The Secrets of Golf's Best Ever Ball Striker | Film Study | Golf Digest
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- Опубликовано: 13 июн 2024
- Tiger Woods says only two players have ever "truly owned their swings", Ben Hogan and Moe Norman. The legend of Moe Norman and his homemade golf swing have fascinated players, coaches and fans since he began breaking records in the 1950s. But what was the secret to his incredible ball striking?
In this Film Study, Luke Kerr-Dineen dives into one of the most unique and successful swings in golf history and explains what amateur golfers can learn it.
Senior Editor: Luke Kerr-Dineen
Director of Content: Jamie Kennedy
Editor: Adam Baranowski
Executive Producer: Christian Iooss
Footage credit: Todd Graves
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Love the video. Playing golf with Moe was special. One particular round he kept missing the fairways on purpose, but hitting perfect approach shots onto the green. After five holes, I asked him, what he was doing. He said "I found shortcuts". I went back to see where Moe was positioning his shots and sure enough, every place Moe drove the ball was at least one club closer to the green.
In his later years - didn't Moe embrace Manuel De La Torre's swing teachings?
@@danielmcconlogue8312 Moe respected some teachers including paul Bertholy, Craig Shankland. And Manuel, de la Torre.
Among a few others.
Thank you for your teaching Todd,,and keeping Moe's legacy alive.
As a "graduate" of Todd's academy and a practitioner of this best of swings, I now play pain-free and have a 6 hdcp. Now, for the putting... ;)
@@marybetheby5184 Very Welcome and my pleasure to continue to teach Moe's simple discovery.
I started golfing in March of last year and shot well over 100+. I would slice my driver OB and would regularly miss-hit my long clubs... To help my score a little better I switched to just hitting my 7 iron to get me up the fairway. Then around July or August of 2023 I switched to Moe Norman's swing style taught by Todd Graves. I quickly broke 100 and even broke 90 couple times. I consistently shoot in the low 90s and now I'm practicing my short game to hopefully break 85 or even lower this year. While I can't hit as accurate as Moe every time, I at least keep it in bounds now and stopped losing golf balls. It is such a simple swing, however you still need a lot of practice to make sure your ball striking becomes more consistent.
Just an update... Not only did I break 85, but soon after I broke 80 with a 79 last week. I now consistently shoot the mid 80s. My consistency with ball striking has increased with daily practice into a net. I started using Aim Point putting 2 months ago, worked on distance control with the putts and practiced a lot with my wedges for around the green. This has helped shave more strokes off to keep me in the low 80s and hopefully consistently in the 70s soon
Publishing this video right before the season starts making me think i need to completely rebuild my swing😂
i see a moe norman video, i click
Agreed... and give lots of thumbs up, and comments - no hope for us!
I am a moe follower. Thanks Grave’s golf school. Moe is my model.
A golfing legend
Makes me proud to be a Canadian golfer 🇨🇦
Surprised ur allowed to golf in communist Canada anymore
@GolfDigest will you do a video on Mac O’grady?
THE TURE GOAT
TURE?
@@Pooler29 Kind of a hybrid of the "Tour GOAT" and the "True GOAT" I imagine. 🤣
Moe Norman understood the golf swing completely, but not many people understood him at all.
Moe was on the autism spectrum - he did what swing worked for him. Golfers should be wary of copying Moe's swing characteristics..
😂😂😂 you're right I'm quoting Mike Malaska and that was probably a while ago, great call!
Please do a video on George Knudson! More Hogan than Hogan. Another Canadian ball-striking legend
He follows through like a batsman in cricket. Really nice swing.
Moe was a savant, golfing was like water to him lol. I cam across his vids a while ago and it inspired me to go to the range. His golfing principals have helped me with my driver immensely🫡.
His swing is genius, not extremely difficult but you need to understand it. Most impressive is knowing how to use that brief breaking motion that creates so much power at impact.
What a unique great swing! Bryson, i think, follows his steps
Not really, he tried Moes swing when he was younger but it gave hime back issues he’s said. Besides setting up with his arms & club on a single plane, that’s where the similarities end.
@@TheWedgeWizard the setup is rather than similar. The wrists straighten in a line with the shaft, wide stands... There wrists are foreign all what they gave together, high hands instead of "seve style" club handling. But then the club goes a other path by Bryson
Would love to see Golf Digest cover the right sided swing technique.
As in gary edwin? Its better to go his website or there is instagram pages like right sided golf, baden schaff or ausasiagolf. Ive been following the right sided stuff for 14 years its the best golf teachings out there extremely under rated
Every few years or so, golf digest reminds everyone of this guy and we get to spend the following summer watching hopeless afficionados try to adopt his very unique (albeit effective, for him) style.
I'm pretty sure the thumbnail is Norman on the 10th hole at Rockway ... yard-for-yard the toughest hole on that track!
