From Zorro to Zen
I am Franklin Hudson, the creator of Know What You’re Doing/Know Why You’re Doing It (KWYD/KWYDI).
I was born the middle son of a military family in Heidelberg, West Germany. In true Army brat fashion, we spent much of my childhood moving around before finally planting roots in San Antonio, Texas. There, I involved myself heavily in athletics, competing in both football and track all the way through high school. Despite my enthusiasm, my career in these sports would end with my arrival to college. So, I looked for another avenue for my energy. I found fencing.
Didn’t everyone want to be “Zorro”? My first lesson blew my mind. I was tight, nervous, and could barely keep my arm held up. The coach stopped, lifted his mask and asked me, “Are you tired?” I panicked, stammering out, “No – I can go.” He then said to me, “If you’re tired you should rest. We will continue when you are ready.” I was shocked. This moment still brings tears to my eyes. No one in any sport I had played had ever said that to me. It was always, “Harder, faster, more! Good, bad or ugly.” With fencing, and this amazing coach, the focus was on correctness of movement, timing, rhythm, and balance. “The space between the notes.”
I pushed fencing as far as I could in the next 10 years. The sport was totally amateur and there was funding for only a few athletes. So, again, I was looking for something athletic to do. I had been introduced to golf in high school. I was really bad and did not want any help. After all, I was strong and played 2 varsity sports, how difficult could it be to smack a little white ball? Turns out, pretty difficult. So much so, it took 14 years before I touched a golf club again. This time I approached it from a different angle, by getting a job with a golf club manufacturer.
Initially, only wanted to learn about making golf clubs (see my putter page for more on this). Later, I worked in the Harvey Penick Golf Academy where I tested the students’ golf clubs to see if they had the proper equipment. I observed their instruction and the idea of teaching the game became intriguing (I had taught fencing). What sealed it for me was meeting Harvey Penick, Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw. The relationship they had was very special. I read Penick’s “Little Red Book” and was wowed by the passage about the thrill of a beginner getting their first ball in the air. I remembered how exciting it was for me when one of my fencing students landed their first touch. The two things meshed together in my mind. I committed myself to teaching the game.
I read every book that was recommended, watched every video, and bent every ear that would give me the time of day to learn about golf. I returned to school to obtain a second degree in Exercise and Sports Science. I wanted to learn everything I could about human body, I wanted the instruction I gave to based in science and guided by wisdom. I took on golf students, my first student a beginning high school player. He was scoring around 140 on average. Working with him, I managed to guide him to dropping 65 shots off his average in 2 years.
While still in school, I took a summer job as director of golf at a camp in Maine where I had 150 students for 3 months. This put my organizational skills and teaching methods to the test. Kids that did not think they would enjoy golf took up the game. I even taught some parents because of their kid’s enthusiasm. After graduating, I moved to Chicago where fortune was with me, again. I found a position at a golf academy. The director of instruction and co-owner was Peter Donahue, co-owner Ray Tauch, and fellow instructor, Tom Hanson. They, like Mr. Penick, played a major role in how I teach golf. They taught me that I needed to teach at the student’s level of understanding, taking the time needed for each student, helping them discover their abilities, finding those skills within themselves. We taught each other to teach, and taught each other’s students. It was a great environment for total learning, not just for golf, but for relating to people. Sort of “Zen and the Art of Competitive Golf.”
While in Chicago I became very interested in competitive play and training competitive players. I had the privilege of training and aiding in the development of 3 students that went on to play golf for all 4 years in college. That was very thrilling. I was hooked on competitive players.
After returning to Texas I began working on what would become KWYD/KWYDI, even though I didn’t know it at the time. During the course of its development, more proof of concept was shown. I had the privilege of guiding 2 more players through college play, and 2 other students went on to become PGA Professionals.
My mission statement? I simply want to give those who want to play competitively the guidance they need to succeed. I am surprised that there are so few guides for competitive play. Far too often, players are lost in how to prepare for a tournament. I am not sure who said it first, but “There is golf and then, there is tournament golf. They are not the same”. No, not even close to the same, as you will see as you work your way through this self-exams contained in the KWYD/KWYDI workbook.
