I’ll always remember the first time I met Moe Norman.  I was fresh out of college, playing my way across the country from East to West, and the stop for the week was the Windsor Charity Pro-Am, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.  I was the only player on the practice putting green when I caught Moe’s eye and he approached me saying “you got the right idea, you got the right idea!”  I looked up to see a disheveled looking, red-faced middle aged man talking at me without looking at me.  He was looking toward the driving range when he said “look over there, all the Canadians on the range, you got the right idea, you got the right idea!”  I wondered to myself ‘why do I attract these types of people’ when he suddenly changed the direction of his gaze to the 18^th green.  “Look, look!” he said “there’s a million dollars on that green, a million dollars on that green, all the Canadians on the range, woohoo! you got the right idea, you got the right idea!”

I didn’t know who he was then and I didn’t think to ask anyone; I just thought he was a lost soul hoping to be heard.  Much to my surprise the next day I was on the putting green again and that same disheveled figure was walking up the 18^th hole, carrying his own bag.  “My gosh, he’s a player?” I thought.  I watched him approach his ball and seemingly pull a wedge, drop his bag, play a soft pitch over a bunker to about 6 feet from the hole then pickup his bag all in one motion.  I had never seen a shot hit so fast in my life!  I went back to putting…not knowing…

Twelve years later I attended the 1994 PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit in New Orleans, LA.  I was with hundreds of my peers in a huge meeting hall awaiting a presentation by PGA Master Professional Craig Shankland.  The title of his presentation was An Interview with Moe Norman, World’s Greatest Ball Striker.  With a title like that, I couldn’t wait to see this Moe Norman!  After the introduction a video began and when I saw the “star” I almost fell off my chair!  This was the man from the putting green in Canada! This was the man that approached me!  What an opportunity I had to get to know him then…but I didn’t know…

That presentation by Mr. Shankland was captured on DVD and thanks to his permission, you can watch it here.  That interview made me think a lot about the golf swing, individuality and how I was teaching and coaching at the time.  It became the primary influence in my joining the Natural Golf team in 1995 which finally led me to getting to know Moe.  Enjoy the video!