Ian Poulter at Augusta on Monday
Ian Poulter wants to turn back into the golfer who has lit up the last two Ryder Cup matches - hopefully in time to win this week's Masters Tournament.
"It's very frustrating and driving me mad," admits Poulter, who in the past year has dropped from seventh to 16th in the Official World Golf Ranking while so many of his fellow Europeans have gone in the opposite direction.
"I need to push on. When I perform well I think I can play with the best players in the world for sure."
He proved that under the most intense pressure three years ago with four points out of five at Valhalla after being one of Captain Nick Faldo's picks.
Then came his victory in the World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship, and he was joint halfway leader with Lee Westwood at Augusta last April before at The Celtic Manor Resort in October he was joint top scorer in Europe's win with three points out of four.
But Poulter has not had a top ten finish in his last six starts and he wants to know why.
"I'd like to find out why I perform so well in The Ryder Cup and I don't bring it out in stroke play as often as I'd like.
"I've definitely got to have a think about my mindset and try to get pumped up.
"In Ryder Cup week you don't need to try for it - it's just there in you.
"On the first green with 72 holes to play you don't fist-pump when you hole from ten feet for birdie, but perhaps I should get a bit more excited inside.
"I do it occasionally, so you feel you should be able to do it every week."
Handing over £260 to practice playing partner Graeme McDowell on Monday did not make it the best of starts to Masters week for the 35 year old.
But impressed though he was by McDowell and by Justin Rose, the third member of the group, Poulter still believes he can be the man to complete a first-ever clean sweep of the Majors by European Tour golfers.
"I've done enough homework and I'm ready to go now," he said.
"Being in the lead after two rounds last year was great. Knowing you can play the golf course is always a plus."
While Westwood went on to do battle with Phil Mickelson for the title, though, Poulter fell back to tenth with rounds of 74 and 73.
"Not chasing is key - you can't do that on this course and I did after Mickelson and Lee got out in front," he said.
"When you go for some of these pins you can make birdies, but you can also make mistakes.
"My first tee shot in the third round way left - 60 to 70 yards left - and it rattled me. That's never a shot I hit, so I stand up on two and the one place you can't hit it is left, so I'm thinking about it there.
"Then I hit it left on eight again. I'm chasing now and you can't. I've seen people chase on this golf course and it's ugly.
"The attention on me now is not the same, but my expectations are the same if not more.
"It was disappointing to play like I did Saturday and Sunday after getting off to such a great start.
"It's a course I can play some of my best golf around and I would like to rectify the mistakes I made."
Poulter, Rose and McDowell spent six hours on the course, choosing to put in the work then because of the threat of some bad weather on Tuesday.
The rest of the week is set fair, but for Poulter that means having to contend with the worst pollen he experiences all year.
"I had an injection yesterday. I don't even know what it was - just something to help me out - but my eyes are still itchy," he said.
Asthmatic Poulter recently discovered he was allergic to many of the grasses and trees he comes into contact with and he is not having any carpets in his new home in Florida in a bid to reduce the dust that gathers.
