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<\/a>\nWalter Dagg family ROOTS<\/p>\n
The Dagg family tree can be traced back to Modereny, Tipperary, Ireland in the 1800\u2019s. Walter\u2019s great, great grandfather Richard Dagg arrived in Canada during the early 1840\u2019s during The Great Famine in Ireland.\u00a0 The family settled in Kincardine, Bruce County in Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron as farmers.\u00a0 Several\u00a0 Census documents list the family as Irish Protestants.\u00a0 Bernard James Dagg, the, the first son of Richard Dagg and Sarah Hopkins settled in Manitoba in the late 1880\u2019s. He married Constance Maud Averill on July 9th, 1930. The couple had\u00a0 2 sons Walter and Ralph. Bernard died in St. James Manitoba January 12th, 1936.\u00a0 \u201cTheir mother, Ruth, worked as rural school teacher and raised Walter and Ralph on her own in rural Manitoba during the dirty thirties\u201d The family resided in various farming areas such as Clanwilliam, Bethany and Minnedosa – all within\u00a0 about 50 kilometres of Clear Lake, Manitoba.\u00a0 Walter born April 17th, 1931 in Minnedosa, Manitoba and younger brother Ralph caddied at Clear Lake Golf Course.<\/p>\n
At age twenty-two in 1953 Walter moved to Calgary and married Betty Ann Young in High River, Alberta in 1954. Shortly the couple moved to Vancouver. Betty worked for Hagen\u2019s Travel plus as a bookkeeper for luxury women\u2019s store, and the Bank of Nova Scotia.” \u00a0The couple had three sons Bruce, Bill, and\u00a0 Jim.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cDad trained to be an electrician but never practiced. He was colour blind which made it somewhat challenging with the different wire colours.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAround 1960 Dad worked\u00a0 for Mac &Mac selling wholesale products. While selling hardware one of the products Mac&Mac distributed were Bag Boy carts from Portland, OR. He felt he could do a better job so he started his own business.\u201d By 1960 Bag Boy had \u00a0became the most popular cart in Western Canada for the personal market as well as the rental market at the golf clubs.<\/p>\n
Capilano \u2013 the test golf course for Walter\u2019s new cart<\/p>\n In 1963 Walter delivered 60 carts to Jock McKinnon, the head professional at Capilano G&CC, for testing. Walter chose Capilano because of the rugged, hilly contours of the course. Within one month all the handles on the carts had broken. With the golf bag attached to the cart, the delicate balance point on the cart caused the cart to topple dropping the handle on the ground. Walter strengthened the handles by making the handle solid at the point where it joined the main body.\u00a0 He solved the tipping problem by adding weight to the bottom bag plate. Clearly Walter\u2019s cart was superior to the heavy clumsy Bag Boy cart. Soon all professional shops had replaced their fleet of Bag Boy carts with the Glidemaster carts. The pro shop staff could easily make any repairs to the well-balanced light carts.<\/p>\n \u201cDad felt he could design a lighter cart for the golf course rental business. He called his new product \u201cthe Glidemaster Cart\u201d.\u00a0 He distributed as far east as Manitoba. He\u2019d do a yearly fall sales trip and visit all the golf courses in the west. This was mainly to get orders for the next spring\u201d. Soon Walter\u2019s cart became the best cart for the\u00a0 golf course rental market.<\/p>\n Constructing the Glidemaster<\/p>\n \u201cHe definitely designed the castings for the Glidemaster Cart. Parts came from various sources. The Globe Foundry located at 1200 Willard St. Burnaby specialized in non-ferrous metals, Globe made the aluminium parts\/castings for the golf carts. Globe also made some of the putter heads. The wheels came from a company called R.J.Fallsaw in Australia. The frames of the carts were manufactured from aluminium tubing that was cut to length and then bent by hand with a long handled machine. I worked for him for a couple of summers and well remember working with this machine, which we called \u201cCharlie the Tube Bender\u201d. My Dad was very proud of how well balanced and easy to pull the golf carts were. (And was adamant that the carts should be pulled, not pushed!)\u00a0 Every Fall he loaded his van and visited the golf courses taking orders for his Glidemaster.\u201d<\/p>\n Greenmaster\/ Dagg Putter<\/p>\n Around 1963 Walter began making putters under the trade-name Greenmaster. \u201cI believe he did make the molds for his putters and clubs. Globe didn\u2019t make his iron heads. Those were made in Taiwan. The Metro Foundry in Burnaby possibly made the putter heads.”<\/p>\n George Knudsen story at Shell\u2019s Wonderful World of Golf<\/p>\n Three days prior to the actual filming day George came to the pro shop a couple hours prior to dusk. He decided he needed a new putter. The staff suggested he keep an open mind and choose one from a new Vancouver golf manufacturer \u2013 Walter Dagg. George carried the 10 Dagg putters to the putting green. At dark he announced he had found the solution in a new Greenmaster putter.<\/p>\n During the filming of the first 6 holes George never missed a putt. After each hole Gene Sarazen commented about George\u2019s new putting secret. Gene offered first $50, then $100 to purchase the putter from him. After five holes no amount of money would get George to give up his new secret.<\/p>\n Ironically three years later George competed in a second Shell filming against Al Geiberger at the Victoria GC.\u00a0 George lost badly because of putting woes.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
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\n<\/a>George Knudsen arrived at Capilano about two weeks prior to the scheduled filming for the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match between himself and Vancouver\u2019s Stan Leonard. During his practiced rounds clearly George hit the ball perfectly from tee to green. His irons shots never veered left or right of the flag. He just needed to hone his yardages. The drives traveled 250 \u2013 270 yards with a slight draw. But his putting left much to be desired. He could not hit the hole from five feet.<\/p>\n
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