Shell WWOG Cape Breton Highlands

[Wayne_Kozun]

Has anyone ever seen the Shell's WWoG match at Cape Breton Highlands in 1965 between George Knudson and Al Balding?

I am wondering if it is worth springing for the tape and/or DVD to see what the course looked like at that time.

[Bob_Huntley]

Wayne,

Get it.

I played with George Knudsen at Pebble and he called every shot he played. Draws, fades, straight, bumps and runs, the only thing he couldn't do was putt.

He also smoked too much.

Bob

[Jeff_Mingay]

Wayne,

I've seen it.

In fact, I watched it in a room at the Keltic Lodge with Ran Morrissett a number of years ago. I don't remember all the details of the broadcast, but I do recall enjoying watching the tape.

You definitely see a somewhat different course than what's there, at Highlands Links, today. And, as Bob points out above, some really great shots by Knudsen and Balding.  

[Lloyd_Cole]

He also smoked too much.

Bob

Bob,
Was it possible to smoke too much in 1965?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Lloyd,

Sadly, Knudsen died very young of lung cancer. So, yes.

George was Mike Weir before Mike Weir. Almost won The Masters, on at least one occasion. He's heralded as having one of the great golf swings of all-time.

I'm sure he had more to offer had he not lit one smoke after another throughout his life, with unfortunate results.

Not to be morbid  

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Wayne,
Joe Robinson had a video which was turned into a DVD a couple of years ago. It was a windy day!

[mike_beene]

It is worth it just to watch that swing.Bob,I know it is a little off topic but tell us a little more about the swing of Knudson.His book is well thought out.I regret never seeing him in person.

[Bob_Huntley]

He also smoked too much.

Bob

Bob,
Was it possible to smoke too much in 1965?

Lloyd,

Like Sir Lancelot,"My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure." Sounds like a bit of a prig to me, but I relate it to smoking.

I took one puff of a cigarette was I was ten or eleven. It tasted like chit, burned my throat, made my eyes water, and cost two-pence for five Players Weights. Then an older kid said to blow the smoke into a handkerchief, it left a dark brown stain. I was nuts about sports and thought, this is not good.

I vowed never to puff the magic dragon.

My father was a three pack a day man  and died in his mid- seventies of bronchiectisis and emphysema. He had been a great swimmer and was the first European to beat Johhny Weismuller in a race. What smoking did to him was unkind.

If anyone could go to a Pneumoconiosis Board medical, as we had in the Copperbelt mining industry and see the lungs of the various mining diseases, the worst looking lungs in their glass jars were those who succumbed to tobacco.

Bob

[Bob Jenkins]

There is also a Shell WWOG match between Knutson and, I cannot remember who (Stan Leonard or Al Balding) at Victoria Golf Club (BC) where Knutson blew his brains out on the greens. Great fun to watch.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Interesting, Bob. I don't think I was ever aware of a Shell's match at Victoria.

I could see Knudsen struggling with some of the greens there. Especially if the wind was blowing, as it tends to at Oak Bay (Victoria).

[Wayne_Kozun]

There is also a Shell WWOG match between Knutson and, I cannot remember who (Stan Leonard or Al Balding) at Victoria Golf Club (BC) where Knutson blew his brains out on the greens. Great fun to watch.

Knudson and Stan Leonard played a match at Capilano in 1964.

[Robert Thompson]

Wayne: I have the video (Al Balding's copy, in fact) at my home. Let me know if you'd like to pick it up from me.

I asked Al about the day and all he said was "It was really windy, lad." He was right -- the first hole is 380 and it was a driver and a 2-iron for both players....

Jeff: There was also a Shell's at Toronto GC (Marlene Stewart Streit) and St. Charles...