Fairways and Fretboards: a Profile on PGA of Canada Pro and SWiiMS lead guitarist Colin Thompson

It’s a weekday morning at St. Andrew’s East Golf & Country Club.

With a ‘no-tee time’ policy, members arrive at their own pace before heading into the pro shop, where they are greeted by the friendly staff tasked with managing the tee throughout the day.

The pacing is a nice contrast from the hustle and bustle 50 km south in Toronto.

Associate Professional Colin Thompson just wrapped up the draw for an upcoming league night; a productive morning, which PGA of Canada professionals are accustomed to having before many in non-golf related industries begin their workday.

Thompson takes a minute to walk out to the range to greet some members using the state-of-the-art practice facility at the Stouffville private club.

Walking to the far end of the range can be dangerous for a club professional - an hour of time can easily go by one “can you please take a quick look at my swing?” at a time.

The golf industry is lucky to have so many friendly pros: “You’ll have to book a time with me” is not a phrase often said when asked for a quick tip.

Years earlier, it was Thompson who would spend hours working on his game at the Scarboro Golf & Country Club range after being dropped off by his parents. A talented athlete, Thompson was a AAA baseball player before his love of golf ultimately took over.

“At 14, I just started going over for something to do, a way to spend the summer days without getting in trouble,” said Thompson. “My parents knew where I was. It was important at the time to learn how to be seen not heard, and they knew I was learning respect, too.”

“You can't hide your personality on the golf course,” continued Thompson. “I love that about golf. You can show grace whether you win or lose, and it usually indicates if you are a graceful person in real life. You can't possibly hide all those things about yourself.”

Thompson worked part-time jobs in the winter to help fund summers at the golf course, where the professionals at Scarboro helped him see the viability of a career in golf.

It has led him to a resume that reads like a ‘best of’ list of clubs in the GTA: St. George’s, Rosedale, Oakdale, Whitevale, and Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto, where he most recently worked before moving to St. Andrew’s East in 2024.

After some hellos – and a few pro-bono tips - Thompson returns to the pro shop; an upcoming club tournament to prepare on his mind.

But there is one other thing on his mind; a dreamy melody written by Mai Diaz Langou, singer for the indie band SWiiMS, longing for a guitar fill after the first chorus.

Thompson is the lead guitarist and a songwriter for the group, which formed in 2019.

While SWiiMS is certainly not the first group he has been involved with – Thompson has written songs and played with several bands since high school – he says it is his favourite.

“I played in bands (who’s music) I didn't like that much, just because I wanted to keep playing. You write your own parts, and you enjoy it because you're contributing creatively your own aspect to the songs, but it wasn’t my thing,” said Thompson.

“I found my voice for writing much later, like much later in life than a lot of kids do, but for the past several years I’ve been the primary writer for the bands that I've played in musically while the singer would write the lyrics and melodies,” he added.

His love for both writing and playing is evident in the way he speaks about music. An 80’s kid, Thompson was along for the ride as traditional rock and alternative genres evolved with experimental new wave and grunge sounds.

While SWiiMS is broadly labelled as ‘indie rock’, ‘dream pop’ – or even ‘shoegaze’, a sound Thompson says one music engineer really brought out on their latest record - there are a multitude of subgenres you could use to classify them. Thompson, though, doesn’t put too much thought into ‘this type’ or ‘that type’ of classification.

“There are about 15,000 subgenres now, everything can be this-core, or that-core,” Thompson jokes. “When I was a kid, it was just ‘alternative music’ and that encapsulated goth and rock and basically everything that wasn't Phil Collins.”

“And now that every band has its own subgenre, it's almost too much to keep up with so it’s more about saying ‘I like that song. I don't know what genre it is. But I just like it.’”

After releasing a few EPs, SWiiMS – made up of Thompson, Langou, Cian O’Ruanaidh (bass) and Craig McCann (drums) - released their first full-length album in 2023 ‘Into the Blue Night’ under a small label in New Jersey. The release premiered on the North American College & Community Radio Charts and debuted at #16 on NACC Radio Canada.

Last spring, Thompson travelled with SWiiMS to play a few shows around New York City.

“I call it more day trip than tours. Even if we were to go to, say, Boston or something, it would be a long weekend and we're not quitting our day jobs to spend three weeks in a van and spend a bunch of money,” said Thomspon. “We do a lot more shows within, say, five hours of Toronto, but primarily right in Toronto.”

The band has a pair of Toronto shows lined up in June, playing as part of the NXNE Festival at Collective Arts on Friday, June 13 and at the Tranzac on Saturday, June 21.

While Thompson does his best to avoid stretching himself thin during the golf season, he says St. Andrew’s East has provided the support and work/life balance to help fulfill his passion for both golf and music.

“Brent (Goodman), the Head Pro at St. Andrews, has been great. We don’t usually play more than once a month, but, you know, if I tell him that we've got something in advance and I need an open shift versus a close shift, he's very accommodating with me,” Thompson said.

Thompson is humble when it comes to his craft at the club, avoiding self-promotion, though he notes, when he worked at Toronto Ladies’ Club, Head Professional Jaime Steedman would sometimes play SWiiMS on the speaker outside the clubhouse prior to tournaments.

“I don't spend a lot of time saying, hey, I'm playing next Friday. You guys should come out. If they ask, I tell them, but the reality is, I'm older than everybody that I work with. I'm 55 and they're all 20 and not necessarily listening to 90s shoegaze material,” said Thompson.

“I've had a couple of members come to shows, but I feel the same way when it comes to promoting teaching. If someone asks me for a lesson, I'll absolutely give them one, but we've got a teaching pro whose whole income depends on him getting lessons, and I sort of feel that way about promoting myself at work musically, too,” Thompson added.

As far as new material goes, Thompson says the band has some tracks in the works and could come out with a new project in 2026.

SWiiMS can be heard on all music streaming services and, while Thompson may avoid self-promotion at the club, we aren’t afraid to plug the link for golf and music fans to enjoy.