Dan Falloon
As Christin Thomson prepares to rebound from a disappointing 2009 season, she has looked to an old source to improve.
Since late October, the Fort Frances native has been living in West Palm Beach, Fla. working with Pam Cunningham, who was her coach during her collegiate career at St. John’s University in New York City.
Thomson noted she had started taking lessons from Cunningham back in late January, but only occasionally depending on when she could get down to Florida.
“It only worked out a handful of times [during the season]. But now I’ve been here close to two months,” she said last week from Florida.
“It’s a lot easier for her to keep track of my progress.”
Thomson explained she is working differently with Cunningham in the off-season as opposed to the areas they might work on during the summer months.
“I’m trying to be aware of what I’m doing on every single shot,” she stressed. “Right now, it’s not just a matter of going out and beating balls around.”
Thomson lauded her coach’s knowledge of the sport’s details as a major factor in her off-season improvement.
“I’ll just go for a lesson and just tweak one thing and by the end of it, I’ll be hitting the ball a lot better,” she remarked.
“She’s really good on the mental side of the game, too,” Thomson added.
“It hasn’t come up very much right now, but during the season, she’s very good at getting me to focus on the things I can do, and not some of the other things I shouldn’t be focused on.”
Thomson attended a sectional qualifier for LPGA Qualifying School in Venice, Fla. in 2008 but she finished 72nd overall and did not earn an invite to the final qualifying tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.
This past year, Thomson said she decided to skip the process altogether and focus on bouncing back from a sub-par season.
“I decided in the fall that I wasn’t going to ‘Q’ school,” she noted. “It’s a pretty big financial commitment, so I decided to save money and just concentrate on next season.
“The LPGA is still the ultimate goal, though.”
Thomson plans to compete in tournaments in Colorado, Arizona, and Michigan, as well as again on the CN Canadian Women’s Tour.
Her best finish on the CN Canadian Women’s Tour in 2009 was a tie for 51st at a tournament in Mirabel, Que., where she carded a 13-over total.
“My main focus right now is the Canadian tour,” Thomson said, adding she’s going to try to sort out the year ahead in the coming days.
