SOME time ago, when going through one of his then short lived slumps, Seve Ballesteros was asked the secret of golf. "To forget," he replied, after a moment's thought. The Spaniard had clearly decided to practise what he once preached, when he arrived with his family in Wicklow yesterday to prepare for the Murphy's Irish Open which starts at Druids Glen on Thursday.

Ballesteros had a regal air about him as he relaxed in a hotel suite, his wife and three children close by. "There will be no more coaching," he declared with some emphasis. "I've had enough coaches over the last few years. There will be no more.

The illustrious Spaniard betrayed not a hint of the pain, physical and mental, which he clearly suffered on his return to action earlier this year. "My game cannot get any worse," he said dejectedly, after shooting rounds of 78 and 79 in the Moroccan Open. "I used to overpower the golf course and now the golf course over powers me."

Then, in reply to yet another question on the same topic, he went on. It's very painful when you have to talk all the time about these things. It's not easy why this, why that, and what are you going to do and why don't you do this. It drives you crazy. It's not good, because the mind is very powerful and everything is negative, negative, negative."

That was only four months ago, but he has learned to forget. Indeed, nobody knows better the power of negative thinking. "I want to look to good things, to happy memories," he said yesterday, in a reference to his impending return to Royal Lytham and St Annes, the scene of two of his three British Open triumphs.

Ballesteros was now warming to the business on hand. "My objective this week will be to get my game into the right shape so that I can do myself justice at Lytham, he said. "I really want to play well there.

And he clearly has cause for optimism. For instance, at the beginning of May he had played three tournaments and was languishing in 198th position in the Order of Merit. Now he is competitive once more, as was demonstrated by a second round of 66 in the French Open last weekend.

"I've shot 66 twice in the last few weeks in Hamburg and Paris," he said. That makes a pleasant change. And I want to enjoy my golf at this stage of my career. The only reason I have to play now is to honour my commitments, but it's not easy. I have had many years of travelling and it gets a bit boring at times. And you get tired of it all. It's not easy.

Expert observers believe that Ballesteros will not regain his former competitiveness without undergoing a major swing change. "Even at his best, I always thought Seve was living right on the edge," said Lanny Wadkins who, as US Ryder Cup skipper, watched Ballesteros struggle desperately at Oak Hill. "He erased a lot of mistakes with his short came."

Bernhard Langer, beaten by Robert Alenby in a play off for the French Open title last weekend and another leading challenger at Druids Glen this week, was more blunt. "Seve's problem iris his swing," said the German, with typical directness. "He must change it."

Those who know about such matters are of the view that while the Spaniard's swing may be aesthetically pleasing, it is not grounded in sound mechanics. For years, he played on talent and heart until a shaky foundation eventually betrayed him.

Essentially, his swing path into the ball is too steep. From the top of his swing, Ballesteros fails to flatten his plane into the ball into a rounder, sweeping motion that is the mark of the majority of consistent hitters. Instead, his club comes down at a sharp angle.

He remains convinced, how ever, that his only problem is lack of confidence. And he believes this can be offset considerably by a fitness regime aimed at protecting a damaged back. "By doing exercises for two hours each day, mainly swimming and on a bicycle, I have got my weight down by nine kilos," said Ballesteros, who has recently moved into a new house. "The main difficulty with a back problem is that it affects the follow through."

Claiming to be quite pleased with his recent form, he dismissed a final round of 78 in the French Open last Sunday as "just a bad day." He went on "I had set myself the target of shooting 67 but I started that round with two double bogeys and was five over par after three putting the fourth. When that happens, your day is destroyed."

Many days have been similarly destroyed for him in recent years, yet he remains remarkably optimistic. "When things go wrong, you have to take a break and then you try again," is the Ballesteros phisolophy.

As captain of the Ryder Cup team for Valderrama next year, he repeated his support of an Irish application to stage the event in 2005. On the 18th green at Oak Hill last September, with tears streaming down his face, he was prepared to make this pledge to anyone who would listen.

Meanwhile, Ballesteros is set to become a regular visitor to this country over the next few years, quite apart from tournament commitments. Though he has designed 20 courses in various parts of the world, his contract for a layout at the embryonic Killeen Castle complex, will undoubtedly be his biggest undertaking.

The Spaniard has no plans to visit the site this week but will be travelling there next winter to follow up the preparatory work already undertaken by other members of his design team.

Ten years ago, when he was the automatic favourite every time he competed in the event, Ballesteros won the Irish Open for a third time. Much has changed since then, but there will be many at Druids Glen who will be hoping that, whatever the odds, the irrepressible Spaniard might just succeed in turning the clock back.