An eternal square zone was the obsession of Dalton McRary in the '90s video teachers explosion. Last thing to stop moving at the top (the club face) was the first thing to move on the way down - lag being a myth created by cameras - square-zone being created by stable and very upgright swing plane - clubhead speed being created by loose, free swing with confidence in path not fast-moving lower body - which golf robots don't have and many trick shot artists to this day blow out of the water with 250 yard drives sat on chairs
I watched Tiger talk about Moe in an interview ( previously recorded) that sent me down a long path.
I have single length irons and I follow Todd almost religiously...
Ben Hogan? Uh ah... Moe's swing was one of a kind.. but now? So many are jumping on the single plane swing...
You mentioned returning to impact a few times in this video and it's slightly wrong.
One of the brilliant things Moe did was that he never returned to impact there as he was never there in his set up to begin with! Hence the starting point of the club a few feet behind the ball
Wally Uihlein take a deep bow, you did something wonderful for Moe
Mo Norman was an absolute legend. A. One-of-a-kind however, if you really want to copy somebody and emulate somebody you go for Lee Trevino open stance, strong grip. Good turn! Hit the ball. That's it!!!
Almost all the best ballstrikers on tour have a weak to neutral grip
Trevino's swing is the closest thing to Norman's.
Single Plane is the way. Thank you Moe.
I’m pretty sure Moe was autistic, he lived a peculiar lifestyle travelling between golf comps in his car, all of his possessions in the car and usually sleeping in the car. He was painfully shy and often asked someone to collect his trophies for him to avoid the fuss and limelight. Only in later life did he grow more comfortable around people and grew to enjoy putting on clinics. Despite his phenomenal ability he never made much money and died relatively young, his poor diet was probably a major factor. A bitter sweet story….RIP Moe
I read the book the feeling of greatness and its amazing. They say he wasnt autistic and he was a normal child before the car accident...after that he started to behave differently
I had a chance to see one of Moe Norman's demonstrations at a Canadian Open. The man was A MACHINE. I think he would have done better on the PGA if he been given some help on how to adapt to that environment.
You should make a video on Count Yogi next. He was actually the best and the PGA players know it but never talk about him.
Moe Norman was not a long hitter. Carry a tee shot maybe 220 max, so drove the ball 265 give or take 5 yds. but.. he was so consistent, and deadly accurate
Gonna look weird trying this on the range... but so be it!
Not when you're hitting it dead straight lol I've gotten compliments on my swing many times now thanks to moe
@@Caligrapher88 Me too. Then I see some of them straightening their arms and putting the club head back but to no avail. The golf swing is really hard to master but this swing is the real thing.
🇨🇦 Legend. It was the 🏒! 😂
Still waiting for his movie...
Maybe he had an affective swing but hogan had the most beautiful swing which has not been matched today.
My favorite Moe story, in a tournament his caddy told him this hole will be a drive and a 9 iron today. So Moe drops a ball, hits a 9 iron off the tee down the fairway, then when he gets to his ball, he hits a driver off the deck and lands it on the green. His mind and talent was something else. Too bad some PGA players complained about his on course attire and hygiene and harassed him out of the PGA. They just couldn’t leave him alone, he didn’t fit the Country Club elitists idea of a pro golfer. I always wonder what he would have done and records he would have set on the PGA.
nice video but please ... why the background noise
That's one of the ugliest professional swings I've seen, and I would give absolutely anything in order to have it. Insane what a great mind he had for golf. True legend
I hit my driver with straight arms and almost like a baseball swing. I tried years to fix my slice and this has been the only way to fix it and get some good yardage on a drive. Whatever works for you I guess
I also have the same grip as Mo, just realised
If I place the ball this far forward in my set up - which I feel really comfortable with - it invariable leads to a violent fade. Presumably Moe was turning his wrists over at impact to counteract this?
Is he turning them or is he *letting* them turn over naturally.
What he did was slide forward with both knees flexed to get back to the ball. And contrary to his own analysis, he did turnover his wrists right after impact.
@@Pjkoko Yes, I think that's where I went wrong, not sliding forward enough with the face more closed.
I would not recommend copying Moe Normans swing. It was totally idiosyncratic and worked for him. He makes many compensations for his unusual stance and positioning of the club head well behind the ball. And he doesn’t even do what he teaches. George Knudson was a good ball striker. But he took the club to the inside on the takeaway, addressed the ball off the toe of the club and used a closed stance. Hogan held the face open through impact in a cut away fashion to avoid hooking the ball. All great ball strikers, all using different techniques. Best to follow solid principles in building a golf swing. Unwise to copy people.
@@Pjkoko Ha, the address position is 'not of this planet', and it's surely doubtful that anyone can even get near emulating it. For me, the most beautiful, natural and pure swing belongs to Ernie
Els - if at all, this would be the ideal one to try and copy.
