Learn To Golf: Finding the Perfect Swing
Of the millions of people who have played the game, a staggeringly small number could wilfully hit the ball where they aimed. Only two!.Do you know who they were?
The first, and best known one was Ben Hogan. Students of the game will recognize the other golfer’s name as Moe Norman. Norman was an underground legend. He was a Canadian pro who rarely left his home country but was well known to all the top touring pros from Lee Trevino and Nick Price all the way to present day superstar, Tiger Woods.
Like many of you, I have only seen Ben Hogan on video and in the slo-mo footage I have acquired over the years. As a teenager, I saw Moe play several times in Canada and I saw him again much later in his career when he gave clinics around the country.
For two days I was in Moe’s group during a tournament in Ontario because I was looping for Alvie Thompson, an accomplished Canadian Tour player in the 1960′s and 70′s.
What was their special gift? What made them unique?
But just think of how rare this skill is. Of the legions of folks who have played the game,only these two gentlemen could point and hit it to that spot.
Regrettably, the mainsteam golfing community never really got to know Moe and that distance was further magnified by the way he was depicted in the press.
Moe’s cause was not aided by the fact that he frequently butted heads with the ruling board of governors and that such disagreements became quite public.
Many dismissed Moe’s rambling as gibberish when he tried to explain the foundational elements of his swing. Often accused of uttering idiotic drivel, few serious teachers or writers gave any credence to whatever insights the man attemted to share. Despite his prodigous talent as a player, it was exceedingly rare that anyone would take the time with Moe to unlock the secrets of his incredible swing.It was not unlike trying to learn from a Zen master when you tried to piece together the elements that made Moe’s swing tick.
In the past decade or so, a whole new group of teachers and players have discovered Moe and have set about to piece and parse together exactly what the man meant.
Rival swing theories have emerged, each proclaiming to have unlocked the secrets to Moe’s unique and powerful swing . The claims of offering golfing nirvana based on Moe’s swing have been greatly exaggerated and are, frankly, disappointing.
Make no mistake, Moe’s move was both powerful and explosive through the ball. No one seems to be able to consistently duplicate the action which allowed Moe to compress the ball time after time .
I, like others, have experimented with the new theories and abandoned them after experiencing a marked lack of distance.
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When I had a strong back and a weak mind, I used to practice the darkest of the dark arts; that of being a caddy on the minor tour(it certainly wasn’t for the money!). You will remember that I once was a caddy in Moe’s group at a pro tournament.
Moe preferred movement to the hit and hold pattern so commonly associated with tournament golf. I could empathize with Moe roving and vocalizing to himself to pass the time. To cope with the tedium, Moe was constantly dropping balls down wherever and chipping them . Where other players might pace about, Moe was more unusual in the manner in which he expressed his nervous tension.
It is now difficult to know what is true and what is not when the subject of Moe’s on course and off course behaviour is discussed. You have to be a bit suspect when there are now more stories than there were witnesses back in the day! The lifestyle stories may have assumed epic proportion and, if they have, they will have caught up to the real legend of Moe’s extraordinary golfing talent. Remarkably, long into his senior years Moe still struck the ball with potency and purity.
I saw up close and personal just how unerringly straight Moe Norman was . I volunteered to shag balls (in the era before motorized ball pickers) for Moe during a local exhibition.An exhibition that drew sadly only a handful of spectators. So accurate was the man that he literally was bouncing the balls at the feet of my colleague and myself.Moe would reposition us when he changed clubs and the balls would again fall like arrows. It was always hypnotizing to just sit there and revel in the artistry of the man.
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No two men were more different than Moe and Hogan. Inasmuch as Moe was eccentric, Ben Hogan was both aloof and dismissive. One man suffered from a failure to connect, the other happily drew a steel curtain around himself.The Hogan move has bewidered and befuddled a generation of golfers devoted to unravelling its mystery. Unless a Hogan Rosetta Stone is unearthed, his swing method remains only partially understood.
Perhaps to Mr Hogan’s satisfaction, no one has fully revealed the intracacies of his swing. Many proclaim to be teaching Hogan, but few take them seriously. It is likely that Hogan would not be dissatisfied with the current state of affairs . When asked to reveal his secrets, Hogan often gruffly responded by telling his audience to go find it themselves. If Hogan was teaching you to garden, he’d throw you a rake.
Hogan viewed life as antagonistic to his interests. To be fair, Hogan did not search out these qualities in others.Few people, including his peers ever got close to Ben Hogan.The roots of friendship were never nurtured and tended with golfing fans