Jaded golfer's follow through on gentler course of action

Burned out and lacking confidence in his game, leading Bay of Plenty golfer Andrew Stewart is heading to Perth today for an indefinite break to clear his head. Sports editor Kelly Exelby spoke with him before he left.

Among the swag of top young amateurs who teed it up in last weekend's North Island amateur tournament at Whitford Park, leading Bay of Plenty amateur Andrew Stewart's name was a glaring omission.
Stewart, part of New Zealand Golf's high-performance squad, didn't even both entering. Not playing well enough, little point.
It's the same with the New Zealand amateur being played in Christchurch in two weeks. Not interested.
Stewart, who turned 21 his week, left today for an indefinite stint in Perth, burned out, his confidence shot to pieces, a once-healthy swagger and a decent golf game all but gone.
It was about 10 months ago that Stewart, thoroughly likeable and with a carefree larrikin streak, first started to notice the warning signs that an almost obsessive preoccupation with golf - evident when he was a student at Katikati College and only hastened once he'd left school - was taking him on a fast-track to burnout.
Even still, when Stewart was awarded one of three Michael Campbell scholarships by New Zealand Golf last year, joining Waikato's Mathew Perry and Masterton's Ben Campbell (now the world's No6-ranked amateur) in the UK for all-expenses-paid tuition from renowned coach Jonathan Yarwood at the Stoke Park Country Club in London, he leapt at the opportunity. Who wouldn't?
A former South Island amateur champion and New Zealand representative in the Junior British Open, Stewart wasn't expecting the extreme makeover he got during several days with Yarwood.
"The coaching camp itself was wicked, but I'm a feel player and probably always have been, and Yarwood threw all these technical elements at me one after the other over a few days and then it was 'all right, see you later,' and it felt like sink or swim from there."
Don't take that as Stewart being ungrateful for Yarwood's tuition. It was the kind of experience from one of the world's best swing technicians he wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise.
But Perry and Campbell went to the UK with golf swings that were ostensibly sound, whereas Stewart almost had to start from scratch.
"All three of us came under his gaze but Ben and Mat were technically good so it was only routine-based stuff they were told. I literally had my whole swing broken down. Yarwood saw the problems and nothing was that flash. It wasn't just a couple of things."
Stewart admits that at the time the swing changes Yarwood imposed felt good, perhaps artificially, while answers to his myriad of queries and concerns were literally just a few feet away.
It wasn't until he left the UK that the confusion started to creep in.
"On the way home I played in the Canadian and Western Amateurs and my head was spinning, standing on the tee with all sorts of thoughts running through my mind about where the ball might go. To be honest it hasn't got a whole lot better in the 10 months since."
Stewart can see where Yarwood was taking him, laying the building blocks to a swing that will stand up for years to come. He is prepared to persevere, confident everything - body and mind - will click into place soon.
"The temptation's there to revert to what I was doing pre-UK, but that would be taking a step forward and two steps back. I'm building a foundation for the next few years and I'm taking the view that it's a long-term project."
Stewart holds the official course record at his Omokoroa home track of 63, although he hit a 12-under 60 a couple of years ago. It's obvious looking at his recent form that he's a long way off those sorts of numbers now.
At the recent Riverdale Cup in Melbourne, one of Australasia's leading amateur tournaments, he hit rounds of 80, 73 and 80 to miss the 54-hole cut by plenty. A few days later at the Australian amateur strokeplay, also in Melbourne, opening rounds of 80 and 81 put him on an early flight out.
"The Riversdale course wasn't tough but my confidence was so shot I was almost preparing myself to play bad before I went out each day. I didn't want to play bad but that was my mindset and once I hit the first bad shot that was it for the day.
"Some of the shots I was hit were embarrassing and I'd look down and check my clubface because I couldn't believe where the ball was going on occasions."
Part of Stewart's problem stems from the fact that golf, for the most part, has come easy to him, although that's not belittling the work he's put in for any success he's had. But when it starts to go wrong, it's a long way to fall.
Stewart has started working with Hamilton-based sports psychologist David Galbraith. His plan was always to look at going pro at the end of next year, although his new mental skills mentor has encouraged him to set in place some shorter-term goals given where his game's at.
"Quite obviously, bashing balls all day, which is what I've been doing for years, isn't working for me and I'm setting myself up to fail by preparing bad and following bad structures - waking up, practising till noon, going to the gym, practising some more and then wondering at the end of the day what I've achieved.
"Once I get back from Perth it'll be quality over quantity, evaluating what I need to do and putting in place a plan to get there, even if it is only practising for a couple of hours a day instead of six."
For the next couple of months though it's all about hanging out with mates in Western Australia, catching some live sport, working out at the gym and enjoying the occasional weekend hack-around in the sun with his older brother Denny. It's stuff Stewart hasn't been doing much of lately.
"I need to get some enjoyment back and I doubt the clubs will come out much at all. I want to clear my head so I come back with a fresh mind.
"The past year hasn't been much fun but I'll bank the experience. Hopefully I'll be looking back at the end of 2011 and wondering how I managed to shoot some of the scores I did."