After 30+ yrs im just starting to reign in my “normal swing” slice . Dont tempt me with another swing to try 🤦🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️😜✌️👍🏼. Moe seemed to be a simple man who knew how to adapt in life (golf) and just found what worked for him without all kinds of out side influences (help) ….us mere mortals have 3 players every round ,friends who golf, possible lesson or two, now online lessons /youtube all telling us what to do and how to achieve a perfect swing …if 8 were a youngster just starting today ,i mightve tried the less moving parts idea …actually i know i wouldve ,and if it sliced less (less than when i was first starting especially ) it probably would be my swing..
In the last 3 years, unless I try to, I haven't hit a slice. Moe's technique is money (no hooks either, just straight as a die).
Carl Lohren, not me, said Lee Trevino was the best and his main man Hogan, was second.
Another way
Thank you for highlighting a truly remarkable human being. I talk to the guy regularly in my mind.
No, I'm not crazy. Try it once...you might be surprised if you let your box break.
Look how far his club head is behind the ball before his takeaway
That’s exactly what I do too. I also line up the ball on the toe and my drives are 265+ yards consistently, but I can crank it up and go 280+
@@PatMcCarthy420 best gross score is?
I am one of the greatest ball strikers, I even came up with an anti slice drive, a better way to hit out of a bunker, magic chip, bless putt, toe and heal shots that dont' chunk
No way Calvin Peete was a better ball striker than Moe Norman. Moe had one thing only on his mind ,to perfect his swing. I believe he was as close as anyone in history.
Lee Trevino was.
And where are you a pro?
@@seanpeacock5595 I’m going on Carl Lohren’s evaluation. He said Trevino was #1, his hero, Hogan, was a close #2 and Moe was great but not at their level.
I think Moe is the best ball striker of all time. He was the only one who could hit it straight at will.
“Most golfers have never seen”
Bryson out here one of the most popular players in the world with a swing partially modelled after Moe.
Look how far Mo moves forward he moves forward on downswing a unique swing not easy to copy
Moe’s right heal glued to the earth until the ball is at least 80 yards down range.
He hits the tee shot same as I do, way out front,
What kind of distance was he achieving with this swing w/ a driver?
230 carry.
With a persimmon wood? Most of the footage you see here is when he was 60+ years old. He used to bomb it like everyone else when he was younger. His backswing came all the way to the top in his younger years.
Idk George Knudson was pretty good.
Moe was a 1 of 1
The best thing about Moe Norman is, that nothing is caught on launch monitors... I mean we "hear" he was a savant of golf, but it seems it is very difficult to find actual evidence!
So many people claim they follow his swing principles but in several decades of playing I’ve never seen anyone even attempt a swing like that anywhere. I’ve certainly never seen it taught except Graves. And I wonder why? And don’t tell me it’s a conspiracy by the PGA.
It's a conspiracy by the PGA.
I've watch as much Moe as I watched Tiger.. Moe is extremly underated. He gets a bad rap because all these new brainwashed golfers think there is only 1 way to swing (like a robot)
moe's swing looks very functional but to me i it looks like he probably could only get 200+ yds out of a drive and not much more. what do you think?
Watch a few videos and interviews. You'll see it was 280+ with persimmon woods...
@@mjmetts yes, i've watched many moe norman videos, i guess i would have had to seen him in person.
He was also in his late 60’s and early 70’s when he did a lot of his clinic videos that have been posted on RUclips.
Hogan was the perfect swing. His spine angle stays right in the middle of where his spine and his head doesn’t move **except on driver** where the ball is on the tee. Hogan’s Secret was the shaft and right forearm in **PERFECT** alignment.
Hogan was so good guys would hide behind the trees with binoculars trying to figure out how he hit it so good.
In the Shell match in Houston against Snead he hit every FKN green.
Honestly, you didn’t even mention Hogan among the great swings, and it’s the BEST ever.
Read golfing machine 2-J-2 2-J-3
I mean, when you REALLY think about it, Moe was right about a lot of this, to some extent! I mean, golf’s already an insanely difficult game. Why not find ways to simplify it, make it easier?
Every scratch Korean amateur plays like Moe 😂
Later on his career moe said he was swing all wrong his whole career and starting going with narrow stance and not tucking his right elbow and vending so much.
I like to know which official and which pro golfer read Mo the riot act and upset him..If that had not happened Mo might have carried on playing the pga tour
It's almost impossible to swing a golf club on a single plane because of the way we're built but Moe Norman pretty much managed to do that and that's why he hit it so straight. It's not a swing anybody should try to emulate though because 99% of the public can't possibly get into those positions. Same thing with Hogan, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia. To come into the ball that flat with that much wrist hinge is unthinkable for most of us out here. Most people trying to swing like Moe will hit it considerably shorter.
