Whatever it is, Thomas has found it to improve her game

Chessey Thomas doesn’t have a precise explanation for the dramatic improvement in her golf game this spring.

Some additional work on her putting and chipping has helped, she said. And so did a minor mental adjustment that forced her out of her “high 70s” comfort zone.

But even that doesn’t seem like enough to sufficiently explain the remarkable roll Thomas has been on of late, having won both the State 4A individual and team titles and the Girls 16-18 Division of the 2009 Pacific Northwest Junior PGA Championship within a three-day span late last month.

Thomas, who attends St. George’s School but plays high school golf for Lewis and Clark because St. George’s does not compete in the sport, led LC to the State 4A team championship as a junior this spring and also captured medalist honors by posting a 36-hole score of 5-under-par 139 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Her two-day total was one stroke better than the 140 turned in by Kamiak’s Seo Hee Moon, who was the defending champion.

Thomas proved her effort at state was no fluke just three days later when she captured the PNW PGA’s junior title at Tumwater Golf Club with back-to-back rounds of even-par 72 that produced a 36-hole total of 144 that was three strokes better than that of her nearest competitor.

“I don’t know for sure what it is,” Thomas said of her recent success. “Something just clicked.”

Actually, there was much more to it than that.

Thomas, a basketball standout for St. George’s, underwent surgery last winter to repair ligament damage in her foot – the result of a preseason injury that forced her to miss the entire 2008-09 prep basketball season.

But rather than mope about her basketball misfortune, Thomas started making regular trips to the attic in her home to work on her golf game on the synthetic turf and practice net her parents had installed.

“I would go up there with my dad almost every night, with a cast on my foot, and chip and putt for 30 minutes or more,” she said. “It made a world of difference in my putting – especially on those 4-footers.”

Once the spring golf season started, Thomas made a personal commitment to no longer be satisfied with simply breaking 80 – which required a different mental approach to the game.

“Golf is a funny thing like that,” she said. “You can go out and shoot a fairly low number and people say, ‘Hey, nice round.’ But you always feel like you left a few shots out there, so I decided I was didn’t want to be content with shooting in the high 70s any more.”

As a result of that decision, Thomas also took her mental game to a new level, opting to think herself around the course instead of just trying to overpower it.

“With me now, it’s become all about minimizing mistakes and putting myself in the best positions to shoot a good score,” Thomas said. “I know when to leave my driver in the bag now and how to determine whether the risk is worth the reward.

“Everyone is going to make a bogey or two, so it kind of gets down to what you do on the next hole after that, I think. This year, I’ve played a little more composed than I have the past couple of years, and I think that’s been another reason I’ve played so well in these last two tournaments.”

Thomas, who has already made an oral commitment to enroll at the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2010 and play for the Lady Volunteers, has a busy – and highly competitive – golf schedule planned for the summer.

Later this month she will travel to Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., where she has been invited to play in the Rolex Girls Junior Championship (June 16-19) against 74 of the other top players in the nation. On June 22, she will compete at Manito Country Club, her home course, in a qualifier for the U.S. Girls Junior Championships held July 20-25 in Bedminster, N.J. As a result of winning this year’s PNW Junior PGA title, she has earned a spot in the 34th Junior PGA Championships held July 28-31 in Maineville, Ohio.

In addition, she plans to play in five or six other American Junior Golf Association events throughout the country.

“It’s going to be a busy summer, but I’m really looking forward to it,” Thomas said. “I’m excited to get back out there and prove to myself that I deserve the chance to play college golf, and to make sure the coaches at Tennessee know I’m still working hard to be the best that I can be when I finally get back down there.”

And of the recent roll she’s been on, Thomas added:

“It’s been a blast. I just hope I can keep it going for the next 12 weeks.”