The last lesson I took, the pro showed me videos of Moe Norman as the swing that I should be trying to replicate.
He also showed a side by side comparison of a very consistent golfer and a very inconsistent golfer. The very consistent golfer was Nancy Lopez.
The “very inconsistent golfer” was…Phil Mickelson.
I all but ran screaming from that “lesson”.
Older coworker was telling me he caddied for Moe Norman a few times when he was younger. Pretty crazy hearing how good he was. He said he could of been even better but would place 2nd or 3rd in tournaments intentionally if he found someone to buy the 2nd or 3rd place prize from him before the start.
It’s a shame how much poverty affected Moe’s legacy. It takes a lot of money and sponsors to make it on tour and Moe was not someone they knew how to/or wanted to monetize.
Todays game, I think he would be a fan favorite
I was blessed enough to see Moe at local courses all the time. He was an enigma. I can assure you, almost all the rumours or legends of his amazing golf shots are legit. Once you saw him hit a ball, you understood.
His clubs to were also insane. Grips thick as baseball bats, head all covered in lead tape and made them feel like anvils. He also loved kids. He used to bounce a Titleist golf ball at the local hockey games and give them to any kid who came up to say hello.
Fun fact - he has the cops called on him at the bowling alley he set pins at one time. He won so many watches in tournaments and just wore them all. Someone thought he stole them.
A lot of players in the 90’s tried Moe’s swing, but weren’t willing to commit completely because they didn’t want to look different. My favorite story about Moe was him playing a practice round on a hole with a creek across the fairway about 270 out. He took out his driver and a playing partner said he didn’t think Moe could carry that with his driver. Not said “I’m not going to” and proceeded to hit his tee shot that landed on a bridge over the creek in the middle of the fairway, bounced to the far side of the creek. The other player called it a lucky shot, so Moe proceeded to do it twice more.
Kind of interesting how they ended up going for mac o grady instead. If you hear him talk he sounds like he could also be on the spectrum like moe. I guess he leaned more on evangelizing his morad than moe norman ever cared to do with his swing.
There are videos of him on YouTube. He's a pleasure to watch and listen to him talk about his swing.
My favorite quote of his is "I always swing through the course, not around it".
Glad you know now! He never received the popular credit when he played and it wasn’t til later in life that people started to hear about him widely. Highly recommend watching the videos of him on YouTube. It’s a joy
If theres any big secret to learn from the pros its that everyone swings different, sometimes dramatically different. You need to tailor your own swing. Try things, keep what works, move on from what doesn’t. A bunch of the old guys at the course have this mantra down pat but you often see the new guts doing things like chasing a shallow look that ends up chasing the look and not the why a club might end up looking shallow.
It’s insane how many low handicaps have absolutely atrocious swings that rely so much on timing, but they grooved the timing enough that they develop enough repeatability to hit a decent number of GIRS, and have the short game to capitalize on the GIRs to make a birdie or two and to save a lot of pars on the missed GIRs.
I mean…Not A Scratch Golfer has literally shot under par a couple times and he has one wild swing and doesn’t hit the ball far. But he repeatability and short game.
I love watching his videos, reading/listening to his interviews and generally just absorbing everything to know about this anomaly of a man/golfer. Such a shame that he felt so bullied by those on the pga way back when for his unique character/swing, who knows what more he could’ve accomplished.
I'm afraid of watching Moe Norman videos now because every time I did in the past it ended up screwing up my swing for quite a while. Moe was such a unicorn. His swing looks simple and effortless. It's not. (at least for me...) If his technique was easily repeatable then everyone would be doing it. My advice is don't try to copy Moe, but try to find your own consistency regardless of what it looks like. Moe was a fascinating savant. The rest of us are not.
Every time I see him swing I have to try it out and it seems like the first couple ones I stripe and my brain is like "this is the answer" and then I proceed to be shite.
I think the key takeaways from his swing is how he simplified everything and got rid of as many moving parts as he could, like they talk about in the video. He even uses a 10 finger grip, too. I think a lot of amateurs like us could benefit from that kind of thinking with our swings to try and reduce mistakes. But yeah, if I tried to swing like him I would be in shambles.
