I had the pleasure of interviewing Todd Graves, who is a devout believer in the swing mechanics of the late Moe Norman. Myself, I am intrigued by his asperger-like focus and his way of describing the mental attitude he embodied on the golf course. Here are a dozen quotes from Moe Norman, transcribed from his ‘fireside chats’ and other interviews.
What a sad thing in the world that we are not taught the main thing in this world, it is between the ears. We are taught too much mechanics. Not enough about motor skills, manual dexterity, imagination, orientation, administration, enthusiasm, alert attitude of indifference, a strong disciplined response, progression of power, extension of the circle, the deltoid muscle on your left shoulder, the elasticity of your body, the axis of your spine, your left brain, your right brain, your kinaesthetic mind, your body mind…all this has something to do with golf.
This is the way winners think. We see what we want to happen, losers see what they don’t want.
When we go from the practice tee to the first tee, winners take their swing with them, losers don’t. What’s the longest walk in golf? Its from the practice tee to the first tee, I don’t care if its only ten yards, it’s the longest walk.
Losers cant produce when the bell rings and they cant do that with anything in life.
Don’t put so much value on everything; it is just a walk in the park. Every time I tee up the ball I say ‘what have I got to lose?’ A lousy golf ball. What else? If I lose it, go get another one!
What the game lacks today, it is the inward part. We are not taught that. No one in school comes up to you and tells you how to win, how to be yourself, how to believe in yourself…it always the same thing, hope and fear, hope and fear and it just drives me nuts. That is all people live with hope and fear.
People don’t use more than three percent of their mind. . .3 is a long way from 100, let me tell you that. What a terrible thing to waste between those ears. That five and a half inches between those ears that’s what you win with. Your mind is a generator your body is the motor. Your golf club is the trigger, the golf ball is the bullet, now aim and fire. We aim but we don’t fire. We direct…losers direct their emotions. Losers live that way everyday in life. They are directing themselves down the highway, down the road they are 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. People are a mystery to themselves and always will be. You are what you think you are. If you think you are beaten you are. If you want to win but think you cant, it is almost certain that you wont. If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost. Success begins in a fellows will. Its all in a state of mind. You’ve got to feel sure of yourself before you will ever win a prize.
The only way you are going to play golf up to your full physical potential is playing subconscious golf. Now you have the tools to do it, thanks for coming.
I just cant believe how the mind is not used more in life and we wonder why the world is going the way it is going. One thing this world is always going to lack is knowledge, I don’t care how long it is going to be here, it will always lack knowledge.
Stop being afraid of yourself. Don’t say ‘I got to do anything’ in life. There is nothing in this world you got to do. You don’t have to go to bed tonight, you don’t have to go out that door tonight, but you want to. People always say ‘I got to do this or that’ but they don’t got to do anything, they want to do it. Tomorrow when I shoot 65, I don’t ‘got to’, I want to!
I want to spend a dollar, that is what it is for. Losers have a $100 note in their pocket, what are they thinking? I hope it doesn’t go to $99. What does a winner think? They are thinking $102, $104, $106 and how to make it more. Winners look up, losers look down.
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. I just flowed with nature and went and did it.
Get that mind ripe. If you got your mind ripe and you got leadership, poise, composure and you got mentality…oh man, what strong things to have instead of hope and fear. Lack of awareness and lack of this and that, that is what people have got because they are afraid of their own self.
People are afraid to win.
Every time I teed it up I wanted to shoot another course record and I shot 41 of them in my life.
I haven’t been to a doctor in my whole life. I am 65 years old. It is because I get along with myself, I believe in Moe Norman. I didn’t listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry and I still don’t today because people don’t know what they are talking about.
A missed golf shot will never hurt my golf swing, only my vanity. Vanity is a luxury of fools. That is the best statement I have ever heard in my life.
Moe Norman demonstrates his devastatingly accurate swing in 1995 for a young Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, an unidentified photographer, Nick Price and Nick Faldo. ILLUSTRATION: Howard J. Alter
Happiness is achievement. What is the father of achievement? Motivation. Whats the mother of achievement? Encouragement. A fine golf swing is truly an achievement.
Man may lie steal and cheat for gain, but he’ll never gain a golf swing. To gain a golf swing, man must work. Its work without toil. It’s intoxication without the hangover. Its stimulation without the pills. Its defeating, yet it generates courage. It is humbling and it nobles the human spirit. Its prices are high, yet its rewards are richer. Some say it’s a boys past time, yet it builds men. Cleanses the mind, rejuvenates the body. It is all these things and more, golf is truly happiness.
Golf is better than being in jail. I know a lot of boys in jail, looking through those bars would love to be on that green fairway. What do we do when we get on that green fairway? We put ourselves in jail. Throwing clubs and calling ourselves names every time we miss a shot. Instead of patting ourselves on the back we kick ourselves in the arse. We always downgrade ourselves. We never pat ourselves. We always downgrade ourselves and make ourselves feel worse.
Every time I hit a golf shot I feel like I am shaking hands with the flagstick, whether I am 500 yards away or 5 feet…I feel like I am going to grab it and the ball goes right at it, every time.
People minds are racing too much. Always racing. They don’t know how to relax. They don’t know how to take the good with the bad.
Stabilise, energise, contain and release, or, force, form, hold, release. What most golfers do is strike, steer, stare and stall and that is bogey golf.
Losers live in classic style and they never lay in golfs Sunday aisle. They blame bad luck each time they lose and hide with sickness, drugs and booze. Winners live each day as if their last, not in the future or in the past and that someday becomes now. That is the way winners live, now. We are here today, LIVE, we might not be here tomorrow.
Under lost & found, LOST: one 24 hour 24 carrot golden day. Each hour started with 60 diamond minutes, each minute started with 60 ruby seconds but don’t bother look for it. It is gone forever that wonderful golden day I lost today.
87% of this game is knowing what it is all about. And the main thing is knowledge, the rest of it is insight. To me a good golfer is one who can hit the golf 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.
The computer of our brain sends out messages through our nerves to our golf muscles to help produce the shot. This of course means your own heart and soul, plus your own personal character are part of every shot you make.
See Moe Norman scrap book, https://moenorman.org/tag/moe-norman/
His friend David Owen talking about Moe Norman.
"A missed golf shot will never hurt my golf swing, only my vanity. Vanity is a luxury of fools. That is the best statement I have ever heard in my life." Ditto!!!