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Golf Articles
Name: Jason Denaro
MOE NORMAN...A TRIBUTE TO THE MOST ACCURATE GOLFER EVER
As most instructors will tell you, there's NO one perfect swing. The Iron Byron swing has most of the attributes, but not the human aspects. It doesn't have to think, it has no outside influences interrupting its composure, or getting into its head. If you ask golfers to choose the greatest ball striker who's ever lived, most will name such players as Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan and other well known names. There's one name most golfers aren't aware of. He's a Canadian golfer, Moe Norman, considered as the most accurate ball striker to ever swing a club. Moe Norman said: "You learn from your mistakes. You're going to make them as long as you live. Mistakes teach you—they're your own best friend." Another of his well known quotes was: "I haven't found the guy who can beat me." Sounds like quite a claim, however, truer words were never spoken. Moe Norman's ball striking was accurate beyond belief. His story is a sad one. Norman joined the U.S. PGA tour in 1959 but his strange looking swing and messy wardrobe was openly ridiculed by fellow professionals, causing Moe Norman to withdraw from playing on the tour circuit. Moe only graced the U.S. tour circuit for two seasons and after his embarrassing experiences, he was never again seen playing in U.S. tour events. "Mine is just straight down the middle, straight down the middle." Moe Norman's singsong voice rose at the end of each statement. It's believed Moe Norman was idiot savant, a higher functioning autistic, similar to Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie "Rain Man." Norman could drop ten balls on a blanket at 160 yards, and that was after only hitting...ten balls.
Moe Norman made an appearance at a special organized clinic in February of 1999 in Florida where he proceeded to hit balls, called out the trajectory and distance as he was hitting, and landed all within a few yards of the center of the fairway. Norman's swing technique clearly demonstrates what I've written earlier in this book. The club must be directly square to the ball as it's taken back, so that the face of the club, when twelve inches back from the ball, has reached that point by being drawn directly back on a straight line... on plane. To avoid any problem with this section of the takeaway, Moe Norman BEGAN his backswing with the club ALREADY positioned twelve inches from the ball. By doing this he eliminated the first twelve inches of the takeaway. Murray "Moe" Norman grew up in Kitchener, Ontario , in the 1930s. He had an unhappy youth, often ridiculed by others for his habit of repeating things he'd say, and having a weird way of getting his message through. "See those shots, of course they're all on the pin, why certainly!" Moe said. "Other golf teachers? They're just garbage, a bunch of thieves. They're 80-shooters, making millions and screwing up the world." Statements like this did nothing to endear Moe Norman to the instructors of the day. "I'm the Michael Jordan of golf," proclaimed Moe Norman.
Moe Norman was a genius who had the ability to not only send a golf ball to a target as if it was on a guided missile path, but he was also able to make people think outside the box and expanded their knowledge to a whole, new dimension. "No one else knows the move, the feeling of greatness, I'm the machine, poetry in motion, the only man on earth who can hit the ball straight every time. I haven't hit a ball out of bounds in 11 years," Norman laughed, boasting as to how he’d played with the same tee since 1989. Lee Trevino said: "I don't know of any player, ever, who could hit a ball like Moe Norman, as far as hitting it solid, he knows where it’s going and knows what he wants it to do. Moe Norman is a genius at playing golf." Tiger Woods said of Moe Norman: "Only two players have ever truly owned their swings. Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. I want to own mine. That's where the satisfaction comes from. John Daly, Ernie Els, Nick Price, they all ask me to hit balls, since out of the 40 million people playing golf, I'm the only one with the secret."
Moe Norman used the ten finger grip. This grip contributed to his uncanny ability to hit dead straight shots 365 days of each year. His swing never let him down, it was simple and repeatable. It was K.I.S.S.
