By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Monica Vaughn had obstacles to overcome when she arrived at Arizona State in 2013. She didn't have the high-end training equipment and facilities that most NCAA golfers enjoy because she came from tiny Reedsport, Oregon (population: 4,154) where her dad served as her lifelong coach.
"We had a 9-hole golf course and no practice facility so we had to create our opportunities," the Sun Devil junior said Friday. "We'd practice while we were out on the course and we drove hours to other courses. When I was at tournaments, I'd use that as opportunity to practice, too. We took nothing and made it into something."
Uncommon athletic ability, a competitor's drive and the constant support of her father pushed Vaughn to a scholarship at ASU, but the greatest obstacle to her next step was Vaughn herself.
"I noticed very early on that she would get so angry and so upset with herself if she made even the simplest mistake out on the course, and it snowballed from there," Sun Devil women’s golf head coach Missy Farr-Kaye said. "We worked hard on first getting her to understand that she wasn't helping herself and she wasn't going to get any better by getting mad.
"With Monica, that meant literally getting in her space at times and saying, 'Hey, look at me. Stop for minute.' You have to stop their flow of anger and distract them into thinking about something else.
"It took a little trust in me saying, 'let's try it my way,' but once you get past that, you can start objectively evaluating your game and the reasons you may be making mistakes."
Vaughn called Farr-Kaye's advice a critical step in her development and the results are plain to see. She recorded six top-10 finishes last season. She won her first collegiate title at the PING/ASU Invitational in April. She finished sixth at the NCAA San Antonio Regional and she finished fifth at the 2015 NCAA Championship in Bradenton, Florida, earning Women's Golf Coaches Association first-team All-America honors.
"The way I finished last year gave me a lot of confidence going into this year," said Vaughn, who has top-10 finishes in both tournaments the Sun Devils have played this season, including a tie for second place at the Golfweek Conference Challenge where she shot a career-low tying 67 in the final round of competition.
"I really know now that I'm one of the top players in the nation and that's really, honestly how I feel when I'm out on the course," she said.
That's not where it ends, however. Vaughn wants to raise the bar another notch. Farr-Kaye said Vaughn's limited technical training means there is still a big upside to her game.
"Her technique when she got here was not probably not standard," Farr-Kaye said. "She was a really raw, highly talented and extremely athletic player who has become a more polished gem of a player.
"The improvements are smaller, though, and harder from here. It's hard to take your scoring average from 73 to 72; from 72 to 71.5. The fine-tuning of a player typically takes place in their short game and their mental strength on the golf course so we're continually working on those; continually working on her weaknesses while shoring up her strengths.
"There used to be a greater gap between the two but her weaknesses are becoming less of a weakness and more of a strength."
With increased confidence, a surgeon's approach and a more finely-tuned technical game, Vaughn believes her best days are coming. From just her freshman to sophomore seasons Vaughn dropped her scoring average from 73.43 to 72.31, shaving more than a stroke off her game in a year’s time.
"You always hear about players that were young and so good and then dropped off, but I feel like with all I've learned here and am still learning, I've only begun to peak," she said. "I know now that this is where I'm supposed to be and I'm playing like I'm supposed to play, so I have really high expectations for myself."