Peyton’s prize
Chesterton senior Martinson’s ‘long journey’ with chronic disease reaches moment of joy on golf course
On Aug. 22, Chesterton senior Peyton Martinson shot even par on the back nine during the Warsaw Invitational at Stonehenge Golf Course in Winona Lake.
There aren’t enough smiley emojis to express the joy the Martinson family and Chesterton’s girls golf team felt for Martinson after she finished with an 83. It was her best 18-hole score.
“It was surreal,” her father, Chesterton Principal Brent Martinson, said of her round. “She just got on a roll. She made like three 30-foot putts. She was on cloud nine.”
It’s not the score that matters so much.
It’s the story behind the score. A year ago, Peyton Martinson didn’t know whether she’d get to play high school golf again. Ulcerative colitis had turned her world sideways.
She tried to play the first few matches of the season, but she couldn’t get through a round.
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease. It’s an inflammation of the bowels. It’s an unforgiving condition that causes stomach pain and frequent trips to the bathroom. Your body refuses to accept nutrients.
Martinson was in and out of the hospital. Doctors spent months trying to find the right medication. She lost 30 pounds.
She wasn’t strong enough to stay on the course for two hours. It took all her strength just to make it through the day.
Her fortunes (fingers crossed) appear to have turned around.
Martinson had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when she was a freshman, but she had been able to control it.
The flare-up required a new treatment. It took months of experimentation to find the right medication, at least for now.
“It’s been a long journey, but I think I’m on the right path,” she said.
Taking up golf was almost an afterthought for Martinson, whose first sport is tennis.
Brent Martinson played golf at Michigan City Elston. He tried to drag her out for some rounds when she was younger, but she wasn’t interested.
“I bought her a set (of clubs) at a garage sale, but it just never took,” he said.
When Peyton was a freshman, her dad told her Chesterton’s coach needed players. A couple of weeks into the season, she went out for the team.
“I decided to give it a shot,” she said.
Her first score for a full 18hole round was 154. But the beauty of golf is that high scores can come down quickly with practice.
Martinson worked her way into the fifth spot by the end of that first year, getting her scores down to between 110 and 120.
She practiced the summer after her freshman year with her father and moved up to the fourth spot in the lineup.
In 2018, Martinson shot a reasonable 103 at the Lafayette Jefferson Regional at Battle Ground Golf Club.
It looked as if 2019 could be a really good year, but obviously things changed dramatically.
The fate of this season was uncertain because of the coronavirus pandemic and her higher-risk status because of ulcerative colitis.
Her score at Stonehenge was a complete and welcome shock.
“It was never on my radar to shoot even par,” she said. “I wanted to shoot 45. That’s bogey golf. I just took my swing really slow and trusted myself.”
Brent Martinson said Peyton and her grandfather played about once a week this summer.
“I think she broke 100 once,” he said.
Her parents and her grandfather watched the round at Stonehenge. It was one of those perfect, unforgettable days no one ever will forget.
“There was just a lot of joy,” Brent said. “Not because she shot 36 but because she’s healthy. I don’t care if she shoots 36 or 106. I’m very proud of her, and I love her.”