Sunday, January 13, 2008

Moe's Dancin' the Green on the Big Screen


By Tim Graves, PGA
Graves Golf Academy

Memorialized on film, 2009 might be the year that the whole world is introduced to Moe Norman. Oscar award winning writer, Barry Morrow, famous for the film adaptation of Rain Man, has written the Moe Norman screenplay, currently titled Dance the Green, and along with Director George Gallo are working towards a goal of a widescreen release of 2009.

Canadian legend Moe Norman made his presence known by touring and teaching, all over the world. Most known for his uncanny ability to hit a golf ball straight every time, Moe’s golf swing was labeled “unorthodox, different, and downright weird”, but his genius for striking a golf ball could never be denied. Moe’s genius with a golf club was witnessed by hundreds of thousands throughout his lifetime and now a whole new generation of golfers will be introduced to him on the big screen.

Moe enjoyed much success as both an amateur and professional golfer. With 17 holes in one, three scores of 59, four scores of 61, and over 30 course records during his career, Moe dominated Canadian golf through the mid 20th century.

An unnaturally shy man, Moe shunned most public appearances. The ultimate showman with a golf club in his hand, Moe would hit drivers off of 6 inch tees, soda bottles, and play par 4 holes ‘backward’, hitting a wedge off the tee and a driver onto the green and still make par or better. After a brief stint on the U.S. PGA tour, these antics earned Moe a ‘dressing down’ by some members of the tour, and he left to never play in the U.S. competitively again. Moe’s accuracy with a golf ball earned him only a meager living until a Golf Digest article in 1995 was seen by executives at Titleist/Footjoy after which they paid Norman a stipend of $5,000 per month to be a spokesperson for their products.

The Graves Golf Academy is thrilled to have been chosen as the exclusive training facility for the lead actor(s) to swing like Moe. To date, multiple actors have been identified to play the role of Norman at his various life stages. Rumors are plentiful about the names of the actors, but as of the writing of this article, no specific names have been released. Needless to say, Morrow is planning on having actors that are "well known" to filmgoers worldwide.

The Graves Golf Academy has taught Norman's swing since the year 2000 and considers it the original single-axis or one-plane swing. Moe’s method is more compact and efficient than the conventional two-plane swing employed by most contemporary professionals.
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