Golf pro Noal Moon talks about his last 30 years as a master teacher in Lodi. Noal and his wife, Darlene, have owned Backspin Golf Center for 13 years. They are closing their doors at the end of October. (Whitney Ramirez/News-Sentinel)

End of the drive

Golf pro to retire from Lodi driving range

Noal Moon was 26 years old when someone sold him a set of golf clubs for $25 simply because they needed the money.

Since Moon made his $25 investment, he figured he needed to put them from some use. By hitting golf balls daily from 4:30 p.m. to midnight in his San

Francisco garage, Moon taught himself to play.

The rest is history, as Moon spent the next 40 years teaching people how to play the game.

Moon, 66, is retiring as owner of Backspin Golf Center of Lodi on Harney Lane at the end of October. He has spent almost 14 years teaching children and adults the fundamentals of the game while creating custom-made golf clubs.

Moon can't teach every aspect of the game because his lessons are limited to a driving range and not a full course. He taught at an indoor golf school on South Stockton Street for about six years before moving outdoors to Harney Lane, where he's spent the past seven years.

"We haven't had a vacation in five years," Moon said, explaining why he's getting tired of the daily grind at Backspin Golf Center.

The driving range may close at the end of the month, depending on what the property owner plans to do with the land. A couple of people are interested in keeping the property as a driving range, but it's up to the landowner.

In any case, Moon plans to go wherever the spirit takes him, which generally will focus on golfers he knows who have potential to qualify for the PGA tour, he said.

In addition to teaching people how to swing the club properly, Moon teaches the mental aspects of the game and how to hit the ball on different kinds of grass and sand.

"It's called MBA golf — mind, body and attitude," he said.

Moon, who wears sunglasses to go with his straw hat, is quite the confident golf instructor, saying he has been a "master teacher" for 30 years.

How to master the perfect swing

Golf Pro Noal Moon helps AJ Tenbrog, 12, with his golf stance on Sunday afternoon at Backswing Golf Center in Lodi. Noal has been a master teacher for 30 years. He and his wife have owned Backspin Golf for 13 years. They are closing their doors at the end of October. (Whitney Ramirez/News-Sentinel)

"Keep the head down," said Noal Moon, golf pro at Backspin Golf Center of Lodi. "Don't take your eye off the ball. It's the most important thing in golf."
The only other advice Moon offered was to keep your swing consistent.
"There's no such thing as a bad golf swing as long as it repeats itself," Moon said. "There are real bad swings on the (PGA) tour, and there are good swings that can't make the tour."
Source: Noal Moon

Backspin Golf Center at a glance

Location: 2800 E. Harney Lane, just west of West Lane.
Phone: 333-8172
Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Source: Backspin Golf Center of Lodi

"I still play almost every day, and I play scratch golf," he said.

Although he enjoys teaching already-gifted golfers, Moon also enjoys seeing children and teens take up the game. Quite a few times, he'll encounter someone who's never played the game, but needs to learn quickly.

He'll invariably hear, "I'm playing in a company golf tournament, and I've never played. I need a crash course."

Moon tries to do that, too.

Born in Ely, Nev., Moon moved with his family to San Francisco at the age of 10. He became a machinist after graduating from high school, but that fateful meeting with the man who needed to sell his golf clubs changed Moon's life.

He would spend hours each day in his garage hitting 500 to 1,000 golf balls per day into a net. He learned about the game by reading books and watching his swing in a mirror behind the net.

Moon held a various jobs. He sold cars and loaded produce, but golf came first.

"I quit secure jobs for golf," he said. "The job had to work around my golf schedule, or I wouldn't work for you."

He lived in the San Jose area for several years before moving to Placerville. It was there that he met his future wife, Darlene, in 1988.

"I thought golf was stupid," Darlene Moon said. "But I got hooked."

Since then, she's worked with her husband, focusing on the business aspect of the operation.

After meeting in Placerville, the Moons sold their home there, bought a motorhome and traveled to golf courses all over the place for four years.

They settled down, with Noal Moon serving as pro at Mace Meadows Golf Course in Pioneer for four years before moving to Lodi. They will continue to live in Lodi.

In addition to teaching golf, Moon makes his own golf clubs for customers. On Sunday, he measured the distance between a young man's shoulder and fingers to determine who long the golf club's shaft should be.

Then he went to his workshop, cut off the shaft to the proper length, wrapped some masking tape where the grip would be. From there, he poured some contact cement and fit some rubber around part of the shaft where the hands go. He connects the shaft of the club, which takes 24 hours to connect.

But now it's time for a change. The Moons want to operate on their own schedule and go wherever they want. But golf will never go away.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.