Moe Norman Interview Words

Moe Norman Interview Text


Q: Moe, you have been known to recite some great golf poems. Do you feel like giving us a couple?

Moe: Well, not at first I don’t. I should talk about the game of golf first of all. How it’s such a mind game. And what a sad thing in the world that we’re not taught the main thing in this game.

Moe: We’re taught too much mechanics and not about motor skills and manual dexterity. And imagination and orientation. Administration. Enthusiasm. Alert attitude of indifference. A strong visual response of progression of power. Expansion of the circle. Deltoid muscle of your left shoulder. The torsion of your leg. The elasticity of your body. The axis of you spine. Your left brain. Your right brain. Your kinesthetic mind. Your body mind. All this has to do with golf.

Moe: I like talking about how we think as winners. We see what we want to happen. Losers see what they don’t want. We know how to dress ourselves up. When we go from the practice tee to the first tee, winners take their swing with them. Losers don’t. They can’t take their practice tee to the first tee.

Moe: What’s the longest walk in golf? It’s from the practice tee to the first tee. I don’t care if it’s only 10 yards. It’s the longest walk in golf.

Q: Everyone gets nervous then?

Moe: Yes, but we ‘can do’ when the bell rings. They can’t produce when the bell rings. At anything.

Q: How did you overcome that?

Moe: By not putting so much value into everything. Every time I teed up the ball I thought, what have I got to lose? A lousy golf ball? What else? If I lose it, I just go get another one and hit it.

Moe: This is what the game lacks today: the inward part. How to win. How to be yourself. How to believe in yourself.

Moe: It’s all this gosh dang hope and hear. Hope and fear. And it just drives me nuts. That’s all people live with.

Moe: What a terrible thing to waste—that 51/2 inches between your ears. That’s what you win with. Your dumb muscles can’t make half a million dollars a year. This can make more than that because your mind is a generator. Your body is a motor. Your golf ball is a bullet. Now aim and fire. Loser’s aim, but don’t fire, they direct.

Moe: Losers direct their emotions. Losers live that way everyday in life. They’re directing themselves down the highway. Wherever they’re going, in stores, in this, in that, they’re directing themselves. They’re stumbling over their own emotions. Their minds are in their way. They don’t know how to get out of their own way because they don’t understand their own self.

Moe: People are a mystery to themselves and always will be. You are what you think you are. If you think you’re beat..you are. I you think you dare not, you don’t. If you want to win but think you can’t, it is almost certain that you won’t. If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost.

Moe: Growth is where you find it. Success begins in a fellows will. It’s all in the state of mind. You’ve got to think high to rise. You’ve got to feel sure of yourself before you win a prize. The man who wins is the man who thinks he can. We’ve all got them in our club. They’ve got no business playing as good as they do. They’ve got no business winning as much as they do. But, they do, because they think they can.

Moe: The only way you’re going to play golf up to your true potential is by playing subconscious golf. I just can’t believe why the mind is not being used more in life.

Q: One of the last times we talked you spoke about four or five things you felt you needed and knowledge was the top one. What are the other things on your list you think people need to understand?

Moe: Sure. How to get along with yourself. Stop being afraid of yourself. Don’t say I’ve got to do anything in life. There’s nothing in this world you’ve got to do. You don’t have to go to bed at night. You don’t have to go out that door tonight. But, I want to.

Moe: Tomorrow I want to shoot 65. I don’t have to. Tomorrow I want to hit the ball good. I don’t have to. I’ll play the next day if I don’t. But, I want to do things.

Moe: Everybody whose got a hundred dollars in their pocket, what are they thinking? Hope it don’t go to 99. What’s a smart person thinking? 102, 104, 106, how to make it more. Winners look up, losers look down.

Q: What went through your mind when you shot a 59?

Moe: Everything felt easy. Everything was jelly. I could see from the tee to the green. I could see my ball in the hole before I even got there. I could see my birdie or my eagle before I even played the hole.

