Hi Brian,
You can refer to this thread to check your system against the minimum requirements to see if your PC matches up. You'll also want to make sure that your Flashplayer is up to date (we support the 10.0 release, not the beta) and that your video card drivers are current. Many users have reported better overall performance from Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome
browsers over Internet Explorer, so that may be an option for you to persue.
If you are close to the minimum specs or barely above then you may wish to try playing in a lower graphics setting, a smaller game window or disabling some of the other optional settings such as the flagstick animation.
Smoothing out the meter is an issue that we are aware of and are working to improve the performance from our end. In the interim we urge all users to take whatever steps they can to help improve performance from their end as well.
Thanks and hit 'em well =)