COVER STORY
For any player, from the club golfer to the best professional, a swing change can be like a throw of the dice. The extent and nature of the swing changes can often mean taking two steps back before moving forward and noticing any real improvement. There have been some notable successes in the professional game over the years. Nick Faldo is perhaps the best known example where he and then coach David Leadbetter rebuilt his swing in the ’80s and he went on to win five more major championships. Greg Norman changed his swing under the guidance of Butch Harmon and went through a mini-slump before winning the 1993 British Open. There has been the odd disaster though. Ian Baker-Finch tried to change the swing that won him the 1991 British Open in a bid to extract more distance from the tee. He changed most of the dynamics of his swing to create a drawing ball right, instead of the fade he had played with his entire career, and the results speak for themselves. A lot of club golfers tinker with their swing all the time. Magazine articles like this one get players thinking about their swing and how they can improve it. Unfortunately the majority of these golfers leave it until they are on the golf course in the middle of the round before trying something new, which is just a band-aid solution. Most players really only need minor adjustments to basic elements of the swing to see some improvement.

TIGERS' GROUNDHOG DAY
It is eight years since Tiger Woods inflicted a demolition job on the world's best players to win his first major, his first US Masters, his first green jacket. There was nothing clinical about the way he took to the Augusta National course. Stung by an opening nine holes of four-over-par 40, the then 21-year old ripped the Dr Alister Mackenzie course to shreds by bludgeoning huge drives to within wedge instance on many of the par-4s and a smooth midiron from the greens of three of the four par-5s.

Through the next 63 holes, Woods made 23 birdies to finish at 18-underpar – 12 shots clear of his nearest rival Tom Kite, a runner-up at the Masters for a third time. Woods’ victory margin still stands as a Masters record and ranks second in the history of major championships behind his own 15 shot victory in the 2000 US Open.

BREAKING THE DUCK
When Steve Elkington raised the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy above his head as victor of the 1995 PGA Championship, few Australians would have believed the major title drought that was to follow. Since that eventful day at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club, 36 major championships have been contested without an Australian victory. Given the quality of players this country has produced in that time, it is a far from impressive record. It is also a fact that has not gone unnoticed, especially by those who
have climbed the highest peaks in the game.

Five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson went on record in 2003 saying Australia has produced some “great money-winners” in recent years but “no major winners”. Some might say it is a harsh claim when considering our current crop of stars are playing in an era where the game is being played at, arguably, its highest-ever level. Week-in, weekout scoring is better and the depth of talent in world golf extends beyond the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh.

PRIZED POSSESSIONS
They've been fought for in the most vehement fashion, then alternately hugged, kissed, stroked, held aloft, photographed, used as drinking vessels and, in one case, famously donned by the game's greatest players. Yet few would be aware of just who initiated these victory symbols in the first instance or how they came to gather such great significance. Every golfer knows what the Ryder Cup is, while perhaps less sure of its origins. Mention a nondescript vessel like a claret jug and one championship springs to mind. And why would anyone with so much as a sniff of fashion appeal be grateful for being awarded a garish green jacket Here are the stories behind the game's biggest prizes that drive the best professionals and amateurs to greater heights every year.