Only two players in golf could on command hit the golf ball straight.By all accounts, the number is two.Do you know who they were?
The first, and best known one was Ben Hogan. Moe Norman is the name of the other golfer. Moe is a legend among three generations of tour players. A reclusive Canadian Tour pro, Moe Norman rarely left his home country because of acute feeling of insecurity, but nevertheless made a name for himself among the golfing fraternity.
Like many of you, I have only seen Ben Hogan on video and in the slo-mo footage I have acquired over the years. Moe, on the other hand, I saw in person on a number of occasions both during tournament play and at clinics he gave later in his career.
For two days I was in Moe’s group during a tournament in Ontario because I was looping for Alvie Thompson, an accomplished Canadian Tour player in the 1960’s and 70’s.
What set these two apart from virtually all their peers? Why is it that they were so different?
But just think of how rare this skill is. Countless men and women have toiled at this game,but only these two could literally hit the ball and, without looking, head straight down the middle of the fairway to play their next shot.
Moe was certainly a challenge to understand because of his personality and he was awkward in most social situations.
He certainly had a gift for clashing with the governing bodies of golf at the best of times.
Many dismissed Moe’s rambling as gibberish when he tried to explain the foundational elements of his swing. Because Moe spoke in riddle and repeated himself habitually, few bothered to try to examine what he was trying to say. He was often ignored or dismissed as an aberration incapable of sensibly explaining how he executed his considerable ball striking skills.It was not unlike trying to learn from a Zen master when you tried to piece together the elements that made Moe’s swing tick.
In the past decade or so, a whole new group of teachers and players have discovered Moe and have set about to piece and parse together exactly what the man meant.
Rival swing theories have emerged, each proclaiming to have unlocked the secrets to Moe’s unique and powerful swing . Some of these methods can be more surely described as good marketing hype than sound and useful theory.
Unlike what is taught today, the actual Moe Norman swing was powerful and had a distinct sound coming off the clubface. The modern swing theories which purport to capture the essence of Moe’s swing have failed to reproduce for the average player the power of the man through the ball .
My colleagues and I have tried these new methods and to a man (and a lady) all have encountered a disturbing loss of distance with every club in the bag.
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When I was younger and more robust, I caddied on one of the satellite pro tours. You will remember that I once was a caddy in Moe’s group at a pro tournament.
Patience was not Moe’s long suit when it came to the pace of play among pros. I could empathize with Moe roving and vocalizing to himself to pass the time. He would often drop 5 or 6 balls into a bunker on a just played hole and spank them out to keep himself amused. Clearly he needed to find compensatory activities to dissipate the wealth of energy he exhibited.
Through the years the stories of Moe’s behaviour and decorum have multiplied to the point that it is now difficult to sift fact from fiction. The fables are certainly more suspect when they come from former caddies! The lifestyle stories may have assumed epic proportion and, if they have, they will have caught up to the real legend of Moe’s extraordinary golfing talent. And he continued to amaze and mesmerise galleries and onlookers alike with his unerring prowess well into his senior years.
I saw up close and personal just how unerringly straight Moe Norman was . I volunteered to shag balls (in the era before motorized ball pickers) for Moe during a local exhibition.An demonsration that drew sadly only a handful of spectators. So accurate was the man that he literally was bouncing the balls at the feet of my colleague and myself.Moe would reposition us when he changed clubs and the balls would again fall like arrows. Words do no justice in trying to portray the enormity of his skill.
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The contrast in personality between Ben Hogan and Moe Norman could not be greater. Where one struggled to communicate, the other failed to communicate. Though Moe struggled to explain the elements of his great ball striking, Ben Hogan, by contrast, made no concerted attempt to share his secrets with the rest of the golfing fraternity.The Hogan move has bewidered and befuddled a generation of golfers devoted to unravelling its mystery. Unless a Hogan Rosetta Stone is unearthed, his swing method remains only partially understood.
Despite the work of the golfing community to reverse engineer the Hogan swing, the mystery prevails. Many proclaim to be teaching Hogan, but few take them seriously. Mr. Hogan would likely have wanted it this way . When asked to reveal his secrets, Hogan often gruffly responded by telling his audience to go find it themselves. If Hogan was teaching you to garden, he’d throw you a rake.
Hogan viewed life as antagonistic to his interests. Hogan was an island surrounded by inhospitable waters.Few people, including his peers ever got close to Ben Hogan.The roots of friendship were never nurtured and tended with golfing fans