Moe Norman said: "No one else knows the move, the feeling of greatness, I'm the machine, poetry in motion, the only man on earth who can hit the ball straight every time. I haven't hit a ball out of bounds in 11 years," Veejay Singh was asked, who's the best golfer he’d ever seen? Singh answered: "Moe Norman. I've hit balls with him lots of times. He was incredible. Whatever he said he could do, he could do. If you talk to Lee Trevino and the other greats of the game, they'll tell you how good he was. He could talk it, and he could do it. God gives people little gifts, and Moe had a gift for golf.
In 1955 when Moe Norman won the Canadian Amateur Golf Championship in Calgary, he was so scared of being in the public limelight. He hid in bushes by the Elbow River during the trophy presentation. He didn’t want to make a speech.
Moe Norman was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario. His father was a worker at one of the factories not far from their home. Moe was repeatedly humiliated by the country club set. Regardless of the many championships he won, Moe knew only too well that he was an outsider. His reputation for unusual behavior ostracized him even more, and his temper caused him to react to the shunning he received from the golf circle, and accordingly, he misbehaved all the more still. Doctors now believe that an accident which stemmed from a frontal lobe damage, which may have been suffered at age 5 when he was struck in the face by a car after tobogganing down a hill and into traffic. For financial reasons, his parents were unable to take young Moe for medical treatment. In fact he didn't visit a hospital until age of 67 when he suffered a heart attack while driving his car. His crippling shyness could very well have been attributed to his injury as a five year old. Moe Norman developed into one of the top amateur players in Canada by the mid-'50s. His social habits prevented him from 'clicking' with the 'right' people. Golf officials, professionals and even fans couldn't accept this strangely spoken man, wearing mismatched clothing, often shabby and stained, his trousers hanging above his ankles, his shirt outside of his belt...not what people were accustomed to seeing on the golf courses...and certainly not what officials wanted at the trophy presentation ceremony.
Moe Norman walked 200 yards along a fairway bouncing the ball on a clubface during tournaments, a feat not promoted until Tiger Woods was seen performing it on a Nike commercial. Moe's swing was so consistent that he was able to joke about during the seriousness of competition he would joke around during competition, annoying other players. Moe was never without a Coca-Cola in hand. It's said he drank as much as a case each day. People were always making fun of Moe, what with his clowning about and his weird appearance. It was almost impossible for him to understand if the people were laughing along with him, or laughing at him. Moe's speed of play was also a problem. He wasted no time playing the ball. He was timed at 3 seconds per shot. Therefore he became increasingly agitated by the time taken by tournament professionals. He would make his dissatisfaction public knowledge by lying down on the fairway as though sleeping as he waited for playing partners to execute their shots. Norman often didn't spend any time reading his putts. He'd stroll on up to his ball and just strike it, not bothering to even take up any type of address position.
The fans and media watching this putting antic were repeatedly frustrated by Moe's lack of effort on the green. Seeing him come up with brilliant birdie and eagle chances, then squander them away. During a practice round, Moe was on the first hole a 230-yard par 3. A gaggle of media representatives approached him and asked about his putting plans for the day, making a few sarcastic remarks on his previous putting antics... Moe quickly took an iron from his bag, hit the ball and turned to the reporters saying: "I'm not putting today." That ball made a hole-in-one, just one of 17 Moe Norman recorded. Today’s players are unanimous in their praises of Moe Norman.
No player has ever been able to strike the golf ball as accurately as Moe Norman. As great as he was, Moe Norman lived out of the back seat of his car. He struggled to survive. He didn't trust banks, and accordingly, kept what cash he was able to get together on his person. He was also believed to have kept money stuffed away in different parts of his car rather than deposit it into banks, his reason being, he wanted it accessible in any emergency. Murray "Moe" Norman had 55 career victories even though he often let other players win just so he could avoid the attention he would receive during the trophy presentation. Moe Norman is in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Perhaps one day, Hollywood will pick up on the life story of Moe Norman and add further to the tributes this great golfer so justly deserves.
MOE NORMAN PASSED AWAY ON SEPTEMBER 4, 2004.
Jason Denaro Ph. D
Publication Title: GOLF-YES & NO
www.mindpowergolf.com
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