Hall of Famer George Knudson owned his swing

Hall of Famer George Knudson owned his swing

By Irv Lightstone (June 2006)

After winning eight major championships under the tutelage of longtime teacher Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods did the unthinkable. He placed his career in the hands of another teacher – Hank Haney. One comment that he made after making the change public fascinated me. “I want to own my golf swing. Only two players have ever owned their golf swings. One was Ben Hogan and the other was Moe Norman.”

Coming from an already magnificent golfer, this comment was unusual, but also understandable. My first thought after reading the interview in Golf Digest was that Woods obviously had never seen George Knudson. If anyone owned his swing, it was George Knudson. Jack Nicklaus once said of George, “Here is a guy with a million dollar golf swing and a 10 cent putting stroke.”

What is it that challenges someone to aspire to a level that few people will ever achieve? In Moe’s case I always knew what it was. Moe and I, aside from travelling together and being good friends, trusted each other. Moe knew from the beginning, that if his prowess as a golfer were not at the highest level to sustain him, he would end up working in the old rubber factory in Kitchener, which in those years was akin to working in a coal mine. For someone like Moe, the factory was a reality. This was what drove him to achieve a level of proficiency that is now legendary in the golf world. As for Ben Hogan, I personally don’t know what drove him, but James Dodson’s biography, Ben Hogan: An American Life, does shed some new light on the subject.

Let’s return to George Knudson. I first met George when he was an assistant at Toronto’s Oakdale under Bill Hamilton, the Head Professional. Bill was not a golfer but he certainly helped promote George to the membership. I was at Maple Downs at the time and soon George and I, along with many others, such as Mel Taylor Joe Rice, Alvie Thompson, and Kenny Jacobs, became very good friends. George, all 130 pounds of him, was a good player, but so were all of us then. We played as much golf as our jobs would allow, but George’s appetite for practice and hitting balls was far beyond mine. I enjoyed life and the world around me. I’m not sure George had many interests outside of the game.

One winter, George was travelling and playing down south and struck up a friendship with Bunky Henry, another young journeyman golfer. Bunky suggested they stop in to see Harvey Penick on their way through Texas. Penick taught Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Kathy Whitworth and Betsy Rawls. His credentials were impeccable. The simple lesson with Penick lasted almost four hours. To the best of my knowledge, that lesson with Penick was the only formal golf lesson George ever had in his life He did watch me putt for over an hour at Maple Downs during the 1960s, and asked me some questions. But he never hit a putt. George learned by watching talented players such as Hogan, Tommy Bolt, Ken Venturi, and Dick Mayer.

Back in Toronto the following April, on one particularly cold day, I called the pro shop to speak to George. Mel Taylor answered and told me George was on the range hitting balls. I couldn’t believe my ears. It was too cold to get a cup of coffee, much less hit balls. An hour later I called and George was still on the range, so I jumped in my car and drove down to Oakdale. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw George, still on the range. I went over to where he was hitting balls and just watched. Even at the best of times George was not the greatest conversationalist.

Hit one. Shank one. Hit one. Shank one. After about 15 minutes with of silence, I finally said to George, “How is it going?” His response was “I think I’m getting it.” My response? “If you’re getting it, I don’t want it.”

Afterwards in the coffee shop, I simply had to find out what he was doing. “I cannot play the type of golf that I want to play and miss the ball both ways,” George said. He had discussed this with Penick, who had told him, “It’s virtually impossible not to miss some shots to the right, but I can teach you how not to hit it left of your target.”

George’s game improved beyond recognition that summer. He won his second consecutive and second of five Ontario Opens at Islington Golf Club by seven shots, over an excellent field including a dozen U.S. players.

The following winter George began to make his presence felt on the PGA Tour, winning the 1961 Coral Gable Open. His fellow professionals thought he had the best swing out on tour.

I knew that the year before when we played a practice round together in Coral Gables, the last stop on the tour every year before everybody headed for California after the Christmas break. We were playing a very demanding par 3 of about 185 yards with a large pond to the left of the green. The flag was positioned on the left, very close to the water’s edge. In those days, 185 yards meant 4-iron. Everyone else hit the ball well right of the flag – 50 to 60 yards – to the fat part of the green. Not George. He went right at the flag and the ball finished about 12 feet from the hole. As we walked to the green I said to him, “That was a rather gutsy shot.” He looked straight at me and said, “Irv, not really. I can’t hit it left.”

What is it that allows a golfer to own his golf swing? When you consider there might have been only three or four in the history of the game, the answer isn’t as complicated as you might think. It means repetition of the highest level. It means a swing plane that is not rerouted and does not change regardless of the club. It means impeccable posture and perfect balance. But most importantly, in the cases of Hogan, Moe and George, it means a perfectly square clubface approaching impact that remains square through the shallow, long and low action after impact. One need just look at pictures of the three of them in action.

After that 1961 victory, George went on to win seven more times on the PGA Tour over the next 11 years. In those years, if anyone in golf owned his swing, it was George Knudson.

Irv Lightstone



George Knudson
Canadian Golf Hall of Fame

Birthdate: June 28, 1937
Place of Birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Death: January 24, 1989
Category: Golfer, professional
Inducted: 1986

George Knudson, who possessed one of the finest golf swings of all time, was one of the Canada’s top PGA Tour professionals, winning eight tournaments in his 11-year career, more than any other Canadian before or since. At home, Knudson captured the CPGA Championship five times and was low Canadian professional at the Canadian Open on five occasions.

PGA Tour Victories
1961 Coral Gables Open
1963 Portland Open
1964 Fresno Open
1967 New Orleans Open
1968 Phoenix Open
1968 Tucson Open
1972 Robinson Open
1972 Kaiser International Open

Other Achievements
Individual champion, World Cup, 1966
World Cup winner with Al Balding, 1968
Canadian Professional Golfers Association champion, 1964, ’67-68, ’76-77
Millar Trophy winner, 1966
Canadian Junior champion, 1955
Manitoba Junior champion, 1954-55