Editing Byron Nelson (section)

===Championship heyday===
After turning professional in 1932, Nelson served as a club professional in Texas and played as many significant tournaments as he could afford, to develop his game. Money was tight, as Texas was hit very hard by the [[Great Depression]]. A pair of top-three finishes in important Texas events encouraged him. He then took a club professional's job at the [[Ridgewood Country Club]] in [[New Jersey]] in 1935. He worked hard on his game, having earlier realized that with the technological change from hickory to steel shafts, which was gathering momentum in the early 1930s, that the golf swing would have to adapt as well. Nelson was among the first of a new generation of players who developed a full swing with increased leg drive leading the downswing; this is the forerunner of modern golf technique as practiced by top players, right to the present day. Nelson is sometimes credited as being the father of the modern golf swing. He refined the changes for a couple of years, and then took his game to the highest level of competition, the PGA Tour.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |title=Gettin' to the Dance Floor: An Oral History of American Golf |first=Al |last=Barkow |author-link=Al Barkow |year=1985 |publisher=Atheneum |isbn=978-0689115172}}</ref> Nelson's first significant victory was in 1935 at the [[New Jersey State Open]]. He followed this up with a win at the [[Metropolitan Open]] the following year. He reportedly won this tournament with "$5 in my pocket".<ref name="Interview">{{cite journal|url=http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/features/kessler/columnist/0,17742,545269-3,00.html |title=Golf's great gentleman looks back – and ahead |access-date=May 22, 2007 |last=Kessler |first=Peter |journal=Golf Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927231301/http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/features/kessler/columnist/0%2C17742%2C545269-3%2C00.html |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1937, Nelson was hired as the head professional at the Reading Country Club in [[Reading, Pennsylvania]], and worked there until 1940, when he took a new job as head pro at the [[Inverness Club]] in [[Toledo, Ohio]].<ref name=dodson/> While at Inverness, Nelson coached and mentored the promising young player [[Frank Stranahan]], who would go on to stardom over the next two decades.