Moe Norman, RIP

[peter_p]

Moe Norman passed away Saturday in Kitchener, Ontario hospital, aged 75. One of the best natural strikers of the ball, ever.

[paul cowley]

may he rest in deserved peace.....

[RJ_Daley]

While he already had status among the hard core golfers who are interested in history, I wonder if his legend will grow even greater to cult like figure, after he is now gone?  I'd certainly like to know more stories about him.  Is there a book to read about his life?

[peter_p]

"The Feeling of Greatness, The Moe Norman Story" by Jim O'Connor. Seems like it's kinda rare, the four copies for sale at Barnes & Noble are all over $100.

[Gerry B]

It is truly a sad day in golf

[Paul_Daley]

Sad to hear this news about the great Moe Norman. Being unfairly treated as an object of derision, along with his poorly understood mental condition - his entire life - would have taken a tremendous toll.

Thankfully, excellent videos of Moe's game were produced some 5-7 years ago to serve as a historical record for golf-swing buffs.

Four names jump out for sheer repeatability: Ben Hogan; Byron Nelson; Lee Trevino; and Moe Norman.

It must have been quite something to watch Moe's unique way of spicing up a tournament: bumping a little wedge off the tee, followed by lacing a four-wood to twenty feet.
Obviously, this was not everybody's idea of a good time.
   

[Philippe Binette]

BEST MOE NORMAN STORY

A good friend of mine played with Moe Norman for the first time one day and Moe showed up on the first tee saying repeatedly:
Gonna play pins today, gonna play pins....
So my good friend asked the other pro who was used to play with Moe what does that means, the other pro said: You'll see...
After a perfect drive of the first tee, Moe hits the flag with his second shot... That was what playing pins meant...

Out of 14 holes they played that day, Moe Norman hit the flag 9 times with his approaches...

Hoping God protects Moe up there...

[TEPaul]

I can't say I heard Moe ever hit nine pins in a round but I can indirectly attest to the fact he hit pins all the time. Probably my best friend who lives a couple of fields over from me now is from Canada and played a ton of golf with Moe. He said it was just spooky how many times Moe would hit the pin with his approach shot---and when he did Moe would cackle---"Fat pins, fat pins!"

I don't know whether the following story is a common Moe Norman story or just one that happened when he played with this friend of mine one time but here it is:

Apparently they were playing a pro-am on some Canadian course Moe had never seen before. The first hole's fairway ran out of space very quickly at a wide stream with a little foot bridge across it. The tee shot really wasn't a driver for Moe. Clearly Moe had that reputation for otherworldly accuracy so to everyone's amazement Moe pulls out his driver and lands his ball right in the middle of the little foot-bridge across the stream and bounces it over to the fairway beyond.

Everyone said; "Moe that wasn't a driver for you!" and Moe said;

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."
"I saw the bridge, I saw the bridge"
"That's what it's there for, that's what it's there for!"

This friend of mine also said whenever one of Moe's amateur pro-am partners would make a birdie and Moe didn't Moe would say;

"You don't need me, you don't need me", and threaten to leave the course!

They also say the Moe Norman stories as an otherworldly ball-striker had become so common that some of the touring pros, such as Ben Crenshaw who'd never seen him, actually made the journey to seek him out to see for themselves and not a single one of them was ever disappointed!

[Lloyd_Cole]

'The Feeling of Greatness' is a great read. My favourite story (as my memory recalls it) relates the time when he was on the final green in regulation with a three shot lead and putted off the green into the bunker, hit his sand shot and putted out to win..

[TEPaul]

I don't know whether the book on Moe Norman reports this but according to my Canadian friend who knew Moe so well, there was a time, and perhaps a very extended time, when Moe actually lived in his car!

[A_Clay_Man]

Funny how word of mouth, before the wide use of the internet, spreaded lore and in this case, special stories about an indivdual.

From this socioloigical observer, one can only hope the lessons Moe passed along were of tolerance and acceptance of people who are just slightly different from what some committee deems appropriate.

[Jeff_Mingay]

For the record, the Moe Norman biography was written by TIM O'Connor, not JIM O'Connor. Tim's a well-known golf writer from Toronto.

Moe was an interesting guy... always drove a Cadillac, Tom. Always. And, yes, I heard he lived in it for awhile too! Over the last decade or so, Titleist paid Moe something like $5,000 a month. Just 'cause he was Moe, I guess!

Bacon and eggs every morning, and a case of Coca-Cola everyday definitely didn't help his heart. Oh well. Hopefully it was enjoyed.

I'm looking forward to the tributes. I'm sure they'll be some good ones from the likes of Lorne Rubenstein, for example, who also knew Moe well.

[TEPaul]

Jeff:

That's right, Moe always had that Caddilac! Maybe it wasn't such a bad place to live in afterall. I'll call my Canadian friend today to ask him if he has any more personal Moe Norman stories I've never heard.

One thing he always did say though, as much in awe of Moe's game as they all were, was that Moe almost always wore black and that most all the time he smelled pretty damn ripe too! Caddillacs are great cars and can be very luxurious to drive but as far as I know they never made one that had a shower in it!  

He did say too that Moe absolutely never hung around with them before or after the game, so he may not have availed himself of things like lockerroom showers. Bill Webster did say a few times if they had an early tee time when they showed up they were apt to find Moe asleep on a bench or even under it! The guy definitely had to have been a true classic adding a good deal to the special lore of the game of golf!

[Jeff_Mingay]

They say in recent years he was wearing as many as five wrist watches simultaneously, to ensure that he always had the right time. Even if a couple quit, I guess!

