Paulson prioritizes

BRYCE ALDERTON

First things first for professional golfer Dennis Paulson in his

first fully-exempt PGA Tour season in four years.

The Costa Mesa High product and honorary Santa Ana Country Club

member has spent more time getting healthy than focusing entirely on

his swing in 2005.

But there is hope for the 42-year-old Encinitas resident who owns

single victories on the PGA, Nationwide and Asian tours since turning

professional in 1988.

Paulson, who has battled a pinched nerve in his neck he said

caused him to lose control of several muscles in his left arm and

shoulder, finished with rounds of 68 and 67 and tallied his best

finish in six events this year in the abbreviated BellSouth Classic

in Duluth, Ga., last weekend.

Paulson finished in a five-way tie for 10th at 6-under-par 210 for

three rounds, just two shots off the pace of five golfers, including

defending Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who all needed a

sudden-death playoff to decide the winner. Mickelson made a 20-foot

birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to secure the victory.

This coming after Paulson missed the cut for four straight

tournaments after tying for 56th at the Buick Invitational at Torrey

Pines in La Jolla in January.

Despite his best finish this year, Paulson, reached by cell phone

Sunday night after a second-round 68, said more work needs to be

done.

“I’m getting closer to hitting a lot of good shots,” Paulson said.

“But I’m still far out and not hitting good enough. Even the bad

shots are ending up in bad spots.

Paulson gave the example of his round Sunday when he birdied nine

holes, but also sustained two double bogeys.

“I birdied every green I hit,” Paulson said. “I’m driving the ball

good. My two double bogeys, I hit 2-irons off the tee. My wedges were

so bad [earlier this year], and now my chipping has gotten good.”

For Paulson, the first three months of 2005 have been about

finding consistency in his game and control of his swing.

But it has been difficult, at times.

He wondered, during the Buick, why some of his shots flew off

target and he couldn’t predict where they would go.

Turns out the pinched nerve in his neck was wreaking havoc with

muscles on the left side of his body.

Paulson consulted with neurologists, chiropractors and trainers

and had an MRI.

Pain wasn’t the focal point of this problem, said Paulson of the

pinched nerve, which he was told could have affected his swing for

two years.

“It shuts down every muscle on the left side of my body, the

biceps, triceps, deltoids and makes them go weak at the top [of the

golf swing],” Paulson said. “I had no strength, no leverage. I had to

drag the muscles through, so the tendency was to swing from the

inside.

“It makes it tough to play golf.”

Paulson played the week after the Buick at the Bob Hope Classic in

Indian Wells, then took nearly six weeks off.

Doctors were amazed he was even playing golf.

“I didn’t touch a club for four weeks,” Paulson said.

Paulson said the condition has contributed to loss of distance off

the tee.

Through Sunday, the former national long-drive champion ranked

62nd on tour in average driving distance (285 yards).

“I lost 10 to 15 yards and I’ve been stronger than I’ve been in

six or seven years,” Paulson said.

A workout regimen that focuses on stretching and balance caught

Paulson’s attention.

With advice of Dee Tidwell, a Denver-based specialist who focuses

on muscle activation techniques, Paulson performs such exercises as

bicep curls while sitting on top of a medicine ball.

He started the workouts in October, nearing the end of a year when

he made the cut in 15 of 21 PGA Tour events, including his best

finish -- a tie for ninth at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

Paulson claimed his only PGA Tour victory in 2000 at the Buick

Classic, netting $540,000, his largest single payday. That same year

he also led the first round of the Masters and finished the

tournament tied for 14th.

A tie for second in the 2001 Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club

in Pacific Palisades, Calif., is Paulson’s best finish in a PGA Tour

event since.

Paulson didn’t qualify for this year’s Masters.

He’ll take the next two weeks off before competing again at the

Shell Houston Open beginning April 21.

In the meantime he’ll spend time with his family, including son

Dillon and his youth baseball team.

Today Paulson and brother-in-law Ted Norby, a golf instructor and

manager at Aviara in Carlsbad, will spend some time working on

Paulson’s swing.

Norby began working with Paulson in 1997.

“It’s mainly feel, we’re not doing anything different with the

swing than we did in 1998, 99 and 2000,” Norby said. “It’s

maintaining those proper positions and getting him to feel the proper

thing ... and what feels comfortable. All tour players go through it.

“Talking on the phone, he sounds encouraged and his body seems to

be responding. If he keeps it going, there’s no reason he can’t have

another year like in the early 2000s.”