Moe Norman

Murray "Moe" Norman: The Perfect Swing

Moe Norman had a lot of skills. He could count hundreds of pennies with a glance, multiply two digit number by two digit numbers in his head faster than a calculator, had a photographic memory, and he played an odd little sport better than most. Moe Norman was a champion golfer. He died September 4, 2004.

Moe Norman also had a lot of eccentricities. He did not like crowds, he was a loner, he once hid in a boiler room rather than come out and receive a golf trophy in front of the crowds, he spoke in an odd sing-song voice, he repeated phrases over and over, and he made repetitive motor movements (fortunately for him one of his repetitive motions was his perfect golf swing). If those symptoms sound familiar, they should, they are symptoms of autism (except maybe the golfing part). Many people believe Moe had high-functioning autism. However, his biographers report that he was in a car accident (some say a sledding accident) at age five and hypothesized that he suffered from frontal lobe brain damage. Both could be true.

Moe Norman taught himself how to play golf. He had an unusual swing that was later called a perfect golf swing by pro-golfers worldwide. In fact, the world-reknown golf teaching method known as Natural Golf uses Moe Norman's swing as their teaching model. Lee Trevino called him a genius. Wally Uihlein, president of Titleist and FootJoy Worldwide, paid Moe $5,000 a month for the rest of his life - "simply for being himself". Moe won 13 Canadian Tour titles, played on the 1971 Canadian World Cup team, played in the Masters twice (once walking off the course because the other players were playing "too slow"), played on the PGA tour (once finishing fourth in a tournament), and won the Canadian Senior PGA title seven times.

Visit the following links to read about the life of this great golfer, Moe Norman:

Moe Norman: The Greatest Golfer the World Has Never Known by Jason Zasky - A great story about his life from Failuremag.com

Golf's Purest Striker Rarely Missed a Fairway

by Bruce Selcraig - USA Today's tribute to Moe Norman.

The Feeling of Greatness: The Moe Norman Story - A biography of Moe Norman by Jim O'Connor and Tim O'Connor. Available from Barnes & Nobles.

SciGolf's Biography: Moe Norman - A nice tribute to "Pipeline Moe".

The First Time I Played Golf With Moe by Carey Mumford - A fantastic, up close and personal account of the man and golfer, Moe Norman. From The Bird Gold Schools web site.

The Story of Moe Norman - Natural Golf's tribute to Moe.