George Knudson and his swing

I'm new to the board and it really looks great.

I just wanted to let people know about a golfer whose swing theory I've started using at least for my iron shots right now and beginning to move it into my driving.

It is really the first time I have ever been able to hit irons consistently solid, especially the long irons, this has been really a amazing for me. Has improved my chipping and pitching 1000 percent, if that's possible.

I'm sure many of you may have heard of him, George Knudson who played on the tour in the 60's and 70's, mostly in the late 60's though. During the time he played he won 8 pga tournaments and came in 2nd in the Masters in 1969. Won alot of other tournaments in Canada, where he is from, and other countries.

Here is a quick link to short video about him.
http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=14255

What really makes him unusual is his swing method is totally different from anyone else's I have ever known.

The power of the swing and direction of the shot is controlled completely by your leg and body movement. The arms and hands are completely passive and only consciously did one thing, that is to hold onto the club.

It is unbelievable how this works and is very easy to do.

The swing is powered completely by the centrifugal force created in a weight shift of the legs and body turn, in the backswing and downswing.

If you are to look at the link to the video I gave above, it would be impossible to detect this, since it looks like someone swinging a club in a way you might expect to see.

Jack Nicklaus called the man with the "million dollar swing". Other people said he looked more like Ben Hogan than Ben Hogan did himself.

Sorry if I seem wild about this, but I have just started getting involved in his swing ideas and it has been a real revelation to me.

The book he wrote is called "The Natural Golf Swing". It was published in 1988. Unbelievably, tragically as a smoker most of his life he passed away from cancer at age 51, a year after the book was written.

The book has a great personal story of his life and how over the years he gradually developed his swing ideas.

What is kind of amazing also is after he finally put together what he felt was the best swing he could from everything he had come to understand about golf, along with the laws of nature and physics related to the golf swing and had his greatest successes' in the late 60's, because of his family and having three young, he left the tour. Nice to be with your family though.

He started teaching in Canada in the 70's and starting writing his book in the late 80's.

Here is a link to his book on amazon were you can read the reviews of the people who have his book.

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Golf-S.../dp/0771045344

Hello:

Yes George had the Million dollar swing and the two cent putter just like his buddy Moe Norman and at the end of his career, Hogan himself.

The theory of swinging with legs and torso as the primary movers is not new and certainly not singular to George Knudson. I do not say that with any sarcasm. Good to hear you are on the right track with your swing but do not forget the short game especially the flat stick.

By the way these great ballstrikers did use their hands but only as fine tuning calipers. They used very little hand action but it does come into play to some degree. Great golf shots are a marriage of timing, balance and harmony between the body(hands included) and mind. It's all relative.

Well you're actually wrong in everything you say and your comment is totally useless, you have no idea what you're talking about.

legs and torso are not the primary movers in Knudson's swing, they are the only one's.

he used his hands in no way during the swing, except to hold on to the club

you know nothing about his swing and it is obvious from your comments

you don't know what the hell you're talking about

I agree with Timothy Slaught, the hands are never one hundred per cent passive. I suppose I will now be subjected to a torrent of ill mannered abuse.

NICE GOING JOHNNY
ONLY TOOK YOU 4 POSTS TO START RANTING

Hey Johnnie:

You are correct that I have absolutely no knowledge of the golf swing so thanks for clearing that up. I was really confused. Also thanks for clearing up the fact that the hands play absolutely no role in the golf swing other than being the sole connection to the golf club which with we hit the ball. Another revelation on your part so I'm grateful for that as well.

By the way there do happen to be some folks who are very interested in the golf swing and happen to be scientists with expensive equipment that they use to absolutely quantify how much muscle activity is used in the golf swing by all parts of the anatomy including the hands and they say that the hands are used in many integral ways on all shots.

Still you seem to really have a better grasp (no pun or sarcasm of course) on all of this so please continue to enlighten us. Also tell us how you are able to maintain that light hearted approach of yours in this crazy world........

