Sports psychologist Gio Valiante calls it "caveman golf."

Charles Howell is determined to change his game. He has a new swing instructor and is working with a new sports psychologist. (Annette M. Drowlette/Staff)

See ball. Hit ball.

Charles Howell calls it the hardest philosophy he's ever tried to embrace.

"Some guys, it might be the easiest thing in the world to do, but I have to learn that," Howell said.

Howell is the model of the thinking golfer. He has been studying and tinkering with his swing ever since he took up the game at age 7. The concept of being a "feel player" is foreign to him.

Howell, however, is listening to a whole new team around him trying to "dumb it down" in order to free him up.

Swing instructor Brian Mogg is identifying some deficiencies in Howell's swing while Valiante tried to get him to trust those changes on the course.

"Every time (Howell) tries to get ahead of that I shut it right down," said Valiante, a psychology professor at Rollins College. "Stop thinking - feel. Stanley Kubrick once said that the truth of something is not in the think of it but the feel of it.

"Right now we're doing brain surgery with a chain saw."

Howell, who spent half his life affiliated with David Leadbetter's instruction, is going against his normal grain to re-engage his golf game.

"Gio understands the game real well and understands that I'm very methodical and mechanical," Howell said. "We're doing that away from the golf course. When I'm actually going to play I'm learning a way to free that up, and that's a hard thing for me to do."

Despite coming into his hometown Masters with a 15-tournament cut streak that ranks among the top five on the PGA Tour, Howell has been sliding in the World Golf Ranking.

A year ago this week, Howell was ranked 37th in the world. At the start of this season he was ranked 55th. Currently he's 66th.

Howell switched caddies after last year's U.S. Open to veteran Jimmie Johnson. After a lackluster West Coast Swing to start this season, he left Leadbetter and psychologist Jim Fannin in favor of Mogg and Valiante.

"I was very frustrated with where I was, not just from sheer results but with the work I'm putting into it I wasn't where I wanted to be," Howell said. "This had to change, no doubt about that."

The timing of it wasn't ideal, entering the run-up to his favorite tournament, the Masters. But Howell believes he had no choice.

"I may make a slight step backwards, but I'm going to end up making a bigger step forwards," he said.

"I'm not just looking at the short term. ... Golf swings are really resistant to change. I know the Masters is coming up, but the way I was doing it wasn't going to do me any good anyway. I needed to change. We're going to get it."

Since working with Mogg, Howell has shot only one round in the 60s and three rounds under par in three events. He calls it "the first round in a 10-round fight."

"The work Brian and I are doing requires me to be patient," he said. "Unfortunately in this business with (the media), it's not easy to be patient. I still have the occasional wild and loose shot that hurts me. I wish I could take a pill and change it overnight, but I can't."

With no finishes higher than 39th in a stroke-play event this year, Howell hasn't generated the kind of buzz he's accustomed to. Young peers Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Luke Donald have attracted the usual attention, while powerful newcomers J.B. Holmes, Camilo Villegas and Bubba Watson have hogged most of the headlines not taken up by the power elite.

"Charles wants to be talked about," Valiante said. "But I think right now it's probably good to be a little under the radar, work through some things in his game and then surprise people with a win. I get the sense that if he wins one, he'll win three. It will really be a breakthrough."

Howell believes his potential is as strong as ever, even as he's working through some changes.

"I've had a very good career to this point, but I need to get better," he said. "Things aren't learning experiences any more. This isn't my first or second year out here. I've always liked the expectations because in a way it's a compliment. People think you can do well. It's never bothered me. It's hard to keep golf as easy as when you first get out here. Golf gets harder and more complicated. Once that newness rubs off it gets hard."

That said, Howell enters his favorite week of the season a much more seasoned player. After making the cut in his first three Masters starts, Howell endured his first off weekend in his dream quest last year. He returns to Augusta National with a fresh approach.

"It's becoming more of a golf tournament," he said. "The Masters will never feel like any other event to me, but it's becoming more attainable. I think that's really important for me."

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.