Turning up at the course, registering, seeing the equipment representatives on the range, practising Tuesday and Wednesday; it felt like I hadn’t been gone more than a week. In that respect at least, the Tour is like riding a bike; you never forget.

In other ways, of course, my time away from the competitive element was all too evident. As we all know, golf with a scorecard in your pocket is a lot different from playing a casual game with your mates. So, for me, everything had changed and nothing had changed.

What did strike me almost immediately was the number of new faces out there. The turnover seems to be higher these days. I don’t know that for sure, but it looked that way. There were so many guys in the field I didn’t know, names I didn’t even recognise, which can be put down to me not following what’s been going on closely enough.

Then again, I wasn’t short of people to talk to. I couldn’t walk five minutes without stopping to chat to an old friend or acquaintance. Caddies and players mostly. Some journalists too, which was nice. It felt like I was home. Catching up with people was actually the best part of my two-week visit. Which makes sense. Playing the PGA Tour is what I’ve done for almost half of my life.

It all felt right really. I’ve been busy at home, of course. The course design work I’ve been doing is hugely enjoyable and challenging. So is the foundation I’m involved in. And we’ve run a few little tournaments. All great. But being back on Tour was like being back at the office. ‘This is what I do,’ went through my head multiple times.

In many ways I felt ‘in place,’ certainly not ‘out of place.’ Yes, I am more ‘experienced’ than many of the guys I played alongside. And yes, walking along the range and seeing the number of launch monitors out there did make me smile. Most players have two. Then there are all the other gadgets they use. I kept hearing ‘swishes’ as guys swung ‘speedsticks’ as hard as they could. The game at the highest level is more and more a science experiment and less a craft.

Ogilvy in action during the Rocket Mortgage event on the PGA Tour. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that a simplified ‘Peter Thomson-approach’ is more what I should be doing. I don’t need to get caught up in the science, the chasing of numbers, or the activation of muscles in the right sequence. For me, that stuff happens automatically when I simply look at the target and hit the ball. I have to think that approach is the way ahead for the majority of golfers. Everyone improves when they do that. And I need to drift back in that direction. I need to channel ‘Peter Thomson wisdom’ rather than ‘Bryson DeChambeau wisdom.’ Albeit both can work.

Still, all of the above tells me that I’m not quite ready to be done with the playing side of my life. I might feel the opposite at some point, but I haven’t reached that stage yet. And I will if I keep playing like I did in those two weeks. I missed the cut at the Barracuda and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. The novelty would soon wear off were that to continue. I’m not saying I would need to be in contention every week, but I’d need to feel like I have a chance of achieving at least that now and then.

"...when I heard the noises players were making at impact with their drivers, I was like, ‘who was that?’ And it could have been almost anyone. Before it had to be Rory McIlroy or Dustin Johnson to make me stop, look and listen." – Geoff Ogilvy.

This job is not necessarily about just winning tournaments, important as that obviously is. It’s more about feeling it and having a chance to achieve a target. There are always goals, no matter what. Making the cut. Then, when you do that a few times, it’s about finishing 30th instead of 50th. Then the top-20 is the aim. Then the top-10. Then maybe winning. There are so many tournaments within a tournament if you know where to look. So, if I can get on that track, I know I’ll enjoy being out there again.

Having said that, I can’t imagine ever playing 35 events in a year again. That’s not going to happen. But it would be nice if I could get my game to the point where I can have fun. In a way, it already is. The pieces are all there. It’s just putting it together when it matters. And that takes – to use one of Tiger’s favourite words, “reps.”

It’s a mental thing too, of course. Finding the right headspace is like flexing a muscle properly. I just haven’t been flexing it for a while. I’ve had people say to me that making the cut was a reasonable goal for me after so long off Tour. But I didn’t really think of it that way. It was actually – at least in the short term – just nice to play without any of the thoughts I just described. I wasn’t thinking about making the cut or a cheque. I wasn’t worried about keeping my card. The money-list and FedExCup points were of no concern to me. Nor was making a Presidents Cup team or moving into the top-50 in the world rankings.

Ogilvy says he's playing with the freedom ranking points and money lists mean little. PHOTO: Getty Images.

I’m playing without any of that at the moment, which is, as I said, kinda nice. I can go out and ‘free-swing’ it. But I know deep down that isn’t going to last. If I’m going to play properly, I need some of those incentives in my personal mix. I need to care. Every player does, even if, like Dustin Johnson, it looks like he doesn’t. Believe me, he does. A lot. You can’t play without that inside you.

Given that, my plan is to play as much as I can for the rest of this year. The events in Australia towards the end of the year always get me fired up. But I need to get
a few tournaments under my belt between now and then. I know the pieces of my puzzle are there. I just have to put them together.

As for the standard of play on Tour, my impression is that the fields are a little deeper. There are so many good swings out there. It used to be that I wasn’t easily impressed by another player. But now, when I heard the noises players were making at impact with their drivers, I was like, ‘who was that?’ And it could have been almost anyone. Before it had to be Rory McIlroy or Dustin Johnson to make me stop, look and listen.

What effect that has on the scoring I’m not sure. But I can confirm that there are very few dodgy actions on the PGA Tour in 2022, which means players are hitting the ball harder than they used to. Everyone is long. Even the short hitters are long. Take Cam Smith. He’s long. But he’s not.

Speaking of distance, I was heartened to find I’m still in the ‘playable’ distance category. I’m in the bottom-half, but maybe 80 percent of the Tour is in a similar area – a 295 to 310-yard average. I’m in there.

The conversations in the locker rooms were, you won’t be surprised to hear, dominated by LIV Golf talk. Most of the players seem to be adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach. There is a bit of fear of the unknown – and there are those who are quite militant in their attitude to what they see as a fight – but no one is dismissing the new circuit. At the end of the day, the chat always reverts to the norm: “How are you playing?” “What have you been doing?” “How is the family?’

Interestingly, the way the courses are set-up doesn’t seem to have changed at all in the last four years. The fairways weren’t crazy narrow, but if you did miss the short grass, you were in pretty long rough. So, the formula of narrow-ish fairways, long rough and fast greens is still in place.

Like I said, even in an ever-changing world, some things in golf never really change. And yes, almost as soon as I go there, I knew I had missed it more than I thought or had admitted to myself. I want to keep doing it, even on a part-time basis. I’m still a player at heart.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since this story was first published in the September issue of Golf Australia magazine, Geoff has played two more events – the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. In the latter, he missed the 54-hole cut by two strokes, despite opening with a six under 66. Ogilvy is a confirmed starter for the Australian PGA (November 24-27), Australian Open (December 1-4) and the Sandbelt Invitational (December 19-22).