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By Carl Pettersson
Special to PGATOUR.com

Editor's note: Carl Pettersson is coming off his best finish of the season, a tie for eighth at the Verizon Heritage. After playing seven of the last eight tournaments, the 29-year-old Swede, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR, is taking a well-deserved week off. He still found time to file this blog for PGATOUR.com, though.

Carl Pettersson says that after a slow start, he feels his game is coming around. (Greenwood/WireImage)

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I had a bit of a slow start to the season but I finally feel like I'm playing well. The last couple of months, though, I just wasn't scoring. I wasn't chipping like I usually do, and I haven't putted that well, either. I actually have hit the ball better tee-to-green than I did last year but I've been chipping to 6, 7 or 8 feet, instead of 2 feet, and missing some of those. So I've been working hard and I'm starting to see the results. Since I started playing, I never really had a coach, so I've just basically done it myself. Sometimes it's easier when you can figure it out on your own, and I feel good about where my game is now.

I enjoyed all sports when I was growing up, but I always had a passion for golf. My dad, Lars, played off scratch when he was 18 or 19 years old. My parents have actually been with us on the road the last few weeks. They came over for the Masters and Hilton Head. They loved being here, especially at the Masters. They came with us last year, too. It was always a dream of ours to go to the Masters when we were watching it on TV back home. We rented a house in Augusta. It was my folks, my wife DeAnna and our daughter Carlie, and two friends of mine -- Phil Gibbs from England and Wes Pierce from Raleigh. Wes and I used to play golf against each other in high school and he played at N.C. State like me. I actually met my wife though him. Anyway, we all had a great time. We cooked dinner and hung out at night and had a lot of fun. It was a nice way to unwind each day.

I actually got to know Phil after we moved from Sweden to England when I was 10. We belonged to the same golf course there. We moved to North Carolina when I was 15, and I've been there ever since, so I hadn't spent much time with Phil in the last 10 years or so. We caught up with each other last year when I played in the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship outside of London. So Phil came over the week before the Masters and we played some golf around Raleigh, where I live. He's pretty good. He's probably a 4 handicap. He and his dad own a golf course back in England. He'd never been to the Masters, and he couldn't believe how perfect Augusta National was -- even on Monday morning. He was funny -- he kept saying he wanted their grounds crew to get their course looking like Augusta National. It was great to share that experience with him. We used to watch the Masters together when we were growing up. I remember watching with him when Bernhard Langer won in 1993. He was a big Greg Norman fan. I remember he always kept telling me how Greg was going to win the Masters someday.

Phil went back to England after the Masters, but my parents and Wes came to Hilton Head. We love it there. We rent a condo near the 10th hole every year. It almost feels like home. It's a nice stress-free week. It's probably my wife's and my favorite tournament. I usually see a lot of people I know at places like Hilton Head, Greensboro and Charlotte. So that's fun. And it was nice to finally got a good finish there. I felt like I had played well the last month or so and just wasn't getting anything out of my game. Hopefully I can build on that top-10 and get something going. I shot even par on Monday when it was so windy, so playing well in tough conditions is a confidence-builder. You are really exposed on Nos. 16, 17 and 18 at Harbour Town. The wind was really swirling. I had it going pretty well so to bogey the last two on Monday was a shame. But I played those last three holes 1 over, so you can't be too disappointed, given the conditions.

My parents are leaving on Thursday, and I'm just going to hang out with my wife and daughter for the next few days. I'll probably start practicing on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, I'm flying to Shreveport where I'll play in the Schumpert Charity Classic hosted by Hal Sutton and David Toms. Then I'll go on to Dallas where I'll play in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship followed by the Wachovia Championship and THE PLAYERS Championship. I'll take a week off after that, and then I'll play the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and defend my title at the Memorial Tournament. I am really looking forward to that. I love competing, and that will be a very special week.