Moe: I just flowed with nature. I went and did it.

Moe: There’re no secrets. Only hard work. But get that mind right. Even in life. Get that mind right.

Moe: If you got leadership. If you got poise. If you got mentality, oh man, what strong things instead of hope and fear. People are afraid of themselves. They’re afraid of success. What a sad world when people are afraid of success and afraid to win.

Q: You weren’t afraid to win. Didn’t you say you liked to ‘clean their clocks...go out and shoot 61 and go home’?

Moe: And I did. Fifty five times in my life I did it in tournaments over two days or more. Every time I teed up I wanted to shoot another course record. I shot 41 of them.


Moe: I gave myself a chance. I gave myself a chance. I was the happiest winner in Canada. I got along with myself real good. I believed in Moe Norman.

Moe: I didn’t listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry. And I still don’t today.

Moe: Vanity is the luxury of fools. How true. It’s the best statement I’ve heard in my life. How true.

Moe: If people only knew what happiness is. What is happiness? Happiness is achievement. What’s the father of achievement? Motivation. What’s the mother? Encouragement. A fine golf swing is truly achievement.

Moe: Man may lie, steal and cheat for gain, but that will never gain a golf swing. To gain a golf swing you must work. It is work without toil. It’s intoxication without the hangover. It’s stimulation without the pills. It is humbling. It enriches the spirit. It is dignity. It rejects heroics. Its price is high. Its rewards are richer. It’s a buffer for the stresses of today’s living. It cleanses the mind and rejuvenates the body.

Moe: It is these things and more. For those of us who learn to love it, golf is truly happiness.

Moe: And golf is sure better than being in jail, but some of us put ourselves in jail by throwing clubs and calling ourselves dumb. When we miss a putt and call ourselves dumb, instead of patting ourself on the back we kick ourself in the ass.


Q: What happens when you make a good shot? What do you say?

Moe: I did it before. I did it again. And better.

Q: Once you told me you feel like you have a claw in your hand? What’s that?

Moe: Left hand is a rod. Right hand is a claw. At impact.
Moe: Every time I hit the shot, I feel like I’m shaking hands with the flag stick. Whether it’s 500 yards away or 5 feet, I feel like I’m going to grab it and the ball goes there every time.

Moe: Now here’s a nice poem:

I have a little robot that goes around with me.
I tell it what I’m thinking; I tell it what I’ve seen.

It listens and remembers everything it hears.

At first my little robot followed my commands,
But after years of dreams, it has gotten out of hand.

It doesn’t care what’s right or wrong or what is false or true
But no matter what I try now, it tells me what to do.


Q: It would be hard for you to hit a bad shot. Your little robot only knows how to hit it where you’re looking?

Moe: I know how to hit my positions, the same every time.

Q: What are some of the sayings you say when you swing?

Moe: Buckle, sit, slide, bump. Stabilize, energize, contain, release. Force, form, fold, release.

Moe: What does everyone else do? Strike, steer, stare, and stall. That’s bogey golf.

Moe: Losers live in classic style in that never land called ‘someday, I’ll ..”

They gain bad luck each time they lose,
And hide within those struggling blues.

Winners live each day as if their last,
Not in the future, nor in the past

And someday becomes now.




Moe: Here’s another one.

Under lost and found, lost, one 24 hour, 24 carat day.
Each hour studded with 60 diamond minutes
Each minute studded with 60 ruby seconds.

But, don’t bother to look for it. It’s gone forever.
That wonderful golden day. It’s all gone.

Q: You’ve spent a lot of time studying the psychology of the golf game. How do you make it work?

Moe: The main thing is knowledge. The rest is insight. To me a good golfer is one who can hit the ball to a defined target area with the least amount of effort, but with an alert attitude of indifference.

A person must first change his mental attitude. Then and only then will his ability produce positive results. This game of golf either requires an art or a knack for flinging a golf ball toward a defined target area.