[TEPaul]

Jeff:

That reminds me of my Dad. In the winters in and around Delray Beach Florida he played golf with Tommy Armour almost every day. Sometimes Dad wasn't very punctual and it would really piss off Tommy Armour who would say things like;

"Jimmy Paul, can't you get a wrist watch that tells the correct time?"

And Dad would reply;

"Tommy, I have about five wrist watches and for some reason not one of them works worth a damn!"

[Robert Thompson]

I met Moe on a number of occasions -- great ball striker, difficult person and lousy putter. He was kept off the tour in the last 50s (he tried for two years), but had no ability to relate or communicate with the club pros that dominated the tour at that point.
He played at a time when two Canadians -- Moe and Al Balding -- were generally regarded as being two of the best ball strikers in the world. Balding won four times -- and Hogan and Snead often played with him in practice rounds.
As for Moe -- the last time I met him was at a demo at Devil's Pulpit. Moe was hitting balls wearing green pants, without a belt despite his expanding waistline, and a pink, button up shirt. He was hitting 3-woods for this group of businessmen saying over and over, "You'd pay me half a million dollars. Half a million dollars. Half a million to hit a ball like that."
Funny thing was, for some of the wealthy guys in the group, CEOs and the like, Moe may have been right.
Tim's book is a fun read -- arguing that Moe was different either because of being hit by a car as a youngster, or because he had some form of autism.

Robert

[Steve Pozaric]

Here's a link to the book mentioned earlier along with other items:

http://www.naturalgolf.com/ProShopProductDetail.aspx?CategoryID=6&ProductMasterID=104

Although the book is on backorder until 6/15/04...  

Quick story:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Golf/News/2004/09/04/616156-cp.html

[Will E]

I'm very lucky to have been able to spend some time with Moe. He used to watch our team hit balls, tease us, and if we bought him a coke and a bucket of balls he'd hit them. He'd always joke with me about how I only had a "two round" swing and that I'd never play on weekends. He'd hit driver on every hole telling us that, "the ball fits, the ball fits." I remember seeing him after Justin won the British Open. He wasn't much a fan of Justin's swing, though thought of him as a champion. Justin's a great putter I told Moe; Moe smiled as replied, "I hope so, I hope so, he better be." There so many Moe stories, and if you've ever watched him hit balls you'd know most of them are probably true.

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

May Moe find some heavenly golf.

I knew Moe probably as well as anyone in the world except for Gus Maue and his close companion for the last 15 years or so, Nick Weslock.
 
A short golf story:
I teed it up with Moe, George Knudson and my friend Pat Doyle, shortly after Moe had won the Canadian amateur championship.
We played at Buttonville, a course where George gave lessons and sometimes stayed for a few scotch & waters.

Moe started the day hitting the flagstick on the first hole, missed a 3 foot putt and made his par.
He then said to George, I've got to hit it close, hit it close, and proceeded to hole it out from the fairway 5 times and each time when the ball was in the air, he would say, I'm not putting, I'm not putting.

Moe shot 66, George shot 69, Pat 72 or 3 and I shot 79 which felt like 100.

It was my first time to play with Moe, and I was awestruck, and made the mistake of taking one of his clubs out of his bag to look at the huge grip he had put on it, and he grabbed it from me and said do I steal your clubs.

May he rest in peace.

[Bob_Huntley]

Dick Kirkpatrick,

Whatever happened to Nick Weslock? We had a great leftie in Northern Rhodesia by the name of Ken Treloar. He played on the Rhodesian side that came in eighth at the World Amateur at Merion in 1960. I think that's where they met and Ken persuaded him to play in Africa. A wonderful ball striker.

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

Bob Huntley:
Nick still plays lots of golf, although now he is going to have to find another mate.
He hangs out at Carlisle Golf Club, where he and Moe were part of the fixtures.
I think Nick is 88 or 89 years old, and it is amazing to see how well he can still play.
He was known as "Nick the wedge" and he still has his prowess with that club.
I think Nick has played at more Masters than any other Canadian, as he won the amateur probably 8 or 9 times.
I believe when he was playing competetivly, he was a member at Essex in Windsor where Jeff Mingay hangs his hat.

[RJ_Daley]

Will or Dick, can you tell us anything about whether he was dependant on a certain fitting of clubs?  I just registered for the book on the link above and have only watched briefly what has been on the golf channel in the past as far as "Natural Golf" is concerned, and was wondering if Moe himself was able to hit a variety of club designs by just examining them and adapting, or did he have a very specific criteria (like closed face, offset, extra stiff shafts, etc.?)  

[TEPaul]

Regarding what shooter said above about Moe Norman's impression of Justin Leonard's swing, it should be said for the benefit of anyone who never saw Moe Norman swing that he truly did have one of the most unusual and obviously home-grown golf swings the game has ever known.

He stood over the ball with an exceptionally wide stance, his knees basically locked, his arms virtually locked at the elbows and stretched and extended far forward. From that set-up his swing was remarkably one-piece and he had a very unusual and pronounced type of finish.

[Will E]

RJ,
If I'm not mistaken Moe really liked his clubs heavy. He could; and did, often times hit whatever clubs were around. I'm not sure if his clubs were identical to the ones Natural Golf is selling. I asked Moe a few years ago when I saw him at the PGA show what he thought about the Natural Golf method Moe laughed and said, "they think they know, they think they know." His confidence was incredible, I wish I would have asked him more about his thoughts on the mental game.

[Adam_F_Collins]

Story on Moe from The Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040906.wxrube06/BNStory/Sports/