It’s an older and wiser Michael Hoey who sets out on the European Tour this season.

The 29-year-old Belfastman has had his card once before only to see it disappear in a puff of smoke as he came 187th on the Order of Merit.

That was three years ago and a great deal has changed in the meantime.

“I’ve got a much better swing now than I had then and I’m not changing things about it all the time,” he said.

“I’ve been working hard with my coach Andrew Ferguson at Royal Belfast and I’m really happy with the way I’m swinging the club.

“But I’m also not beating myself up so much over bad shots or bad rounds.

“Towards the end of last year I was putting together lots of 70s, 69s and 71s. Golf isn’t about 64s or 65 with 76s thrown in. It’s about consistency and that’s perhaps what I’ve been lacking in the past.”

Certainly he embarked on his season with gusto, equalling his best ever finish in a European Tour event with a joint 11th finish at last month’s South African Open.

And he’s looking to carry on that good form in this week’s Joburg Open where he’s playing alongside countrymen Michael McGeady and Jonny Caldwell.

“It’s great to have these guys out there playing well and it gives all of us a lift,” Hoey said as he Caldwell and Gareth Maybin (inset) elevated themselves to the main tour. “It was great to see Gareth playing the final round with Lee Westwood at the South African Open and really looking the part.

“I thought he might struggle playing with someone like Lee, but he held himself together really well and was unlucky in the end (he lost a play-off to Richard Sterne).

“For me I really felt I was on contention and there was a point

on the Saturday when I felt the television cameras on me.

“And when I watched it back at home for Christmas, all I saw was me hitting bad shots.

“I had made a good start to the third round and was four under after nine but had a couple of three putts on the back nine although it was a good score overall.

“It was disappointing not to get a little close on the Sunday but I would have taken 11th at the start of the week, no question.”

Last year was a strange one for Hoey, beginning with a tournament win in Morocco that left him riding high in the Challenge Tour ranking and dreaming of his card through finishing in the top 15 as he had in 2005.

But his form remained erratic until the final few weeks of the year.

“I had some good form going into the qualifying school and that definitely helped,” he said.

“I got off to some good starts and was in line to get my card for most of the week, although there was one slight wobble when I was just a shot or two away from the mark.

“But then I had an eagle and I was able not to think about the card and just play.”

And that, pretty much, is his gameplan for the rest of this year.