Hall of Famer
Murray 'Moe' Norman
Inducted in 2006
Member Details
Career Highlights
Won Canadian amateur championship
Won seven of eight national senior championships
Story
Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Gary Player. The greatest golfers in the game have one thing in common - their humble admiration for the golf swing of Moe Norman. A quick hitter who was extremely shy, he possessed the purest, most reliable swing the game has ever known. By the time he was just ten years old, Norman was already a caddy at Westmount Golf Club, north of Toronto. Four years later, he started to play tournament golf and winning came almost as quickly. He won two Canadian amateur championships in 1955 and '56 and later won seven Canadian amateur senior titles in eight years (1980-87). In between, he won tournaments in virtually every Canadian province. He shot 59 four times, set records on some 33 courses (mostly in Florida and Canada), carded 17 holes-in-one, and earned the respect of every pro who saw him swing a club. Norman's greatest shortcoming was that despite a sport that is public and spectator-friendly, he was remarkably shy to the point that he couldn't play on the PGA tour. After one uncomfortable season in 1958, he returned home to continue his career. Norman played the Masters twice, withdrawing once after nine holes because he had terrible blisters from hitting so many practice shots before his round. In 1956, he played 27 tournaments and won 17 times. In 1966, he entered ten tournaments in Canada, winning five and finishing second in the other five. Despite shunning the limelight, though, he remained a revered figure all his life. He was famous for playing a round in two hours, often not taking a practice swing or lining up a putt before hitting the ball. He set a marathon driving record in 1963 by hitting 1,540 balls in just six hours and 51 minutes. He could hit a drive off a one-foot tee or a pop bottle, hit a driver from the fairway, or perform a myriad of other trick shots. All had one thing in common - they went straight as an arrow. Later in life, Norman turned to teaching. He was a master of the swing, of course, but he also preached something he knew even more about, the psychology of the game. He knew that for every great swing, there were nerves aplenty to foul it up once a tournament began. For Norman, had he been at peace with himself on bigger stages, there's no knowing how many tournaments he might have won around the world. He was that good.