Tauranga professional Josh Geary will look to reignite his golfing career at a happy hunting ground this week when he headlines the Carrus Open on The Charles Tour.
The two-time champion has fond memories of his wins at his old home track and is looking to add a third Charles Tour title to his record ahead of a busy summer in Australasia.
Geary is the name player in the field that includes a total of eight former Charles Tour winners in Geary, Ben Campbell, Grant Moorhead, Troy Ropiha, Mark Purser, Doug Holloway, Nick Gillespie and Joshua Carmichael in the $40,000, 72-hole stroke play event, which gets underway on Thursday.
Also in the field are former Japan Tour pro Richard Lee, who shot a 59 at Tauranga Golf Club in 2010, to be the only Kiwi to have shot golf's magical number, and in-form amateur Luke Toomey.
It has been a frustrating year for Geary who lost his status on the Web.com Tour and has been playing a few tournaments on the Peach State Tour in Georgia.
It has given Geary the chance to put in plenty of time in on the range and in practice rounds. He feels like his hard work has paid dividends.
"I feel like my game is in the best shape it has been in ever," Geary said.
"I am practicing and playing really well. I have done a lot of work on the mental side of the game and that has been really positive. I am looking forward to coming home and trying for a few wins this summer."
Geary, who from 2008-2011 finished as the leading Kiwi in the New Zealand Open, said the sports psychology work has involved a number of things.
"I have worked on my self image and done some affirmation work," he said.
"It has been a process of not being so hard on myself, focusing on the positives and letting the negative stuff go. I am working hard on focusing on the process of playing good golf and not worrying too much about the performance and it has been great for my game. It has been a turning point for me and I feel like I have learned a lot and I am ready to play some great golf."
That sounds a warning to the rest of the field. When Geary has got it going around Tauranga he has been unstoppable.
In 2006 when he won, to become the first amateur to win on The Charles Tour, Geary got to a 22-under par total. Despite his dominance that year Geary's standout memory from his maiden win was making 10 in round three on the par-five seventh.
"It was a funny moment looking back on it," he said. "I had a 10 and Kevin [Smith] had a three so it was a seven shot swing in one hole to lose a seven shot lead."
Geary turned professional in 2008 and secured his maiden pro win at the same event. This time he overcame New Plymouth pro Grant Moorhead in a playoff down 18.
"For the first two or three days I played pretty average to be honest and felt like I was struggling. But I managed to pull together a good round on the Sunday, a 64, which was good enough to get into a playoff. It wasn't quite as comfortable or convincing as it was in 2006 but it was still pretty satisfying to record my first win as a pro and to do that at home was special."
Geary is looking forward to putting the hard work from his off-season into tournament play. He has reignited his passion for the game.
"My golf career has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride the past few years and it has been pretty frustrating. I was getting pretty over it. But I am enjoying the game again for the first time in a long time. I have my passion back for the game which is nice because I went through a period there where I wondered if I was ever going to get it back.
"I am enjoying practicing, playing, everything - I just want to play all the time again which is a great place to be in. The enjoyment of the game is everything for me and now that I have that passion back I am looking forward to getting some results and turning things around."
What better place to do that than the course where he holds the record for scoring on The Charles Tour and a venue where he has completed two memorable wins.
