Golf: Born-again Waite finds confidence beats study

A new Grant Waite will tee off in the New Zealand PGA tournament at Clearwater this afternoon.

The 40-year-old, who grew up in Palmerston North, has played in the United States for more than 20 years since attending Oklahoma University. He won the 1993 Kemper Open on the US PGA tour and was a regular on that tour for 10 years.

But when he last played in New Zealand, finishing ninth at the 2003 Open at Middlemore, he was in the middle of a form slump and he could barely hit a shot without conducting a detailed analysis of his swing.

"Everybody's trying to get better," he said yesterday. "I made some changes mechanically which I thought would lead to an improvement and, in fact, it went the other way.

"The sad thing is that it robs you of your confidence and I've learned that's more important than mechanical precision in your game. After struggling for a while you become unsure whether you can hit the shot at the right time and that doubt probably causes more errors than anything else.

"Now I'm starting to play better. I'm thinking far less mechanically and just trying to play the game.

"I see whatever shot I need to hit and I just try to hit that shot. I'm not thinking how I do it."

Like most 40-year-olds Waite admits to wishing he was 25, but he believes it is not too late to change. He draws inspiration from the efforts of 52-year-old Jay Haas, who plays successfully on the US PGA tour and made the Ryder Cup team last year.

Waite's poor form cost him his US tour card for the 2003 season. He regained it at the qualifying school but lost it again last season.

This year he intends to regain those playing privileges by playing a full schedule on the second-level Nationwide tour, of which the ING-sponsored NZPGA is the third event. He gave up the chance to play by invitation in the Tucson Open to compete at Adelaide last week and at Clearwater.