Rutland’s Carol Pyon reflects on successful season, overcoming adversity

As Carol Pyon prepares to tee off at each hole, she looks down the fairway and spots her target. If she hits that target, she repeats that process for the second stroke. If she doesn’t hit the target, she panics, but not for too long.

Once she calms her self down, she continues that process for the remainder of the round.

That has worked for her and propelled her to become one of the best golfers in Middle Georgia. And going into her third year of high school, she is her region’s medalist and the GHSA Class AAA individual champion.

“She’s got natural talent,” her coach, Chip Stuart, said of the All-Middle Georgia Girls Golfer of the Year. “Watching her play, you wish you could play like that.”

Stuart has been coaching Pyon for two years. Working with an already developed golfer, most of his teaching comes on the mental side of the game.

Pyon has been battling the mental part of the game. She remembers the 2015-16 GHSA Tournament when she almost let the mental part of the game distract her.

The first nine holes were frustrating. Like she had done in the past, she let one mistake throw off the remainder of her game. She said she couldn’t focus, she couldn’t move on from the early mistake, but then the ninth hole came, and she responded with a par to get herself back on track.

That helped reset her mind, and she went on to shine on the back nine to win the state title. In addition to getting over her playing hump, she had motivation from the fact that her coach was going to retire at the end of the season.

Pyon said that moment of overcoming the adversity of being too hard on herself will always stay with her as proof that if she focuses on the current stroke and not the previous one, she’ll be fine.

“There are times when I just want to quit, but I look forward for this goal and it gets me out of this slump phase and gets me back on track,” said Pyon, who uses her goal of playing on the LPGA Tour as fuel for moving forward.

Lydia Ko, who plays in the LPGA Tour, also gives Pyon motivation through each tournament.

“She’s been able to accomplish what I want at such a young age,” Pyon said of the 19-year-old Ko. “Her game helps mine, and I look at her as an idol and a mentor.”

Pyon’s coach believes she can play at the Division I and professional levels. The next step is playing her best golf in the remaining tournaments she has left this summer and performing well her next two years at Rutland.

She will be playing in the upcoming U.S. Girls Junior Championship qualifier June 13 and will compete in other Georgia tournaments throughout the summer.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Rutland’s Carol Pyon reflects on successful season, overcoming adversity."