George Knudson Mizuno irons woods

[Scully13]

Tour played equipment from a one of the purest ball strikers

I wanted to share some photos of a rare set of Mizuno blades and persimmon woods that were used by one of the great ball strikers on the PGA tour. George Knudson.

George Alfred Christian Knudson, CM (June 28, 1937 - January 24, 1989) was a Canadian professional golfer, who along with Mike Weir holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour, with eight career victories. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Knudson learned to play golf at the St. Charles Country Club. Between 1961 and 1972, he won eight tournaments on the PGA Tour. He won the Canadian PGA Championship five times, and won the World Cup with Al Balding in 1968. He wrote a book, The Natural Golf Swing (ISBN 0-7710-4534-4) with Lorne Rubenstein. Knudson tied for second in the 1969 Masters, one shot behind champion George Archer. In seven Masters appearances, Knudson posted three top-10s, including 10th in his 1965 debut and sixth a year later. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1969. Knudson left tournament golf in the late 1970s, and started teaching golf, with success, at a facility in the Toronto area. His teaching methods have since been adopted by the Canadian PGA. In 1988, he was inducted into both Royal Canadian Golf Association Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and was made a member of the Order of Canada. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1988. He recovered, and was about to make a comeback at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Senior tournament, but left because he felt weak. The cancer had spread to his brain, and he would die from it in 1989.

The irons are stamped Mizuno on the soles along with the iron number. Shafts are Royal Precision 8.0 with golf pride cord grips. Let me know what you guys think.

[Maxwell]

[size="3"]Gone-Golfing
I have a set of George Knudson Spalding woods and irons downstairs "hanging-up" . I've read his books and have a VHS tape of George demonstrating his swing at some golf club in Jamaica. He was a student of the Ben Hogan swing BUT took what was best for him from it and developed his own swing. A couple of years ago someone from GolfWRX or Toronto Golf Forum asked me about these irons and woods and had never seen them before. Thanks for the write-up and including pictures. I have attached a [url="http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j427/Maxwell03091956/George%20Knudson%20woods%20and%20%20irons/?action=view&current=DSCN7664.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1085.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj427%2FMaxwell03091956%2FGeorge%2520Knudson%2520woods%2520and%2520%2520irons%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSCN7664.jpg"]Photobucket link[/url] to some more pictures if anyone is interested. I now know what I'm looking for in the future - Max [/size]

[XYB34A]

[quote name='Maxwell' timestamp='1328449620' post='4217247']
[size="3"]Gone-Golfing
I have a set of George Knudson Spalding woods and irons downstairs "hanging-up" . I've read his books and have a VHS tape of George demonstrating his swing at some golf club in Jamaica. He was a student of the Ben Hogan swing BUT took what was best for him from it and developed his own swing. A couple of years ago someone from GolfWRX or Toronto Golf Forum asked me about these irons and woods and had never seen them before. Thanks for the write-up and including pictures. I have attached some poor quality pictures of my set. I now know what I'm looking for in the future - Max [/size]
[/quote

very nice looking Laminate wood, they were able to cut a huge amount of bulge and roll with them. a lot of player's back in those days would play with a persimmon driver and a laminate 3,4 wood. or a laminate 3,5 wood. they look in pretty good shape

[Ironmaster Oddities]

What a great ball striker Knudson was. I heard a long time go that in his younger days, Knudson played a lot of golf with Moe Norman, who many pros think was the greatest, straightest ball striker in history. Supposedly, when they played together, they played a game they called pins...Score was secondary; whoever could hit the most flags or flagsticks in a round was the winner. Yikes!

[okesa]

[size="3"]Well done,excellent post and would love to see the back of those irons showing the muscle configuration.

Great to be able to read about these characters who have made a valuable contribution to golf and who tend to be overlooked.[/size]

[okesa]

[size="3"]There is a match from Shell's Wonderful World of Golf from Victoria G.C. British Columbia featuring George Knudson in some very dapper drainpipe trousers playing against Al Geiberger with commentary by Gene Sarazen and the great Jimmy Demaret.
If possible would still like to see more photos of those Mizuno irons.[/size]

[astamm8]

[quote name='okesa' timestamp='1328828617' post='4247843']
[size="3"]There is a match from Shell's Wonderful World of Golf from Victoria G.C. British Columbia featuring George Knudson in some very dapper drainpipe trousers playing against Al Geiberger with commentary by Gene Sarazen and the great Jimmy Demaret.
If possible would still like to see more photos of those Mizuno irons.[/size]
[/quote]

Don't forget about the aviator sunglasses! He cut quite the figure out there for sure. He played some terrific golf on the Shell series, and I think he played a total of 6 times, which was an awful lot for that series.

[teevons]

Does anyone know if Shell sells the series as a dvd box set or do you have to find one at time?? Is there a listing somewhere of the series on dvd???[

[astamm8]

[quote name='teevons' timestamp='1328843506' post='4249681']
Does anyone know if Shell sells the series as a dvd box set or do you have to find one at time?? Is there a listing somewhere of the series on dvd???[
[/quote]

Sadly there's no complete set. There are a few small sets of 3 or 5 videos, but they're mostly of the new series.