Glad I made it into the 1% (finally!). I use Moe's swing (as taught by Todd) and it works! Long, straight and on target. At 70 y.o., 250 yd drives in the fairway leave my buddies behind (or most often in the woods...).
After years of playing "army golf" I rebuilt my swing in the offseason using Todd Graves' youtube channel. It's not that difficult. My swing is not the exact same as Moe and I definitely don't hit it as well as Moe. However, I am hitting it straighter and my misses aren't as big. I lost a little bit of distance, maybe about 10 yards per club, but I lost a lot of strokes which in my opinion is more important.
The great "what if” the pga allowed him to play on tour. Moe was routinely made fun of and the pga did not want him as he was too "eccentric"
I'd put George Knudson in this conversation too
Mike Austin
Mike is the true goat
His swing is great if your a athletic flexible guy like the two Mike's but is mere mortals Moe's technique is really simple and I use it and can enjoy good contact making golf fun not being frustrated
there is so much micro management to a golf swing.... millimeters. . Everyone really has to own their own. Moe's swing is no easier to perform than Tiger's.
Whenever I see videos on Moe they never show iron swings or mention that his shot distance was not great. With golf being so wrapped up in distance distance distance these days is it even relevant to try to replicate a swing that is very accurate yet very short?
I have seen several videos of Moe's hitting irons and a pretty long one of him explaining how he hits wedges. Just research.
He was not interested in distance at all, he just loved hitting the ball straight at his target.
It is unlikely anyone in history has ever hit as many millions of balls as Mo Norman.
He is the most consistent ball striker to have ever lived because that was his intent, mastery of hitting the ball for hitting the ball's sake, not for fame, money and glory.
Calvin Peete was better
Moe was the best ball striker but hitting like him will leave you 50 yards short of your pros FYI
"most pros tilt with almost no tilt at set up" is categorically false. The angle you used for the tiger shot was egregiously bad. Here's an actual face on angle showing tiger's significant tilt with Driver ruclips.net/video/Jlp8G9paliw/видео.html
(PS as clubs get shorter there is less tilt, obviously)
Nice video, but this guy’s voice is so hard to listen to
Honest question….if his swing is so great why are none of the pro’s using a similar swing? Is it to unconventional?
You give up a LOT of power, and it’s not worth it for how today’s courses are configured.
Mo Norman was great but no where near Ben Hogan.
And Hogan said that Moe was the only one he would watch practise...
@@joakimnicander3763 Hogan also said Mickey Wright had the best golf swing.
Moe swing makes golf so much simpler
Golf Digest should really do a better job at research
you dont want both arms straight at impact. This is nonsense.
Moe's swing worked for Moe, but if you try these things, you're setting yourself up for aggravation. Moe had an odd body type and was mentally on the autism/aspergers spectrum. He is wired differently than most people. If you copy the swing of someone like Moe, you're setting yourself up for a long season. It's interesting to see videos like this, but if you want to copy someone, copy the body positions of Adam Scott and the tempo of Jake Knapp or Ernie Els.
Just don’t copy the flip of Scott or Els… 👀
If Moe Norman was such a great golfer, why is his record on the US tour a big fat ZILCH?
Give me a break
Talking about ball strikers without mentioning Hogan is idiotic.
Talking about ball strikers without mentioning Moe is idiotic
Idiosyncratic swing that worked for him. Not something to copy. Many great ball strikers do different things to achieve success. This is just one. Moe swung the club like this before he decided to dissect it. It is not the result of any plan. It is just his way.
He was hit on the head as a child leading to his socially awkward behaviour. This was the reason he couldn't fit in the highly competitive and professional PGA world. Best ball striker? Yes. Best golf player? We'll never know.
_Horrific_ swing
Really such a bad video .. great title and thumbnail though
Hater
Boring video. Same shots, over and over and over and over again. Of the Moe Norman videos I have seen, this is at the bottom.
@divotdigger247
0 seconds ago
And the award for the most jarring voice in the world ever goes to…. this guy!
Radical swing that worked fairly well...NOT a winner of majors, nor the PGA tour, so he was good with a too radical approach. Too unconventional. Which is why there is a mystique. He is not a Nicklaus, Palmer or Trevino or Watson...just a good player in frozen Canada.
It's only frozen for about 5 months of the year. Golf season in Canada is basically the same as the northern states.
@@cameronmccormick89 ..true... but not warm
until mid July or August... Moe was good , but not great. Great golfers win Majors. ⛳
@@blairsterling6141 point is, the tundra only starts at about 60 degrees latitude lol
I watched Tiger talk about Moe in an interview ( previously recorded) that sent me down a long path.
I have single length irons and I follow Todd almost religiously...
Ben Hogan? Uh ah... Moe's swing was one of a kind.. but now? So many are jumping on the single plane swing...