Moe Knows Golf

Jeff Neuman took over John Paul Newport's Wall Street Journal column this past weekend, and devoted it to legendary golf eccentric and ball-striking machine Moe Norman.  Let's start at the top with his lede:

It is not unusual to see a photograph of a professional golfer hitting balls on the range in front of

a group of interested spectators. But it is unusual when the golfer is a pudgy man in his mid-sixties, and the onlookers include Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, and Nick Faldo. 

The photograph, taken before the 1995 TELUS World Skins Game at the National Golf Club of Canada, captures the fascination even the world's best players had with the legendary Moe Norman, perhaps the greatest ball striker the game has ever known. Tiger Woods told golf writer Jaime Diaz in 2004, "Only two players have ever truly owned their swings: Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. "

Norman had psychological issues that prevented him from playing tournament golf, but notwithstanding the lack of a conventional golf resume he remains the Holy Grail of striking the dimpled white ball.  Neuman explains though it's all a bit murky:

Moe Norman grew up in Kitchener, Ontario. When he was five years old, he was riding a toboggan down a hill near his home when he slid under a moving car. Norman was dragged for a few moments before the car came to a stop. He never went to the hospital for treatment. There are suggestions that this incident may be linked to his idiosyncrasies. 

He was ill-at-ease in social settings. He had an astounding memory for numbers. He cared little about how his clothing appeared to others, and spoke in a singsong rhythm with repeated phrases: "C'mon over, c'mon over," Price recalls him saying. "I'll show you how to hit the ball, I'll show you. This is what you do, this is what you do...."

Do read the whole thing if you're not familiar with this legend, as they threw away the mold.  The definitive book on Moe Norman is Lorne Rubenstein's Moe & Me, credited in Neuman's article.  There is nothing in Norman's action that screams ball-striking virtuoso but, as noted above, when the best pros of an era stand around and watch you hit balls, there's something going on.  If, as per Tommy Bolt, Nicklaus would watch Hogan practice, then EVERYONE would watch Moe.

Neuman includes a credible account of Norman's swing, though he can hardly do it justice.  I'll intentionally not provide that excerpt, preferring instead to leave it for you as click-bait.  But get a load of this list of Norman's exploits, some of which might even be true:

• At an exhibition in Toronto, Snead warned Norman that he couldn't carry the creek 240 yards from the tee. "I'm not trying to," said Norman, who calmly stroked his drive across the walking bridge to the far side of the hazard. 

• Following a question from a reporter about his shaky putting, Norman hit driver on a long par-3 and said, "I'm not putting this one," while the ball was in the air. It landed, then rolled into the cup. 

• Leading by three shots on the final hole of a tournament, safely on the green in regulation, Norman putted deliberately into a bunker, just to make things interesting. He got up and down to win by a stroke.

Too good to fact check, as they say.  OK, one last story:

Norman died a week before the 2004 Canadian Open, he'd had bypass surgery several years

before, and upon waking from anesthesia, he was asked if he knew where he was. On the third green, he said, at the London Hunt and Golf Club. Doctors were concerned, but in fact the hospital where he lay was built on the former site of that club; the building that held his room was located where the third green used to be.

Curious about the swing?  There's a ton of video available on YouTube, and here's one sample:

I'm amazed at how far from the ball he stands, and I don't what to think of that recoil in the follow-through.