With the four-round event set to begin next Monday, the Kurri Kurri trainee is putting the finishing touches on his swing in what will be his third and final crack at the state title.

In his first year, 2008, Jones finished third at the event behind Sydney star Brent McCullough and Victorian Leigh Deagan.

However, a poor preparation last year meant he failed to build on the effort in the second year.

"Last year was a bit disrupted," Jones said. "I went on a cruise holiday before and only got back a week and a half beforehand, so my preparation was skew-whiff.

"This year I've been training and preparing for the course for the last six weeks, so my preparation has been good and my swing is getting better every day.

"I've been playing there once a week and doing a lot of practice while I've been there and doing course charting and getting used to the conditions of the course."

The 24-year-old will carry some decent form into state trainee championships, having won the Pacific Dunes trainee match on August 2.

In horrendous wind conditions, Jones scored a two-over 74 to win the match by three shots.

A win at Hawks Nest would be a prestigious honour for Jones and it would book the right-hander a start at the NSW PGA Championships at Wollongong from November 18 to 21 and at the NSW Open at The Vintage from November 25 to 28.

Standing between Jones and the state title is likely to be Asquith's Benjamin Gear, who is No.2 on the NSW Trainee Order of Merit rankings and Waratah's defending champion Andrew McCormack.

Yet Jones said he was a much improved golfer.

"I've become more consistent, obviously when you start playing for money the biggest lesson I've learnt is you tend to hang on to rounds a lot more," he said.

"When you're having a bad day you don't just let it turn from a bad day into a wasted day, you tend to grind it out and make the best score you can."

Jones completed his final exams in Sydney for his traineeship yesterday.

He has passed all the playing components of his traineeship and is awaiting the results of the exams and his final six assignments so that he can graduate in December.

"I find out my results in a month's time, so fingers crossed but I'm feeling pretty confident," Jones said.