Sports psychologists would have a variety of methods to help Robert Allenby battle what he calls his “demons”.

Having sampled most of their wares, the four-time Australian PGA Championship winner says the solution is simple.

“The best thing is just to get a cricket bat and hit yourself over the head every now and again,” Allenby said.

Surely if the answer was that easy Allenby’s woes in the past few years wouldn’t be so great.

At his peak, Allenby was a regular PGA Tour winner who sat inside the world’s top 20.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Twenty-two tournament wins. $30 million in prizemoney. Over a decade inside the world top 100.

Then came the fear. The fear to back himself. The fear to push for that difficult shot. The fear to believe he could play the game he loved.

The effect was sudden. A plummet to 606 in the world rankings and the loss of his US PGA Tour card.

Allenby has recovered somewhat since then.

Heading into this week’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines, he’s climbed back to No.289 in the rankings.

But he still hasn’t won a tournament since lifting the Joe Kirkwood cup for a fourth time in 2009.

Allenby says quitting the shrinks and using his own methods, his own mind, is slowly pulling him from the depths.

“As a golfer you want to try and hit perfect shots but what happens is you have a fear of blocking it right or pulling it left,” he said.

“You’ve got to try and come up with an image that’s going to get rid of that. That’s very, very hard. Especially when you’ve done it that many times.

“All I’m trying to do is eliminate all that crap, the garbage that’s coming into my head.

“I’m working on it.”