Moe Norman Story
My story begins when a fellow golf professional for whom, I used to work as an assistant, urged me to try and qualify for the Provincial Long Drive Championship that was held at a local golf club. Having been a long hitter of the golf ball since the day I picked up a golf club, I never felt very interested in competing at something that was so natural to me. The fact that I hit the ball far was just something I did and not something I worked at.
I was always much more interested in getting good at the game than to try and hit the ball far. After my friend insisted I go to this long drive competition and because the proceeds of this contest were going to charity, I finally gave in and showed up to the golf course where the competition was being held. I barely made it there in time as the competition was drawing to a close when I arrived.
The organizers allowed me to pay my money and enter the contest when everyone else had already finished hitting all their balls. I proceeded to hit my first ball long enough to out drive the previous leader by 11 yards. This was good enough to win the provincial championship.
As provincial champion, I was automatically qualified for the Canadian National final, which was held in conjunction with the CPGA Championship at Brantford Golf and Country Club in Brantford, Ontario in September 1986.
Before I left for Brantford, another friend of mine who was also assistant professional at a club in the area told me that Moe Norman would be playing at this CPGA Championship. I had heard so much about this Moe Norman guy who they said could hit the ball better than anybody. I was more excited about the prospect of watching Moe in action than the long drive contest itself.
The long drive contest was held after completion of the third round of the tournament, so I drove up very early that morning to get there in time to hopefully get to watch Moe play. Well I got to watch him all right as the weather was horrible, it rained the whole day with gusts of wind up to 35 mph. Since there was no lightning in the skies, players played the entire 18 holes. I must have been the only spectator crazy enough to be out there in that rain. I got to watch Moe from start to finish. I was the only spectator following him after about 8 holes. He took notice of me being by the side of the ropes with no umbrella or rain gear. I’m sure he must have thought I was crazy to be out there in that cold and wet Saturday in September.
After the round was over I went in the club house to shower and change into fresh clothes and get ready for the long drive competition that was starting at 6 pm. Luckily for us the rain had stopped by then, and the sun came out, but it was still very cold and that 35 mph wind was right in our faces on that Par 5 hole where the Canadian National Long Drive Championship was being held. Hitting off an elevated tee made matters even worse.
The competition had been advertised on National TV and was broadcast on one of our National Networks. There must have been 800 people standing around the tee box all the way up to the clubhouse. As I stood by the rope on the tee box waiting for my turn to hit, I felt a tug on the sleeve of my shirt from behind, I looked back, it was Moe Norman.
“Your gonna win” he said to me. “I’ve been watching you, you have the best swing here”. “Don’t try to hit it hard into that wind”, he said, “just hit it smooth and you’ll win”. Well needless to say I nearly fell to the ground! I could not believe that Moe Norman, the man who doesn’t speak to anyone, would speak to me. As players before me hit the ball over the park with those excessively long drivers into that hard cold wind, it was clear to me that all I had to do was to hit the ball in the fairway as Moe said, and I knew I had plenty of power to win even without swinging hard. Well I proceeded to hit all of my six balls in the fairway with my fifth ball flying 8 yards farther than anyone else’s. Of course there was no roll, the balls would simply plug in the fairway below. That was it, I was now National long Drive Champion, I turned around to thank Moe for the advice he had given a few moments before, but he was already gone, rushing up the hill towards the clubhouse through the crowd of people. I never got to thank him.