Being an
‘old-schooler’ and a golfer I must pay tribute to perhaps at once the greatest
and most unique golfer to ever play the game.
Meet Moe Norman (July 10, 1929-September 4, 2004). He died at the same age I am now.
If you never
heard of him it may be for at least one of several reasons: (1) He played most of his golf in his native
Canada; (2) He played professionally on the P.G.A. tour in the United States in
only twelve events ( all in 1979) before he got his feelings hurt because of
thoughtless criticism of his unique and eccentric behavior. He was said to be
autistic although he never went to a mental health professional to find
out. Of this experience he said, “Life
just ate me up. I couldn’t do what I
wanted to do, and that’s what hurt me so I just quit [the PGA tour] and
returned to where people cared about me.”; (3) He had many social anxieties and
was very shy around people he did not trust—especially non-golfers who could
not appreciate what he was doing; (4) Being a loner—he never married and said
he dated a woman only three times in his life—or flew in airplanes from
tournament to tournament but rather drove alone in his big Cadillac at his
favorite speed of about 50 mph.
What did he
do? He was said, by his contemporary
professional golfers, that he was the greatest ball-striker that ever
lived. Nobody could hit the ball
repeatedly straighter than he. Asked, I
think, in the 1980’s when he last hit a ball out-of-bounds he said, “The last
time I hit a ball out-of-bounds was in 1974.
The ball hit a sprinkler head and bounced out-of-bounds.” A few of his
many records include these notable accomplishments:
·
3
rounds of 59
·
17
holes-in-one
·
9
double-eagles
·
Holds
33 course records for lowest score
·
Won
50 tour events in Canada
·
Won
the Canadian Open 7 out of 8 years (1980-1987)
Most
interesting are the stories and legends that have grown up around him. In a one-of-a-kind interview with him, Guy
Yocom (My Shot: The very best interviews
from Golf Digest magazine, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, 2007)
recorded him as saying, “I’m good with numbers.
Number of courses played: 434.
Number of courses I can remember the exact hole yardages: 375. Age when I saw my first doctor: 68. Number of two-stroke penalties in one
eleven-year period: only one—I hit a drive that went out of bounds by two
feet. Most balls hit in one day: 2,207. Total balls hit in my lifetime: About five
million, not counting chips and putts.”
As a boy he
was a caddie and a pin-setter in a bowling alley. He was very poor and relates that, “Even in
my late teens and early 20’s, when I got good enough to play in tournaments I
slept in bunkers and hitchhiked to get from one place to the next. Some golfers laughed at me and teased me
constantly. . . ‘Where you sleeping tonight, Moe? Nobody came to my rescue until I was 26. I really resented that.” “When money was dear, I’d play with the same
ball until it wore out. A balata-covered
wound ball had exactly 5 rounds in it before it got knocked out-of-round or got
too soft. Then it was time to search the
bushes for lost balls and root out a new one.”
Later when he became a professional, Titleist sponsored him and provided
him golf clothing and golf balls. Of the
balls he said, “Why did they give me all these?
All I need is one.” Another time
he said, “If there was ever a tournament at midnight, I’d win it. I know where to find my ball every time.”
Surely Moe
was the “Rain Man” of Golf.
I understand
there is a movie currently in the process of being made about him.
A recent book about him was published: The Feeling of Greatness, by Tim
O’Connor.
