Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinAndrew Vijarro, of Bend, practices in 2013 at Lost Tracks Golf Club. the 25-year-old professional golfer spent the summer overhauling his swing with Bend pro Jim Wilkinson.

Andrew Vijarro felt like he could still improve without reworking his swing.

But two years into his professional golf career, the 25-year-old Bend golfer wondered if he could boost his play enough to reach his end goal of playing on the PGA Tour.

“I obviously didn’t want to have to change things, because I was comfortable where I was at,” Vijarro says. “But in order for me to get to the top and play with my buddies (on the PGA Tour), I had to be in a different position.”

So in late May, the self-taught golfer considered doing something few players on any level want to do: make a drastic change that would all but wipe out a golf season.

On the suggestion of Brian Whitcomb, the owner of Lost Tracks Golf Club in Bend and a family friend of Vijarro’s, the former University of Oregon standout golfer sought the help of Bend teaching pro Jim Wilkinson.

Vijarro was reluctant, at first.

Still, Wilkinson — a former Champions Tour player and a well-respected teacher who has helped the swings of golfers such as 2009 PGA Champion Y.E. Yang — was able to convince Vijarro that he had advanced through the ranks because his talent trumped the flaws in his swing. But to advance further, Wilkinson believed, Vijarro needed refinement.

“I could have kept getting better, but I don’t think I could have gotten as good as I will be in the next year or two (after) making those changes,” Vijarro says. “It was definitely a decision I had to make for the future.”

Wilkinson suggested forming better posture, repositioning his right knee, and altering the top of his backswing to open up the club’s face. More drastically, the longtime instructor advised Vijarro to change the grip he had spent his whole life using.

“His posture was bad, his club face was really, really shut at the top (of his backswing), and so he would either hit it dead right, hit it straight, or hit a big pull hook,” says Wilkinson. “Not knowing which one of those shots were going to come up on a given time it’s really difficult to play the game at a higher level.”

Vijarro had spent his golf life — developing from late bloomer to high school star at Bend High, then to college standout and, now, budding pro — with a “strong grip” (positioning his hands to the right of center on the club). But his grip forced him to subconsciously control his swing more with his hands than with his body.

Wilkinson suggested he weaken his grip, setting his hands more down the center of the club.

Vijarro bought in completely to Wilkinson’s advice.

“I just had really good swing timing, and that was what allowed me to be successful,” Vijarro says. “But basically for me to be in a position to where I can do it day in and day out, I need to be able to rotate (my body). Rotation of my body is what squares the club face up.”

After playing in early June in a PGA Tour Canada event in Victoria, British Columbia, where he made the cut before fading into a tie for 49th place at 2 under par, Vijarro decided to take the summer off to work on his swing at home in Bend.

A natural athlete, Vijarro absorbed the lesson quickly.

He spent nearly two months practicing each day, the sessions lasting as long as eight hours, he recalls.

“Within two weeks the grip felt good, and that was basically the biggest thing,” Vijarro says. “The swing changes, those are gradual. But holding the club differently than you have the last 10 years, that’s a big deal.”

The seeds of success seem to have be sown.

In July, he played six consecutive rounds in which he scored no higher than 67.

“I was so excited this summer,” Vijarro says. “I was playing the best golf of my life.”

His teacher likewise saw the improvement.

“He needs reps in competition and then he will be a way, way better player,” says Wilkinson, adding that, in his opinion, Vijarro is already hitting his short irons at a PGA Tour level. “I don’t like to use the word ‘consistent,’ but he’ll be able to go out on the golf course now and hit the golf ball a lot more solidly and a lot straighter. He’ll just be a way better player. He’s a real hard worker.

“He’s got more than enough talent to make that next step from where he’s a Canadian Tour, mini-tour player moving on to the Web.com Tour (the PGA Tour’s main developmental circuit).”

Vijarro hurt his back in late summer, an injury he attributes to his new swing and how it taxes his lower back. He has improved his diet and started a new workout regimen to help compensate.

Now back in Arizona, where he has spent the past three winters since turning pro in 2012, he is ready for a schedule full of mini-tour events in the Phoenix area.

If he plays well early, he will attempt to qualify for PGA Tour Latin America at its qualifying school after the new year. If not, he will wait until April to play in the PGA Tour Canada’s qualifying school.

Teeming with confidence after his swing adjustments, Vijarro is eager to get started.

“I am getting close to a position where I don’t have to think about it anymore and I just start playing,” Vijarro says. “I’m close. I’m really close. And I’m really looking forward to starting to compete.

“I know that you’ve gotta make it (in golf) or you’ve gotta do something else. But where I am at right now, I couldn’t be more optimistic.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, zhall@bendbulletin.com.