Swing work starting to pay off for finally coachable Goosen

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- When Retief Goosen picked up the phone 1½ years ago and called the swing instructor based at his home course in Florida, the conversation was a combination of light-hearted laughs and deep-seeded despair.

Retief Goosen's game seems to be finally coming together after a long time out of sorts. (AP)

Goosen, now 39, had never really used a swing guru, instead relying on feel and self-preservation instincts. In fact, one of the first things the South African said to instructor Gregor Jamieson made it clear exactly why he'd been flying solo all those wonderful years.

"He said, 'You know, swing coaches scare the hell out of me,'" Jamieson said. "I said, 'Me too.'"

Now we know why, on both accounts.

After experiencing the roughest patch of his high-profile career, Goosen has learned about the risks and rewards associated with swing makeovers, though he finally seems poised to assume his familiar position among the top players on the planet.

Goosen was playing in the 2006 Bridgestone Invitational when he called Jamieson, the director of golf at Lake Nona Country Club in Orlando, Fla., where Goosen makes his American base. The Goose was clearly down in the dumps. His game had grown stagnant, he said. Nothing was happening.

For a player who had never before employed the services of an outside coach, it was a red flare, to be sure. In fact, when Goosen first called, Jamieson thought he might be asking for a personal favor. You know, like asking the coach to see if his swimming pool was low on water or something.

Instead, at Goosen's insistence, Jamieson flew to the tournament site in Ohio the very next day.

"I was a little bit stuck, and you know, every week you are sort of trying something different, and that doesn't work," Goosen said. "So I thought, I'm going to get somebody that can just look at it and say, this is what the problem is and one thing to work on and try and fix that."

The fix-it list was far longer than one, actually.

Jamieson, who has worked with a handful of European Tour and LPGA players over the years, helped Goosen change his grip ... then they fixed the position of his clubface at the top of the swing ... then they tweaked his out-of-kilter alignment ... and worked on his tendency to position the club across the line at the top.

Jamieson warned Goosen, a self-taught guy from the beginning, that the rebuilding process would be lengthy.

"I think I said it might take 10 months," Jamieson recalled.