The fascinating thing about this game is that it takes a keen, sharp mind as well as good physical make up to excel. Knowledge of the game is the equalizer that will lose those who strive for excellence. Not talent..knowledge.

It doesn’t make any difference if you’re writing, typing, playing the piano. Or playing a game such as golf. The computer of our brain sends out messages through the nerves to our golf muscles that help produce the shot.

Also needed are your heart and soul and your personal character. It’s part of everything you do. Of every shot you take.

People in this game need an inner awakening. They need more understanding of their own self and their own game.

Moe: Now, to the changing world of golf.

For openers, are you frustrated? Are you confused? Do you have a feeling that you should be better than you are? Are you finding serenity and peace of mind playing this game?

Moe: Give this some thought. Is there more to golf than mechanics? Is there more to this game that you haven’t yet discovered?

If there isn’t, then how come nearly 90% of golfers are in the same boat? They can’t even bust and egg, let alone play a respectable game of golf.

But, why? It is their anguish over poor shots and high scores. It infuriates them.

Freddy tells them this. Johnny tells them that. Jack tells them and Henry tells them. Part of their mind is going east, another going west. The other’s going north and another south.

Now, they’re all mixed up. Now, they’re going, ‘what should I try? Should I try it Jack’s way? Or Jim’s?’

No wonder they’re basket cases. They never try it with me. That’s what they should do. Not just in golf, in life, even. Even in life, people don’t go out with a program. They go out with hope and fear. They go out with a defensive attitude.

I still see it today. I still see the same things today as I saw 40 years ago.

Q: What do you think can change it?

Moe: Have more schools like Sweden does. They got academies, where the kids can stay there for golf. That’s what Sweden has got. Look at the good players they’ve got for a little place like that.

Sweden’s got junior programs for their kids. We’ve never been like that. We don’t have a junior program in Canada since I’ve been playing. Clubs up there don’t want juniors ‘cause the got no money and they’re ‘in the way.’

Older members don’t want to see a little 14 year old beating his clock. The kid shoots 79. The old man never shot 79 in his life. Boy, that just eats him up. They don’t want to see that. What a shame. For them its screw thy neighbor, not love thy neighbor.

Don’t tell me, I went through it. I slept on park benches. I slept in bunkers. Hitchhiked to tournaments. Shot 61 and went home. Don’t tell me, I went through it.

Q: What about that time you were afraid to go home?

Moe: When I broke two windows in the same day?

Q: How old were you?

Moe: Eleven. I got it across my ass. My father said, ‘don’t ever bring another golf stick in this house.’

To this day--there are six kids in the house--mother and dad have never seen me hit a golf ball in real life. Mother and dad are dead now, but in my whole life they were never there, right beside me when I was hitting a golf ball. They only saw me sitting down, watching TV. They never once saw me in real life.

Q: Two windows in one day?

Moe: Two different houses. They knew it was me. I couldn’t hide because I was the only one in the neighborhood at that time hitting golf balls.

Q: So what did you do then?

Moe: Hid.

I’m probably the only golfer who got hell for playing, and I got hell. Couldn’t bring my clubs in the house when I was 15, 16 years old.

My dad was fat. I was skinny. So I had to dig a hole under the front porch and stick them there so he couldn’t reach them.

But as soon as I started winning, now, bring them in the parlor. When I started to win TV sets, fridges and power lawn mowers—two a week I was winning—then that was when I found out about people.

Q: How old were you when you left home?

Moe: Seventeen. Haven’t been back since.

Q: Did you have a job when you left?

Moe: Oh, yeah. In a factory. Rubber factory.

But, I got fired at every job I had. ‘Cause I had tournaments during the week. No such saying I was sick because I shoot 65 and win, so I couldn’t lie.

They’d say in the morning, ‘you won again, you won again’ and I’d lose the job.

Q: Didn’t you set up pins in a bowling alley?