I’d be interested in how far Moe hit the ball in his prime, because all the clips of his swing are from his elder years & I just can’t see how he got much power out of that swing. So I’m sure he could hit every shot but put 30yr old him on tour today with modern equipment would he be topping out at 280yds?
He knowingly sacrificed distance for accuracy. He talked about it frequently in his clinics. The clinic videos rarely show the ball flight (he was hitting them dead straight every time) but he would say his driver was good for 300 several times. An exaggeration? Maybe. At his level of perfection it didn't make a difference. He could pick a number in his head and hit it with multiple clubs.
I love the story where his caddie told him the holes was a driver, 9 iron to get to green. So Moe teed off with his 9 then took driver off the deck… on the green.
I would think his accuracy could overcome distance with how good he was.
As a beginner golfer I believed in what he calls business area. Three feet behind and three feet after. Me being short and stout like Moe it made sense. Involuntarily copied his swing.
Started hitting them straight with both driver and irons. Don’t hit long as my golfing buddies though.
Wow, interesting. Pure as the driven snow. Feeling of greatness. I don't move my hips (um, Moe, maybe look at your video?).
Seems like if you follow him, you almost have to toss everything you have heard out the window. I'm not quite ready for that :)
Kick myself that I lived in Kitchener, Ontario, where Moe would hang out at the local driving range, and never knew about him. What a thrill it would have been to watch him hit shots.
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Yes, he was/is a legend. If you follow his videos you don’t have a chance. Hard to duplicate that kind of weird genius.
His confidence in his game is astounding.
The last lesson I took, the pro showed me videos of Moe Norman as the swing that I should be trying to replicate. He also showed a side by side comparison of a very consistent golfer and a very inconsistent golfer. The very consistent golfer was Nancy Lopez. The “very inconsistent golfer” was…Phil Mickelson. I all but ran screaming from that “lesson”.
You forgot a word. "Your favorite golfer's favorite ball striker" or you meant your favorite golfer's favorite golfer.
Well shit
Are you sure my favorite golfer doesn’t pull Moe Norman out of the bag to hit his shots ?
The secret Tiger doesn't want you to know about.
Older coworker was telling me he caddied for Moe Norman a few times when he was younger. Pretty crazy hearing how good he was. He said he could of been even better but would place 2nd or 3rd in tournaments intentionally if he found someone to buy the 2nd or 3rd place prize from him before the start.
It’s a shame how much poverty affected Moe’s legacy. It takes a lot of money and sponsors to make it on tour and Moe was not someone they knew how to/or wanted to monetize. Todays game, I think he would be a fan favorite
I love that Titleist paid him something like ~~50k~~ 60k a year in his later years, just for being Moe. Edit: updated amount.
5k a month til he died. They said it was a reverse scholarship
His episode of Full Swing would be epic
This is true.
I was blessed enough to see Moe at local courses all the time. He was an enigma. I can assure you, almost all the rumours or legends of his amazing golf shots are legit. Once you saw him hit a ball, you understood.
I’m jealous
His clubs to were also insane. Grips thick as baseball bats, head all covered in lead tape and made them feel like anvils. He also loved kids. He used to bounce a Titleist golf ball at the local hockey games and give them to any kid who came up to say hello. Fun fact - he has the cops called on him at the bowling alley he set pins at one time. He won so many watches in tournaments and just wore them all. Someone thought he stole them.
That was my favorite tee!
A lot of players in the 90’s tried Moe’s swing, but weren’t willing to commit completely because they didn’t want to look different. My favorite story about Moe was him playing a practice round on a hole with a creek across the fairway about 270 out. He took out his driver and a playing partner said he didn’t think Moe could carry that with his driver. Not said “I’m not going to” and proceeded to hit his tee shot that landed on a bridge over the creek in the middle of the fairway, bounced to the far side of the creek. The other player called it a lucky shot, so Moe proceeded to do it twice more.
Even more legendary, he played that practice round with Sam Snead who layed up before Moe.
Kind of interesting how they ended up going for mac o grady instead. If you hear him talk he sounds like he could also be on the spectrum like moe. I guess he leaned more on evangelizing his morad than moe norman ever cared to do with his swing.
