Of the millions of people who have played the game, a staggeringly small number could wilfully hit the ball where they aimed. Only two!. Who were they?
The one most would immediately recognize is Ben Hogan. Students of the game will recognize the other golfer’s name as Moe Norman. Norman was an underground legend. He was a Canadian pro who rarely left his home country but was well known to all the top touring pros from Lee Trevino and Nick Price all the way to present day superstar, Tiger Woods.
My exposure to Ben Hogan has been through my ever enlarging collection of dvds and online videos. Moe, on the other hand, I saw in person several times both during tournament play and at clinics he gave later in his career.
Because I caddied from time to time on what is now the Canadian Tour (The Peter Jackson Tour in those days)I actually spent two days in Moe’s group during one particular tournament.
What was their special gift? Why is it that they were so different?
Just think what an anomaly they are. Of the legions of folks who have played the game,only these two gentlemen could point and hit it to that spot.
Regrettably, the mainsteam golfing community never really got to know Moe and that distance was further magnified by the way he was depicted in the press.
His frequent feuding with the RCGA, the ruling body of golf in Canada, did not enhance his image or endear him to the public.
Because of his eccenticities, Moe struggled to explain the intracacies 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 .
I, like others, have experimented with the new theories and abandoned them after experiencing a marked lack of distance.
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When I had a strong back and a weak mind, I used to practice the darkest of the dark arts; that of being a caddy on the minor tour(it certainly wasn’t for the money!). You will remember that I once was a caddy in Moe’s group at a pro tournament.
Beyond being a reclusive individual, Moe exhibited the patience of a toddler when it came to the ponderous pace of tournament golf. I could empathize with Moe roving and vocalizing to himself to pass the time. To cope with the tedium, Moe was constantly dropping balls down wherever and chipping them . Where other players might pace about, Moe was more unusual in the manner in which he expressed his nervous tension.
It is now difficult to know what is true and what is not when the subject of Moe’s on course and off course behaviour is discussed. You have to be more than suspicious if the stories come from former tour caddies! Though it might be difficult to sort fact and fiction,no one disputes Moe’s ball striking. Remarkably, long into his senior years Moe still struck the ball with potency and purity.
I saw up close and personal just how unerringly straight Moe Norman was . Because Moe conducted his exhibition up the fairway of a par 4, I had the unique opportunity to shag balls for him.An demonsration that drew sadly only a handful of spectators. With monotonous regularity, each ball he hit about one bounce away from us.Moe would reposition us when he changed clubs and the balls would again fall like arrows. There is no way you could exaggerate the enormity of this man’s skill.
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What a divide separates these two golfing legends. Inasmuch as Moe was eccentric, Ben Hogan was both aloof and dismissive. 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.Mountains of text and video have been assembled in an attempt to explain the Hogan swing. The mystery of the Hogan swing has been an elusive quest which has consumed hundreds of golfers for over a half century.
Perhaps to Mr Hogan’s satisfaction, no one has fully revealed the intracacies of his swing. No one presumes to be teaching the comprehensive Hogan action. 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 was not filled with bon homie and a gentle nature. And in fairness, he didn’t seek it in others.Hogan preserved a studied distance between himself and his world.The roots of friendship were never nurtured and tended with golfing fans
: December 28th, 2009 
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