Moe: That’s a winter job where I saved like a son-of-a-gun and the first of May there were no more bowling leagues and I could play May, June, July and August. Hit 800 balls and play 54 holes.

Q: What’s the most fun you’ve had playing golf. Is there such a thing as a round you’ve enjoyed more than others?

Moe: Well, the first win of your life, the first time I won The Canadian National. That was really nice. Took me 39 holes to win it. In the finals. I birdied the third hole at The Calgary Country Club, the toughest on the course, to win it. So I won it in style. The next year I walked away with it. It wasn’t even close.

Moe: I’m the only guy they ever kicked out of amateurs. That was back in 1957. I was supposed to play as an amateur in The Americas Cup matches.

I got a letter at home saying how glad they were to have me represent Canada in The Americas Cup matches. They sent me my airplane ticket. They sent me my jacket. I went and got my small pox shot and then, 4 days before they said ‘we had a general meeting and feel you’re not an amateur anymore. Please send back your plane ticket. Please send back your jacket. They didn’t call me in or nothing.

The public knew before I did, cause when I woke up that morning my mother said ‘there are 20 reporters on the front lawn, what have you done?’

Then someone said, ‘they just kicked you out of amateur.’ I just about fell over.

I’ve gone through it. Who has done more for golf in Canada than this guy? Who’s got the most color?

Who put the most laughs in the game, winning tournaments? This guy. Playing holes backwards, stuff like that. Hitting balls in buckets?

Q: How do you handle being more famous now?

Moe: I don’t know, at my age it’s pretty tough.

Q: You’ll find a way to handle it.

Moe: I hope you’re right. It’s like eating an apple. What do you do? Eat the whole apple or just piece by piece.

Q: Well, you may have a bunch of good looking women chasing you, Moe.

Moe: That’s what I’m afraid of. Everything is happening now. Why didn’t it happen when I was forty five. What a nice feeling to walk up to the first tee and hear: ‘Here comes the Hall of Famer.’

I would want to show you why I was put in the Hall of Fame. Shoot a 62 shoot a 31, 31. They recognize me now, when I don’t play anymore. I just do clinics, like you saw today.

Q: You enjoy doing those clinics, don’t you?

Moe: Oh, yes. Yes. ‘Cause this needs to be passed on to future generations. I’m realizing that now. The world is finally realizing I’ve got the best move by far, ever in golf.

I’m the only person with a 365 days a year swing. Everybody else is 300. The other 65 days its’ the army song: left, right, left right. Mine is straight down the middle.

Moe: When is the world finally going to change for the good? That’s what I can’t understand. When are we going to understand why water is wet. Why are there branches on a tree. Why have we got two eyes, two ears and only one mouth?

When is the world going to wake up and understand what holds the clouds up? Why can a bird sing?

It’s not what the world can give to you. It’s what can you give it. That’s the way you get ahead in the world. What can you give the world?

I’m lucky, I can give the world talent. I can explain it. I can tell it. I can show it to people, which is what I love doing. I just love it.

Tomorrow I’ve got another clinic. A place I have never been to in my life. I can’t wait to get there, so 120 kids might hit the ball like me, someday. I hope one of them does. I’d like to go up to him, when I’m 90 years old, and say, ‘hey, I talked to you in 1995 and now you’re doing what I taught you. What a great thing.’

Q: What ever made you hold the golf club in the palm of your hand?

Moe: I went to this carpenter. ‘First of all’, I said, ‘don’t think I am trying to get your job, because I’m not.’

I was only 18.

Then I said to him, ‘what’s your hammer, heavy or light?’

He said heavy, because it won’t waver as much, won’t bend as many nails.

Moe: The palm stays dead still. Look how fast you move your fingers. Look, look, look. They move around like a jumping bean.

The ball goes where your hand goes. If you’ve got it in those fingers and those fingers are going everywhere, that’s where the ball is going to go.

Never in the fingers. In the palm. Fingers are live. Palms are dead.

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