[okesa]

[size="3"]It is great viewing and a reminder of a much gentler age,Gene Sarazen looks like an English country squire and Jimmy Demaret is immaculate in lavender trousers and his comment about Al Geiberger being tall and slim "if he drank a red soda pop he'd look like a thermometor" is priceless![/size]

[Scully13]

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback.

I used the two iron today to slice open a bagel. These are some of the truest blades i have ever seen. Very thin topline.



[quote name='okesa' timestamp='1328907916' post='4255161']
[size="3"]It is great viewing and a reminder of a much gentler age,Gene Sarazen looks like an English country squire and Jimmy Demaret is immaculate in lavender trousers and his comment about Al Geiberger being tall and slim "if he drank a red soda pop he'd look like a thermometor" is priceless![/size]
[/quote]

[freddiec]

GoneGolfing, those irons and woods look really great. Any chance you could post a pic of the driver showing the face? I love the older Mizuno clubs.

[okesa]

[size="3"]Likewise,would like to identify which model this was,I recall Mizuno producing a model called 'Silver Cup' but am sure it wasn't a top of the range iron,might be imagining this but feel they also did a 'World Cup' model but am open to correction on that. [/size]

[Maxwell]

[quote name='gone_golfing' timestamp='1328966201' post='4259463']
Thanks to everyone for the great feedback.

I used the two iron today to slice open a bagel. These are some of the truest blades i have ever seen. Very thin topline.



[quote name='okesa' timestamp='1328907916' post='4255161']
[size="3"]It is great viewing and a reminder of a much gentler age,Gene Sarazen looks like an English country squire and Jimmy Demaret is immaculate in lavender trousers and his comment about Al Geiberger being tall and slim "if he drank a red soda pop he'd look like a thermometor" is priceless![/size]
[/quote]
[/quote]


Gone-Golfing

"I used the two iron today to slice open a bagel"

Have to remember that one - Max

[drewspin]

Royal Precision 8.0 -- nice.

Do you have the capability to measure the lie-angles? I would be interested.

I like the heel wear patterns... reminiscent of his hero too.

[jrich99]

I'd really like to know the overall weight, swing weight, and lie angle of each of those if you have any way to measure them. Those are some of the best looking Mizuno's I've ever seen.

[penleyeta]

[quote name='jrich99' timestamp='1329608285' post='4319107']
I'd really like to know the overall weight, swing weight, and lie angle of each of those if you have any way to measure them. Those are some of the best looking Mizuno's I've ever seen.
[/quote]


The sole looks exactly like mp 14's from eraly 90's. Indentical font! Basically same face- I have a set of JM Mizuno raw carbon steel The professionals. 3- 14's, 1 29, 2 pro II and 1 True!

[seve94]

[quote name='gone_golfing' timestamp='1328447292' post='4217141']
I wanted to share some photos of a rare set of Mizuno blades and persimmon woods that were used by one of the great ball strikers on the PGA tour. George Knudson.

George Alfred Christian Knudson, CM (June 28, 1937 - January 24, 1989) was a Canadian professional golfer, who along with Mike Weir holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins on the PGA Tour, with eight career victories. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Knudson learned to play golf at the St. Charles Country Club. Between 1961 and 1972, he won eight tournaments on the PGA Tour. He won the Canadian PGA Championship five times, and won the World Cup with Al Balding in 1968. He wrote a book, The Natural Golf Swing (ISBN 0-7710-4534-4) with Lorne Rubenstein. Knudson tied for second in the 1969 Masters, one shot behind champion George Archer. In seven Masters appearances, Knudson posted three top-10s, including 10th in his 1965 debut and sixth a year later. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1969. Knudson left tournament golf in the late 1970s, and started teaching golf, with success, at a facility in the Toronto area. His teaching methods have since been adopted by the Canadian PGA. In 1988, he was inducted into both Royal Canadian Golf Association Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and was made a member of the Order of Canada. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1988. He recovered, and was about to make a comeback at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Senior tournament, but left because he felt weak. The cancer had spread to his brain, and he would die from it in 1989.

The irons are stamped Mizuno on the soles along with the iron number. Shafts are Royal Precision 8.0 with golf pride cord grips. Let me know what you guys think.

[attachment=1010943:DSC08184.JPG]


[attachment=1010939:DSC08183.JPG]


[attachment=1010941:DSC08187.JPG]
[/quote] More pictures please and are they for sale?

[FLOGMR]

I had a full set (1-SW) of MP-9's back in the day......sole looked identical to those....but the muscle back was different. Those kind of remind me of the old Accuform blades. Nice piece of Canadian history.

[dcrocketman]

 

I too have a set of gk 19 mizuno irons. I played them for at least six years. They had precision 8.0 with heavy butt weight red counter balancing.

[last snowstorm]

DAMN! hittin' it on the screws, eh?

[dcrocketman]

Pulling them out of the basement even surprised me.csnt hit it like that now. But I am going to make a modern set to those specs. There is a weight under the grip to counter balance the ckubs

[stevemcgee99]

DAMN! hittin' it on the screws, eh?

I played with a friend in Japan last January. When he saw my 2 wood he got very excited: "hey, that's what they mean by 'hitting it on the screws!"