The Moe Norman Challenge?

I loved Moe! He was the first person to really show that there is no real right way of doing things. Do what works for you.

Yeah 70 yards downwind ... highly doubt I could do that good. And I consider myself pretty good at the short game.
 
more than from 70....the guy is a freaking legend in the ball striking area. Get half as many...I bet not even 1/4 as many for me.
 
I did feel better on the few he didn’t hit great. Made up for the dozen or so within 4ft. Pretty solid touch indeed.
 
Moe had to hit it that close because he couldn't putt!!
 
I can't find it, but recall reading a story on how Titleist came to put Moe on a $5K/month lifetime stipend. IIRC, he was hitting balls at a Titleist fitting day on a launch monitor. During that time he hit consecutive shots with 0* of side spin (essentially unheard of before or since). Once word got back to corporate they decided to put him essentially "on retainer".

It doesn't give the whole story but I did find this reference: https://scoregolf.com/blog/rick-young/titleist-operations-beyond-impressive/
 
Pretty damn impressive even if he had a backstop behind the pin that was bringing some closer than they should have been.
 
And his swing theory is still considered a bit of an outlier. Was it only about him hitting (allegedly) a billion balls that grooved it so well?
 
That's unreal... Unconventional and committed to his way. Moe Norman is an absolute legend!
 
Wow what a video, never seen it before but just in awe with that skill!
 
Amazing! Take away 3/4 of the balls inside of 6 feet and that is probably my hit rate.
 
He is almost as accurate as a robot would be.
 
Hamfist;n8880493 said:
And his swing theory is still considered a bit of an outlier. Was it only about him hitting (allegedly) a billion balls that grooved it so well?

It’s a repeatable motion for him. I think the keyword there is for him. But yeah, that cat probably hit tens of thousands of balls to grove it.
 
Half as many? I'd be more than happy with getting 1/4 as many that close. In fact I'd be satisfied consistently hitting what were some of his worst shots.
 
His life story is a good read. He is probably an undiagnosed Asberger individual. I believe in the books he was bankrupt and living off friends and club members at the end of his life. I think someone from Titleist found out and arranged for him to get a 60k year stipend for life to record his swing for posterity. That is the source of all these Moe videos on youTube.

In the book they told a story of him trying to make cash. To promote a new driving range they said he would hit 1000 drives in a day for like $300 cash. Apparently he spent all day hitting drives and they said you could have gone spread a king size bed sheet across like 95% of the drives. He did it when he was in his 60s. Apparently this was the incident that ultimately brought him to the attention of the Titleist. His friends and club member were really worried he could hurt himself and never play golf again. They said without golf, Moe would probably have died. I read that book back in the 1990s, so I think that is how the story goes.
 
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So what was it that he did "unconventional" at the time? Swing looked good; maybe a bit higher (reaching) follow through but looked pretty sound. Wonder what club he was using there? PW? Lots of roll out.
 
I can honestly say I'd never heard of him, but now I'll be googling him the rest of the day. Really remarkable stuff.
 
Crazy good short game. Not even a chance even with me considering that I have a good wedge game from 80 and in.
 
He was an incredible talent!!!
 
Nate;n8880598 said:
So what was it that he did "unconventional" at the time? Swing looked good; maybe a bit higher (reaching) follow through but looked pretty sound. Wonder what club he was using there? PW? Lots of roll out.

He promoted holding the grip in the palm of the hands, with a really large grip size. He also said to set the club head about a foot behind the ball when addressing. His stance was very wide and exaggeratedly closed to set up. check out "Natural Golf" that was his system.
 
Very impressive!

I'm curious which other player, past or current, could do this?
 
DufferToo;n8880717 said:
Very impressive!

I'm curious which other player, past or current, could do this?

I do not think any because of Moe's mental state. It has just been my experience that people with Moe's mental state are just phenomenal at repetitive tasks. I think someone like Phil Mickleson could do it but would get bored with it after about the first 20 balls.
 
I almost lost my lunch with the camera work but that is incredible.
 
Over the past few weeks, Peter Kessler on Twitter has been releasing 20+ snippets of a session where he interviewed Moe while hitting shots on the range. Pretty interesting stuff.

be forewarned- following Peter Kessler on Twitter I think was addressed on another thread. He’s a bit unstable.
 
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