Padraig Harrington has sentenced himself to hard labour to find the game which made him a double winner on the US PGA Tour last year.
Harrington and David Howell were the only Europeans to reach the quarter-finals of the Accenture World Match Play Championship over the last week.
But even though it took a miracle shot from Davis Love III - a 111-yard pitch into the final hole for an eagle three - to beat him, Harrington still felt there was a lot of work to be done.
So while every other beaten player appeared to have made a hasty exit from San Diego, the Dubliner was on the practice range on Saturday afternoon and yesterday morning before moving on to Florida for this week's Ford Championship.
"I definitely would have taken reaching the last eight at the start of the week, but I would like to have performed better," said Harrington.
"Taking time off during the winter will always be a priority, but I am guilty of a lack of discipline when I practised and I got into some bad habits.
"It is not the first time it has happened, but normally it is something I work through on my own without people watching.
"Because I won my first three games (against Rod Pampling, Angel Cabrera and then world number two Vijay Singh) I have been in the public eye this time.
"As a kid you are told how Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus practised every shot as if they were on the course. That is not easy to do.
"I should know better by now, but this is a good reminder so that I don't get it wrong when we get into the meat of the season.
"It's not a swing thing, it's a routine thing and something for Bob Rotella (his sports psychologist) rather than Bob Torrance (his coach).
"I get easily distracted on the course, when in the middle of the season I wouldn't. Even the quack of a duck got to me."
The Honda Classic will follow after Florida, which is the event Harrington won in a play-off with Singh and Joe Ogilvie after a magnificent closing round of 63 last March.
Harrington's other title came in the Barclays Classic in June - courtesy of an amazing 65-foot eagle putt on the last.
But then came the death of his father from cancer and the Ballyboden man did not win on the European Tour for the first time since 1999 and dropped from third to 32nd on the Order of Merit.
Last week also saw him drop out of the world's top 20 from a high of sixth.
