(CNN)Whether it’s for his funky attire, eccentric personality, or distinctive swing, Moe Norman – nicknamed golf’s “rain man” – didn’t fit into the traditional mold of the sport.
“Like Raymond [Babbitt]Moe spoke staccato,” golf coach and author Tim O’Connor, who has written a book about Norman, told CNN Sport when comparing the Canadian golfer to the Oscar-winning film’s lead character.
“‘Golf is like a walk in the park, walk in the park’… It was repetitive,” adds O’Connor, describing Norman’s mannerisms. “He had that kind of singsong in his voice and his eyes kind of went everywhere.”
But like Babbitt, Norman’s unusual personality was accompanied by a touch of genius – his golfing skills were such that he earned the self-proclaimed title of ‘the greatest ball forward that ever lived’.
At a time when golfing legends such as Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Lee Trevino were regularly winning major titles, Norman only made two Masters appearances, but his marksmanship still earned the respect of many of his peers and earned him cult status.
With his unmistakable “single plane swing” – which he created, practiced and perfected himself and from which current players such as US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau have now taken elements – Norman was able to hit the same spot again and again – fairway or green with unmistakable results Regularity.
Still, the Canadian isn’t a household name.
Whether it was because of his shyness around newcomers, his “eccentric” personality, or the fact that he never had the same success on the PGA Tour as his contemporaries, those who knew him said Norman often just didn’t fit in.
“We live in this culture where we celebrate celebrities and those who have achieved at the highest level. Moe didn’t do that,” O’Connor — author of The Feeling of Greatness: The Moe Norman Story — told CNN Sport. “Moe was just this beautiful character. He was a very complicated person.
“And I think if Moe had come around in the last 20 years maybe we would have embraced his eccentricities and he could have thrived a little bit more.”
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Different from the start
Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1929, Norman enjoyed spending his childhood days with friends and playing hockey. However, when he discovered golf, his life began to change, but at a cost, O’Connor says.
As Norman’s interest in golf grew, further fueled by regular caddy driving at a local club, his working-class family wondered why he chose a sport often associated with the more elite members of society.
Despite Norman’s ever-growing passion for the game, his family “completely rejected it,” which O’Connor says led Norman to ignore their support when they finally came to see him years later.
“His family was against this cause that he loved,” O’Connor explained. “And it really caused the division in the family and really total estrangement.”
In his late teens and early twenties, Norman devoted himself to perfecting his “single plane swing” so he could routinely hit the ball wherever he wanted with remarkable accuracy.
The “single plane swing” was Norman’s attempt to improve shooting efficiency and eliminate the number of variables involved. When addressing the ball, Norman made sure the racquet’s shaft position was maintained at impact and he did this by using a wide stance, an outstretched pose and aligned hands. It was a swing that synchronized the movements of the hips, shoulders, arms and hands.
Such was his dedication to perfecting his swing that Norman spent so much time on the practice court that his palms were bloody from repeating his workout as he walked.
Later in his career, Norman ran clinics for fans where he demonstrated his accuracy. He would even draw the attention of other professionals, such was his precision.
But for Norman, winning tournaments wasn’t the end goal. The process of hitting the ball cleanly was more “spiritual” for him – something he described to O’Connor as “the feeling of greatness.”
Pro Todd Graves spent a year learning Norman’s swing from a videotape a friend gave him. But he says his first experience of seeing the Canadian hitting balls up close blew him away anyway.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do what Moe could do with a golf ball, in terms of consistency of flight, windows, he would hit the golf ball, and with such ease,” he said Graves – co-founder of Graves Golf Academy – told CNN Sport.
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‘Very strange’
Trusting only his closest friends, Norman could come off as “very odd” to people who didn’t know him, according to O’Connor, who recounts how the golfer once ran out of a restaurant during an interview — for Norman’s own book — just about that To alleviate any discomfort he felt at a particular question.
Given these personality traits, O’Connor says some people later hypothesized that Norman might have been on the autism spectrum.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of symptoms of autism includes avoiding eye contact and wanting to be alone, repeating or reciting words or phrases, or repeating “words or phrases in place of normal speech,” and the inability to relate to others or “not being interested in other people at all”. Any of these symptoms, looking back, could have applied to Norman.
However, while researching his book, O’Connor discovered another possible theory to explain Norman’s personality traits.
When Norman was about five years old, he was out sledding with a friend and as they slid down a road, he was hit in the forehead by a tire from a reversing car, according to O’Connor.
Because there were no broken bones, his family did not take him to the hospital, and the neuroscientists interviewed by O’Connor theorized that Norman’s different personality could be due to a frontal lobe brain injury.
“He knew what is important in life. He just couldn’t put it the way many people would. He didn’t get any jokes at all, an odd character for a lot of people,” O’Connor said.
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Feel like home
On a golf course, however, Norman was in his element.
O’Connor recalls stories of Norman easily conversing with spectators during rounds and even taking bets from spectators on whether he could bounce a ball off his driver more than 100 times or slam a ball into their shirt pockets.
Graves, who is also executive producer of a forthcoming documentary about Norman, recalls speaking to former PGA of Canada pro Henry Brunton about the change in Norman’s behavior on and off the field.
While Brunton describes Norman as “superbly confident” with a racquet in hand, just confronting his fellow players in the clubhouse was “like a 12-year-old kid”.
“He was intimidated. He didn’t understand how to behave towards other players. He was so intimidated by his peers,” Brunton told Graves.
Although he enjoyed great success in his native Canada, Norman struggled on the larger stage of the US PGA Tour.
While earning over 60 victories on the Canadian Tour, Norman played 27 events in 15 years on the PGA Tour and finished only once in the top 10, earning just $7,139.
He also played in five Senior PGA Tour events, earning $22,900 in prize money.
He only made two appearances in the four majors, playing in the 1956 and 1957 Masters.
According to Graves, Norman found it difficult adjusting to life on the road in a new country and without the familiarity of his support system.
He has also endured at least one alleged incident of bullying from unnamed co-workers. In just his second year on the tour, he was cornered by two players in the middle of a tournament – in which Norman was competitive – and said: “You’ve got to stop fooling around, take a caddy, stop the big tees”, so O’Connor.
The PGA of America — which ran the tour before what is now the PGA Tour was formed in 1968 — did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
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“It made Moe feel like he didn’t belong and wasn’t welcome there for a lifetime,” O’Connor added. “Because he just felt like they didn’t like him. And if Moe felt like people were after him or that they were up here and he was here or if he felt offended by you, he would write you off.”
Money was also an issue for Norman later in life. According to Golf Digest, in 1995 the golfer lived in a $400-a-month motel room and kept his clothes in his car. Later in life, golf manufacturer Titleist paid Norman $5,000 a month for his services to the sport for the rest of his life.
Just a few years later, in 2004, Moe Norman died at the age of 75. And while he didn’t match the tournament wins of his contemporaries, the legacy of this true golf pioneer and self-proclaimed “best ball forward that ever lived” should not be forgotten.
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