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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

DORAL, Fla. -- David Howell patiently worked his way around the practice putting green, stopping every few minutes to offer words of encouragement to the eager young golfers gathered there on Monday afternoon.

The Englishman's black shirt was as dark as the clouds gathering overhead, but the atmosphere was decidedly lighthearted as Howell worked with the nearly two dozen youngsters from Miami's First Tee and Boys & Girls Club.

David Howell gives a helping hand during a clinic on Tuesday. (Chris Vultaggio)

"It's lovely to come and see the kids to be honest with you," Howell later said. "I was with a really elite group in Singapore a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't teach them a damn thing. So it's nice to be able to give some tips and not get laughed at."

The clinic was organized by one of Howell's sponsors, CA, one of the world's premier computer software firms. The company also happens to be sponsoring the golf tournament Howell has come to South Florida to play in -- the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

Howell enters the $8 million tournament at Doral's Blue Monster in a bit of a slump after battling shoulder and back problems over the last 10 months. He pronounced himself "fit as a fiddle" on Monday, though, while admitting his game has been "terrible."

Harsh words, indeed, but not totally unfounded. Howell's results to date have been most uncharacteristic of the steady Brit, who has been firmly entrenched among the top 10 on the European Tour's Order of Merit each of the last three years.

Howell's best finish in five starts in 2007 is a tie for 29th at the Nissan Open. He also shared 47th in his title defense at the HSBC Champions, the European Tour's season opener, and lost in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Then there was that tie for 80th in Dubai and joint 89th two weeks ago in Singapore. Imminently forgettable, both -- and the total lack of consistency that had previously underscored his career left Howell feeling "like I was beating my head against a brick wall."

Howell knew what the problem was -- he had gotten the clubface closed on the downswing. He just couldn't figure out how to fix it.

Howell offers some tips on the short game. (Chris Vultaggio)

"I was hitting some really, really poor shots," Howell admitted. "And then it afflicted me quite late last year and certainly early season this year. Whereas the year previous, ... I was really hitting the ball pretty darned straight for me, and that's why I was performing so well."

The light bulb went off last week, though, Howell said. He went back to the swing keys he had in 2005 when he won two of his four European Tour events and the confidence began to return.

"Hey, I haven't hit a ball in anger in a tournament yet," Howell said. "So, not too carried away, but I'm certainly more confident with the way I'm swinging the club. Hopefully that will pay off this week."

Howell would like nothing better than to put the past four or five months behind him with a strong showing at Doral. He likes the firm, fast greens on the Blue Monster but knows the ocean breezes could toughen the test considerably.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint, as the famous saying goes," Howell said. "We have the first major coming up and if my game is coming on now -- there's no better time to play poorly than January, February, March in this game.

"From now on in, you really want to be on your game and I'm hoping that's going to be the case."

And who knows? His best finish on the PGA TOUR came at this tournament in 2004 when he was third at Mount Juliet in Kilkenny, Ireland. Howell also plans to play in the Shell Houston Open next week.

"Yeah, for me certainly this is a massive week in itself, but a good week here would certainly put me in a good frame of mind for the Masters," Howell said. "You know, strong field here, obviously, small field. These are very pleasant weeks to play for all of the guys, and I have had a pretty good run in them over the last three or four years.

"I'm looking forward to this week and hopefully we can get our first decent result of the year and a chance to win obviously on Sunday would be the main goal."