Insider: Murphy's experiment delivering positive results

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Rookie Trevor Murphy, ranked 54th in money, has all the physical tools and is working to bring his mental game to Tour level.

As a 25-year-old rookie on the Nationwide Tour, Trevor Murphy has been going through what he calls an experiment to find out what it takes to play at the highest level.

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Murphy, a former star at UNC Charlotte, figured out that he was arriving at tournaments too early in the week. He found himself with too much time, and he called it counterproductive.

"This week we are heading to Mexico (for the Mexico Open Bicentenary) and I'm not getting there until Tuesday," he said. "In the past I was getting to tournaments on Sunday or Monday morning, but by Thursday I was kind of worn out."

He says the extra time at home with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz., is a little more important, and as a bonus, he might be fresher for tournaments.

Murphy, who is 54th on the money list, hasn't set the world on fire in his first season but that doesn't mean he's down in the dumps. In fact, Murphy is one of the most optimistic guys around because he talks constantly about the process of being a pro golfer.

He understands that continuing to get better is the main focus as he navigates the cut-throat world of big-time golf. In 11 tournaments he has made seven cuts with a tie for 10th and a tie for 13th as his best showings.

What Murphy says he wasn't prepared for was the wear and tear of traveling so much. Sure it sounds nice to live in a hotel each week, but he admits that gets old.

"My schedule at the start of the year was kind of uncertain with my status but once I was able to get full playing status it's a little easier to at least plan," said Murphy, who graduated from UNCC with a degree in psychology in 2008.

Part of that process is figuring out how much to practice. There's a fine line between practicing too much and not enough, according to Murphy.

"You've got to be on your game to make cuts and take it deep on this Tour," Murphy said. "Consistency is the big thing and you've got to shoot low every day. You can't play bad one round and expect to be there. Even if you play mediocre there are a lot of guys who will jump up and move ahead of you."

Murphy, who was raised in Vermont, actually was supposed to be a world-class skier by now. His father, Steve, was the captain of the Dartmouth ski team and Trevor was a world-class junior skier who was once was a teammate of Lindsey Vonn and Julie Mancuso. Both Vonn and Mancuso competed in the Vancouver Olympics in February.

"I was actually on a world junior team with them back a few years ago," Murphy said.

He played golf as a hobby until a knee injury during his junior year of high school in 2002 wrecked his plans of pursuing a ski career. He began pouring all his time into golf and found he enjoyed it.

"I'm very competitive and always have been," Murphy said. "And with golf I could still be competitive even though it's a much different sport than skiing."

Murphy says it's tough to compare the two, but tried to sum it up as best as he could.

"In skiing it's all about reflexes and thinking fast, but in golf there's so much time to think in between shots," Murphy said. "That's the part I struggle with, the thinking part of it but I'm getting better."

One of the key players on his team is his father. Like most of us, he talked to his dad on Father's Day -- and two hours later they were still talking, only it was about the mental part of golf.

"He can't really help me with my golf swing, but he just has a way of getting me in the right frame of mind," Murphy said. "He basically just told me there's no way around it, I have to work through this and deal with the mental part of the game."

Among the things Murphy has been working on is trying to stop throwing away shots on the course. He points to one hole at last week's Fort Smith Classic in Arkansas as a perfect example.

He hit a great drive on the par 4 that left him only about 40 yards from the green. Five shots later, Murphy was walking to the next tee.

"Well, I ended up making a double bogey and you just can't do that," said Murphy, who wound up tying for 38th.

Murphy says his overall physical game has been sound. He ranks in the top 10 in driving, for example. His mental approach, though, is a work in progress with his dad.

"We've kind of steered away from the expectations part of it and I'm trying to empty my brain and not get in my own way," Murphy said. "I know all about the motivation to play well and get inside the top 25 on the money list and all of that."

One thing that Murphy has seen is how players have won when they least expected it. He's trying to hold back that expectation level.

"Winning is so hard to predict so you have to let it go and just play," Murphy said. "That's what I'm working on."

The experiment continues.

John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 16 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.