Whatdaya goofy..!!!

hi johnny
i have read what you said about knudson's swing and it sounds intresting but i also agree with what timothy said as his coments seemed to agree with what i was thinking too, we all have our thoughts about the swing and will never agree that there is one type of swing thats better than another, only what type suits us. i find your latter coments to be abuse and not needed, one member was only giving his views and if you think there wrong then by all means tell him why but please act in a respectful way.
thank you
bill

I guess you are george yourself so you can say this all with absolute certainty

Hogan had a half swing drill where he said have the hands remain passive and they can better learn their role in the golfswing. Hogan said in the drill "Tha action of the arms is motivated by the movements of the body, and the hands consciously do nothing but maintain a firm grip on the club" so in this he said basically that the hands and arms are 100% passive. But hogan also had a famous quote of wishing he had three right hands. A great player and thinker hogan was and he said two things that contradicted, it is possible that george has done the same.

__________________
always do something different, explore the possibilities, and enjoy the journey

From page 14 of "The Natural Golf Swing" by George Knudson

Give Up Control to Gain Control -

I remember the first time I felt centrifugal force and inertia. The effect generated a powerful and accurate swing, yet I hadn't a thing to do except allow it to happen. All I did was set myself in motion. Until then, I'd only had glimpses of a pure swing. I'd thought I had to do so much to swing a golf club, but suddenly in one swing I felt like the golf club had swung itself. There was no resistance. I sensed that the club was traveling on a pure, undisturbed path, and that I wasn't doing a thing consciously with my hands and arms to take it there. It was a feeling of totally letting go.

Hey Johnny:

Seriously the intent of this site is the sharing of ideas among what is supposed to be a commaraderie of people who love this great game. I'm not sure what set you off but I apologize for any of my comments in my original post concerning George Knudson. I am actually quite interested in him and have read some interesting articles about him. Many players say his swing was as pure as any. Like many truly outstanding ball strikers, they often relied on that at the expense of the short game. That's what makes Tiger so great is the balance he places on his practice. Time and attention are spread evenly to all aspects of his game.

As you hopefully can see by some of the comments by fellow members in this thread, we encourage open ideas and suggestions but really don't appreciate harsh comments. Calling people goofy and other such childishness I'm sure can be found on many other websites...just not this one OK.

Good luck to you

Hey Shootin:

Hogan said he wishes he had three rights hands becuase he knew they applied speed to the swing. Studies show that 70% of swing speed comes from the uncocking of the wrists so the hands do play a role in the swing.
Like you said, the initial stages of the downswing require no real effort from the hands but as the club reaches about parallel to the ground on the way down, the whole right side should fire through aggresively. It's the timing of the hand action that is difficult because of the urge to hit early. In fact the right hand does not release it's cupped position until after impact which is hard for many to comprehend including myself until I understood the concept and practiced many hours. Beginners have a hard time with this because the natural tendency is to use the hands too early.

It's funny because similiar athletic motions such as throwing a ball or swinging a bat come fairly naturally. I believe it is the static nature of the ball in golf that makes this so difficult. Patience and timing is key as well as a good understanind of the concepts of the swing.

I agree with you tim,
if people learned how to apply that same athletic motion of throwing a ball and swinging a bat, golf would become much more natural, I believe. why is a golf ball so hard to hit? IMO, set up is very overlooked becuause the purpose of set up is to measure yourself from the ball, also, it is because the ball must be an exact distance away from you an exact distance in relation to forward or back in your stance, an exact height, you must be coming on an exact angle, down on the ball for irons, and the clubface must be exact. In a baseball swing it does not matter bat rotation, angle of attack is not near as important, 2 inches inside or outside the sweet spot is no big deal. Basically in baseball it is timeing, bat at same height as ball, and angle of bat between first and third base. I once played golf with an ex pro baseball player jose lind. He first at bats were against nolan ryan, I asked him which was harder and I will save the explecitives that he used when describing how hard golf was.

__________________
always do something different, explore the possibilities, and enjoy the journey

From page 45 of "The Natural Golf Swing" by George Knudson

Winning Phoenix and Tucson -

It took a lot of letting go in my later years as a tour player, and while I was teaching, to realize that it's enough just to hold the club lightly, enough just to feel the skin of the grip against the hands. Now, I stand up to the ball and I feel as if I'm hardly holding on to the club. That's freedom. That's balance. Then, I just let the club go where it will.