Moe Norman

Murray Irwin "Moe" Norman (July 10, 1929 – September 4, 2004) was a Canadian professional golfer.

Career highlights

• Canadian Amateur Championship winner (1955, 1956)
• 55 career Canadian Tour event victories
• Canadian PGA Championship winner (1966, 1974)
• Canadian PGA Seniors' Championship winner (1979 - 1985, 1987)
• 33 course records
• 17 holes in one
• Inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995
• Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006
• Results in The Masters Tournament
• 1956: Shot 75 & 78 (153 total) then withdrew.
• 1957: Shot 77 & 74 (151 total) missing the cut by one stroke. This was the first year of cuts after the second round.

Biography

Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, he played briefly in the PGA Tour but due to shyness and a preference to stay in Canada, he stayed in Ontario rather than travel.

His play, along with his way of dressing, were both described as unconventional. He devised what is known as "The Norman Swing"—very short backswing and very short follow-through which produced an amazingly accurate ball placement. Norman played extremely fast, sometimes not even slowing to line up his putts. He was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995. He never took a golfing lesson. It is even said that on one hole his caddy told him he could get to the green with a driver and a nine iron. Naturally, he hit off the tee with his nine iron and then onto the green with his driver.

Norman's skills as a ball striker are legendary. Sam Snead, himself a great golfer, once described Norman as the greatest striker of the ball. In January 2005, Tiger Woods told Golf Digest's Jamie Diaz that only two golfers in history "owned their swing": Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. Stated Tiger, "I want to own mine."

Norman died in a Kitchener hospital from congestive heart failure. He had suffered from congestive heart failure since having heart bypass surgery six years earlier. He also had a heart attack two years before his death.

Titleist

In February 1995 the president of Titleist and FootJoy Worldwide, announced that it would pay Norman $5,000 a month for the rest of his life after he stated to reporters "Titleist never did nothing for me.".

Graves Golf Academy, the Legacy of Moe Norman

As a promise he made to Moe to teach the world about his swing, Moe Norman's Protege, Todd Graves aka. Little Moe, founded a golf academy teaching the Swing Mechanics of Moe Norman. In a statement he made before he died, Moe when discussing his golf swing claimed that Todd Graves "was the only one who really knows it". The Graves Golf Academy (GGA), founded in 2000, has expanded the teaching of Moe Norman's golf swing around the world with headquarters in Orlando, Florida and Edmond Oklahoma.

Honoring the Legend of Moe Norman

In 1999, Barry Morrow, Oscar winning screenwriter for the movie Rainman, completed 'Dance The Green, the screenplay for Moe Norman's life.

1n 2000, Todd Graves aka Little Moe, Moe Norman's protege co-founded the Graves Golf Academy, "'www.swinglikemoe.com"' dedicated to teaching Moe Norman's Golf Swing and holds the Moe Norman Memorial Golf tournament each year.

External links

• The Greatest Golfer the World Has Never Known
• The Graves Golf Academy Teaching Moe Norman's Golf Swing
• Video Describing Moe Norman and his Golf Swing
• You Should Know Moe Video
• Video obituary
• Profile at Canadian Golf Hall of Fame
• Moe Norman Tribute from Little Moe