fleming) contacted me with the idea, and I was all in favor of it," said Alan Zediker, a member of the family that owns the golf course. "I offered to teach the kids. The more people who learn the game of golf, the better."

The Zediker family has owned Hiland Golf Course for 50 years.

Each Wednesday after lunch this spring, St. Wendelin's seventh and eighth-grade students - six boys and two girls - walked along St. Wendelin Road to the golf course.

Zediker has been teaching them putting, chipping, and the difference between a bogie and a birdie.

"All eight of the kids participated and learned a lot," Fleming said. "I chaperoned the class and took part in it, too."

Zediker said he covered the basics of golf in the class.

"I worked with the kids on grip and stance, on taking a level swing," he said. "Each class lasted an hour.

"I had them hitting 7-irons and 9-irons, fairway shots and sand shots, chips and putts, out on the golf course."

The kids never played a round of golf, "but got a feel for what it's like to be out on the course, including golf etiquette," Zediker added.

Gina Beaver is president of the Parents-Teachers Guild at St. Wendelin and said the organization backs the new golf class fully.

"It's the first time the school has ever had any type of class off-site," Beaver said. "The kids loved it and the parents did, too.

"This was a wonderful way to involve the kids in a sport they may know nothing about otherwise. It's a new dimension, something new for the kids to learn."

The golf class began at the end of March and continued each Wednesday afternoon through May.

"This may be the only time some of these kids step onto a golf course in their lives," Beaver said. "But at least they got a chance to do it."

Next year's seventh and eighth-graders may get the chance to do it as well.

"We couldn't have done this without Mr. Zediker," Fleming said. "If he's willing to work with us again, we have interest in keeping the program going."

"If they still want to do it, so do I," Zediker said. "Just watching the kids improve and having fun with it is rewarding to me."