Film will be hard pressed to capture mysteries of his personality but won't find many who will challenge notion he had greatest golf swing in history
ROB O'FLANAGAN -- Guelph Mercury
The one thing Moe Norman did exceptionally well was strike a golf ball. He was afraid of strangers, pathologically shy, overly sensitive, surly and eccentric. But when he addressed a golf ball he addressed it with a confidence and skill that was unrivaled by fellow golfers.
Widely regarded by golf insiders to have been one of the greatest ball strikers to ever live, Norman's extraordinary story -- with its compelling elements of tragedy and genius -- is being made into a Hollywood movie.
Already immortalized by Rockwood author Tim O'Connor in his book The Feeling of Greatness -- recently revised and reissued by Eyelevel Video Inc. -- Norman was born and raised in Kitchener and had an obsessive-compulsive drive to hit golf balls. He is thought to have hit as many as six million in his lifetime, more than any other human being.
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The legends of the game acknowledge that no one hit them better than Moe.
"Tiger Woods himself said that in the history of the game there were only two guys that truly owned their swings -- Ben Hogan and Moe Norman," said O'Connor, a golf communications specialist, with an office in Guelph.
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"If Moe were in his prime today, he would be a superstar" |
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Many people offered theories to explain Norman's unconventional behaviour.
The man was so shy he would sometimes hide during trophy presentations, and would be deeply wounded when the crowd failed to cheer after a particularly brilliant shot. Some thought he was autistic, others were convinced he suffered a brain injury as a child. Both are likely.
"In a way he had a lot of those savant type of qualities, in terms of a photographic memory and an incredible ability with numbers," said O'Connor.
"He had a very sharp mind, but, somewhat like an autistic person, he was very socially impaired. He was basically scared of strangers and would act sometimes in very profane ways to make strangers go away. He would come off as arrogant, but he was really scared stiff."
When Norman turned professional in the late-1950s, his unorthodox swing, course antics and unconventional personality captivated the golfing world but alienated him from the press and the golf establishment.
His days on the PGA tour were short lived. He returned to Canada in 1960 and joined the Canadian professional circuit. On the brink of poverty throughout much of his life, Norman died at the age of 75 in 2004 of heart failure.
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Over his golfing career, he sunk 17 holes-in-one, had 57 tournament wins and set 33 course records.
"He was as good a golfer as you could be," said Mike Martz, golf pro at Doon Valley and Rockway golf courses in Kitchener, one of Norman's trusted friends and a pallbearer at his funeral.
"He was considered to be one of the greats worldwide. He was considered to be the best ball striker that ever lived and nobody ever argued it."
Through sheer dedication and love of the game, Norman developed a functional and efficient swing that was original and repeatable, Martz said. Although Norman's insecurities and sensitivity drove him to leave the PGA circuit shortly after joining it, his reputation in golf circles never faded.
A Golf Digest article in 1995 made him an international figure, and the Graves Golf Academy in the United States, and other golf instructors, are dedicated to teaching Norman's swing.
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The Titleist/Footjoy company paid Norman a stipend of $5,000 per month from 1995 until the end of his life, just to help him out.
Barry Morrow, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for the 1988 film Rain Man, has written the Moe Norman story for film. George Gallo will direct the film, which has the working title of Dance the Green. Shooting is expected to begin in the spring, according to O'Connor.
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"If he's good enough to write the Rain Man, he's good enough to write Moe's story," said Martz, speaking of Morrow, who has been working on the story since 1997.
Morrow consulted people like Martz and O'Connor while conducting research on Norman. Graves Golf Academy will train the lead actor to swing like Moe.
"If Moe was in his prime today, he would be a superstar," said Tim Graves of the Oklahoma City-based academy, which conducts schools across North America.
"He would be what everybody follows. He was before his time. People just thought he was different back then. Now he would be a hit."
The academy has taught Norman's swing since the year 2000 and considers it the original single-axis or one-plane swing, which is more compact and efficient than the two-plane swing employed by most contemporary professionals.
"I think this movie should have been done a long time ago," Graves added. "I wish Moe was still here to see it. It is the Rain Man of golf. Barry is really passionate about getting the story out there."
O'Connor said Norman acknowledged that he may have suffered brain damage in childhood. In 1934, when he was just five years old, he was struck by a car while riding a toboggan near Glasgow Road in Kitchener. Members of his family believed that his behaviour changed following the incident.
"He grew up and didn't really understand a lot of the world, but he got a sense of mastery and a high degree of self-worth from golf," O'Connor said.