TENNIS GREAT PETE SAMPRAS VISITS BRADLEY HUGHES FOR GOLF LESSONS-

I recently had the unique opportunity to do a day of lessons with 14 time Grand Slam Tennis Champion Pete Sampras when he was recently in Melbourne (Jan 2014) and also in California (June 2014).

What a blast. It was a remarkable experience for Pete to select me as the person he wanted to learn from in an attempt to better his already excellent golf game. As a dedicated sportsman he fully understands the effort required to make changes. I look forward to watching his progress in the future and hopefully catching up again soon to see the transformation.

It is now just one more week until the Australian Masters 2013 gets underway at Royal Melbourne.

This has always been one of my favourite events.

My very first affiliation with this event was in 1980 when as a 13 year old I caddied for Terry Hulls- a former assistant professional at Rossdale Golf Club where I grew up in Melbourne.

I remember walking the fairways inside the ropes in 1982 with Greg Norman, Tommy Nakajima and Graham Marsh at Greg's request due to our meeting the previous week when I had qualified as a 15 year old to compete in The Victorian Open.

In 1988 I competed in my very first Australian Masters and took out leading amateur honours.

Since then I have competed in 17 Masters tournments with 14 cuts made resulting in two wins in 1993 & 1998. In 1996 I was runner-up and also recorded 4th place finishes in 1992 and 2004.

My proudest achievement in the Australian Masters besides winning is that throughout the history of the event and how many superstars of the game have competed I currently hold the 18 hole record of 10 under par 63 (1998) the 36 hole record score of 130 (64-66) in 2004 and the 72 hole scoring record of 268 24 under par (1998)

Playing in Major Championships is the ultimate stage for the aspiring or seasoned professional golfer.

I have been fortunate to compete in 10 Major Championships

The Masters 1998

United States Open 1994- 1995- 1997- 1999

British Open 1994- 1996- 1999- 2006

United States PGA 1999

My fun fact from my Major experience-- I birdied my very first hole in a US Open at Oakmont (1994)

I birdied my very first hole in a British Open at Turnberry (1994) and I birdied my very first hole in The Masters at Augusta National (1998).

Missed out on the full house at The PGA at Medinah (1999)... however 3 out of 4 isnt bad!!!

The World Golf Rankings were established in 1984

There have been 24 players who have reached the ultimate number 1 ranking-- Norman, Ballesteros, Langer, Woosnam, Lyle, Faldo, Couples, Lehman, Price, Els, Duval, Singh ,Woods , Westwood , Kaymer,  Donald, McIlroy, Spieth, Day,  Scott, Johnson, Thomas, Rose & Koepka

I have been fortunate to play with 17 of these renowned golfers to hold this position in tournaments and practice rounds-- there can be no better way to learn than from watching the greats up close and personal and the opportunity to do such a thing has been instrumental to my abilities as a player and as an instructor