It's finally time for Boo to start having fun again on TOUR

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A nagging shoulder injury led to some bad swing habits for Boo Weekley.

Boo Weekley is the kind of guy you'd like to have as a next door neighbor.

• Are you going on vacation? Boo will get your mail every day and feed the dogs while you're gone.

• Are you sick? Boo will bring one of Karyn's homemade meals over to the house and leave it for you.

• Is your lawn mower broken? Ask Boo, and he'll let you borrow his mower; he might even cut the grass for you.

People love Boo because not only is he one of the most down-to-earth guys you could ever meet, he's also a fine golfer. In fact, Boo Weekley was good enough to make the 2008 Ryder Cup team. And his loosey-goosey attitude -- can anyone forget the scene of Boo pretending to ride his driver like it was a horse down the first fairway at Valhalla? -- was unquestionably a contributing factor to the U.S. regaining the Ryder Cup.

But this hasn't been a good stretch for Boo, who has somehow retained his lovable personality despite less-than-lovable results. After spending two years inside the top 30 on the money list, Boo slipped all the way to No. 85 in 2009.

The root of the problem is a shoulder injury that he's been dealing with since his days on the Nationwide Tour. Some days the problem would be there, other days it wouldn't, so he coped with on a daily basis, sometimes with a muscle relaxer or anti-inflammatory, sometimes by taking an Aleve before the round. Sometimes he'd just rub it for a minute and play through it.

"It was never that bad," Weekley said. "Stuff like (the medicine) kind of kept it knocked down."

The injury reached a critical point at the THE PLAYERS Championship in 2009 when he tore his labrum, the thick tissue near the shoulder socket that helps stabilize the shoulder and allow for wide range of motion. He said he felt the injury when it occurred and knew something was wrong.

No surgery was involved, but Weekley took a month off and rehabbed the injury with great passion. "I feel like I'm stronger now than I've been in a long time in [with] shoulder," he said.

But while he was playing through the injury, Weekley picked up a few bad habits that became ingrained in his swing. An injury often forces a player to compensate with a swing change to help get the ball in the hole. It happened to Weekley, who admitted he's looking for the answer.

"I'm still struggling a little with the ball-striking," he said. "My shoulder is actually feeling like it's healed. I got into so many bad habits with my shoulder being the way it was, and I kept on playing and kept on playing, and finally it gave out. The bad habits are still there. I'm trying to get out of them."

Going into this week's Quail Hollow Championship, Weekley is No. 90 on the PGA TOUR's money list with winnings of $390,702. But the results have been better over the last three events: a tie for 25th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tie for 12th at the Verizon Heritage, and a tie for 10th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He's moving in the right direction.

The troubles have caused Weekley to work more earnestly on his game. He didn't qualify for the Masters this year, but spent less time on the outdoors activities he enjoys most (hunting and fishing) and more time on fixing his golf game during the time off. All in all, it's been a lot of tougher being Boo over the last year.

"I can tell you, it has been less fun," he said. "Golf ain't been nowhere near as much fun as it's been in the past, ever since I got hurt. It feels like an uphill climb ever since, my ball-striking, my driving. Every step that I felt that I was good at has gone downhill. Now I feel like I've got to climb my way back up out of it. No, golf ain't been fun lately, not for a while."

He remains the consummate family man. He and Karyn have two sons. They recently bought a getaway home on a beach near Pensacola, where the boys can swim and Boo can fish. "And I don't even like the beach," he said.

Now he must keep his game headed in the right direction. He's back at the Quail Hollow Championship this week, a place where he tied for 11th last year. A duplication of that effort might just be the signal that Boo's back. And when Boo's back, the PGA TOUR is a happier place.

Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.