Moe Norman Part 2

This is the second newsletter dedicated to the great Moe Norman. When I first heard of the legendary stories of the Moe Norman I was skeptical. Like I am sure many of you, I questioned the talent of the eccentric Canadian- “if he was so damn good why isn’t he a multiple major champion? Why isn’t his name next to the likes of Tiger Woods & Jack Nicklaus?”

In this second newsletter, I will do my best to answer that question, as well as tell a few stories in between. As always I hope you enjoy and thank you for subscribing.

If you have ideas for the newsletter please do not hesitate to send me an email at:

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“I’m Aiming for the Bridge.”

In 1960 Moe Norman found himself playing against Sam Snead in an exhibition inToronto when their group came across a hole that was divided by a wide ravine 240 yards from the tee. Sam noticed Norman grab the driver.

Sam exclaimed, “Moe, you can’t clear that creek with a driver.”

Moe responded, “Not trying to, I’m aiming for the bridge.”

Moe hit his drive 240 yards on a line straight toward the narrow bridge - the ball landed just in front and bounced right over the bridge to the other side.

Sam Snead gave Moe Norman the nickname “Pipeline” as in, “he hits it straighter than a pipeline!”

RCGA stripped Moe of his Amateur Status

It’s entirely possible that Moe Norman wanted to remain a life long amateur golfer. In fact, his decision to turn professional was not one of his choosing, but rather a decision forced upon him by the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA).

So why did the RCGA strip Moe Norman’s amateur status away upon winning the 1956 and 1957 Canadian Amateur Championship? The story is a bit sordid, a bit sad and their decision echoed the problems which followed Moe in his attempt to make it on the PGA Tour.

In short the RCGA was fed up with Moe Norman. In the mind of the organization, Moe was an unbelievable talent who brought with him unbelievable distraction. Moe would win tournaments, he would set scoring records, but in the process would play golf without shoes and socks, or on one occasion he played an entire hole swinging the club with only one arm, or another where he purposely hit the ball into a bunker and made side bets on his ability to get it close…WITH THE FANS!

He once showed up at an amateur event driving a dump truck!

Moe Norman was a showman in the same ilk as the great Walter Hagen, but his antics seemed to be built out of boredom, rather than showmanship. He wanted to constantly challenge himself, even if that challenge seemed to mock the intentions of a serious amateur event. Moe was different and different often doesn’t mix well with the blazer and tie crowd.

The last straw in Moe Norman’s illustrious amateur career was his tendency to hock his trophies and winnings. Moe didn’t come from money- in fact most of his career he didn’t have much of it. During his amateur days he would catch some grief for refusing to pay for a hotel and choosing to instead sleep outdoors (and was even rumored once to sleep in a bunker). The final nail in Moe’s amateur career came not as a bang but a whimper. Moe would win an amateur event that would offer a set of golf clubs, a TV or a toaster as a prize and Moe would find someone to buy that prize from him. The RCGA found out and used this practice as the means to extinguish Moe’s amateur career. The RCGA never found a smoking gun, but had found their smoking toaster.

The delivery of that expulsion from the amateur ranks was relayed to Guy Yokum by Moe Norman in a Golf Digest Article in July 2007:

“I was getting ready to represent Canada in the 1956 Americas Cup in Mexico. I had my team jacket, got my inoculations, had my airline tickets. I was excited. I was the Canadian Amateur champion two years running, and I'd be playing against Harvie Ward, the U.S. Amateur champion two years running. Four days before I'm to leave, the Royal Canadian Golf Association convenes in a special meeting. From that, I received a letter telling me I wasn't a true amateur, and to please return the jacket and airline tickets. I returned them. I wasn't an amateur by their definition, and I sure wasn't a pro. Where could I play golf?” - Moe Norman

The end of a Moe Norman’s historic amateur career came on a piece of paper.

Why didn’t Moe make it on the PGA Tour?

I am not about to propose a medical diagnosis, despite people who have theorized that Moe was autistic. Instead let us all agree that Moe Norman was one of a kind- he was quirky and shy. He didn’t like people touching him. He struggled to make eye contact with strangers and despite being perhaps the best ball striker who ever lived, didn’t want all the accolades. Moe also played golf at a gallup, and it’s very possible that his putting suffered from a lack of focus on that critical aspect of the game.

Finally as good of a ball striker as Moe was, he did not have the edge, the self confidence that it takes to be one of the greatest “golfers” of all-time. As his friends would say, “he had everything it took to be the best golfer in the world, but he just couldn’t get himself to believe it.” In a game that can be so very mental, despite Hogan shaking his head at his ability to hit the ball dead straight & Sam Snead’s nickname for him “pipeline” he couldn’t buy into the idea that he was meant to be a golfing immortal. And yet with no PGA Tour wins or majors to his name, Moe Norman defied all odds by obtaining the moniker of legend.

So why didn’t Moe make it on the PGA Tour? Here is some insight from Moe’s biographer, Tim O’Connor:

During Moe’s brief stint on the PGA Tour, two PGA Tour players (according to Moe), cornered him in the locker room and told him to drop the antics- drop the in-tournament trick shots, stop teeing the ball off of Coke bottles or off of 8 inch high tees. Just play golf!

Moe took this lockeroom confrontation as a verbal assault, which according to O’Connor may not have been the intent. O’Connor believes that it is entirely possible, if not even more probable, that those players were just trying to help Moe. It’s possible that those players saw Moe’s immense talent and were trying to give him guidance. As O’Connor put it- Moe didn’t always have the ability to read the situation and may have just read the players’ intent wrong.

For an extremely sensitive person like Moe Norman that was it- despite fellow Canadian golfers and close friends encouraging him throughout his prime to go back- he never did.

So why did the greatest ball striker that ever lived not win on the PGA Tour or win a professional major? Because he was the greatest ball striker, not the greatest golfer. He lacked the patience to putt, the ego to win and the self confidence to play his game when the spotlight was its brightest.

Is Moe Norman the greatest golfer who ever lived? No

Is Moe Norman the greatest ball striker that ever lived? For this historian, I think it’s entirely possible he was!

For more on Moe Norman I would encourage you to listen to the TalkinGolf History Podcast’s epsiode #13: “The Remarkable Moe Norman” with special guest Tim O’Connor.

Moe Norman Quotes:

Moe was quirky but it’s hard to argue with his logic. Here are some of my favorite Moe Norman quotes:

"The mind is the generator, the body the motor, the clubface the trigger and the ball the bullet.”

"Fear, is what defeats everybody. The game is 87% psychological and 13% mechanical. You've got 40 yards of real estate to place a 1.5 inch ball. People act as if it were 40 inches instead of 40 yards. They seize up, they stiffen. They hit it perfectly on the practice tee. Then they go out there and jab it and push it and pull it. If you were ever so rigid when you got up in the morning you'd rip your clothes while you were putting them on."

“I only see what I want to see. Winners are winning. Losers see losing. You are what you think you are.”

“What's the longest walk in golf? It's from the practice tee to the first tee. I don't care if it's 10 yards. It's the longest walk in golf. Winners take their swing with them. Losers don't.”