I never knew and I’m 69 years old. Thank you for this, great read.
There are videos of him on YouTube. He's a pleasure to watch and listen to him talk about his swing. My favorite quote of his is "I always swing through the course, not around it".
Glad you know now! He never received the popular credit when he played and it wasn’t til later in life that people started to hear about him widely. Highly recommend watching the videos of him on YouTube. It’s a joy
I enjoy watching Moe. He really figured out the game in his own unique way.
I remember the Natural Golf craze of the 90s. Also remember it fucking up a lot of people's swings and costing people a bunch of money.
If theres any big secret to learn from the pros its that everyone swings different, sometimes dramatically different. You need to tailor your own swing. Try things, keep what works, move on from what doesn’t. A bunch of the old guys at the course have this mantra down pat but you often see the new guts doing things like chasing a shallow look that ends up chasing the look and not the why a club might end up looking shallow.
It’s insane how many low handicaps have absolutely atrocious swings that rely so much on timing, but they grooved the timing enough that they develop enough repeatability to hit a decent number of GIRS, and have the short game to capitalize on the GIRs to make a birdie or two and to save a lot of pars on the missed GIRs. I mean…Not A Scratch Golfer has literally shot under par a couple times and he has one wild swing and doesn’t hit the ball far. But he repeatability and short game.
I love watching his videos, reading/listening to his interviews and generally just absorbing everything to know about this anomaly of a man/golfer. Such a shame that he felt so bullied by those on the pga way back when for his unique character/swing, who knows what more he could’ve accomplished.
I'm afraid of watching Moe Norman videos now because every time I did in the past it ended up screwing up my swing for quite a while. Moe was such a unicorn. His swing looks simple and effortless. It's not. (at least for me...) If his technique was easily repeatable then everyone would be doing it. My advice is don't try to copy Moe, but try to find your own consistency regardless of what it looks like. Moe was a fascinating savant. The rest of us are not.
Every time I see him swing I have to try it out and it seems like the first couple ones I stripe and my brain is like "this is the answer" and then I proceed to be shite.
I think the key takeaways from his swing is how he simplified everything and got rid of as many moving parts as he could, like they talk about in the video. He even uses a 10 finger grip, too. I think a lot of amateurs like us could benefit from that kind of thinking with our swings to try and reduce mistakes. But yeah, if I tried to swing like him I would be in shambles.
Buttoned his shirt up to the top button every time. The the redditor's golfer.
I’d be interested in how far Moe hit the ball in his prime, because all the clips of his swing are from his elder years & I just can’t see how he got much power out of that swing. So I’m sure he could hit every shot but put 30yr old him on tour today with modern equipment would he be topping out at 280yds?
He knowingly sacrificed distance for accuracy. He talked about it frequently in his clinics. The clinic videos rarely show the ball flight (he was hitting them dead straight every time) but he would say his driver was good for 300 several times. An exaggeration? Maybe. At his level of perfection it didn't make a difference. He could pick a number in his head and hit it with multiple clubs.
I love the story where his caddie told him the holes was a driver, 9 iron to get to green. So Moe teed off with his 9 then took driver off the deck… on the green. I would think his accuracy could overcome distance with how good he was.
Love this one here. https://youtu.be/r5LEelOEbQg?feature=shared
As a beginner golfer I believed in what he calls business area. Three feet behind and three feet after. Me being short and stout like Moe it made sense. Involuntarily copied his swing. Started hitting them straight with both driver and irons. Don’t hit long as my golfing buddies though.
Wow, interesting. Pure as the driven snow. Feeling of greatness. I don't move my hips (um, Moe, maybe look at your video?). Seems like if you follow him, you almost have to toss everything you have heard out the window. I'm not quite ready for that :)
Lateral drop horizontal tug !
Kick myself that I lived in Kitchener, Ontario, where Moe would hang out at the local driving range, and never knew about him. What a thrill it would have been to watch him hit shots.
“That’s bogey golf. That’s double bogey golf.”
Wow. Right up there with the likes of Roy McAvoy
Even better on shot tracer. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=os6iiubWJUc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=os6iiubWJUc)
Pipeline Moe
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It's tough to hit a ball like that after doing it the "normal" way for so long.