70s Mercury 50hp throttle issue

[rsp95]

I'm a new boat owner (62 MFG Westfield Deluxe) and it came with what I believe is an early 1970 Mercury 50hp outboard. I think it also had the wording of "Lightning bolt" on it. The motor starts up with no problem, idles fine, no weird noises what so ever. My problem is that the motor doesn't seem to pull until the throttle lever is close to max. It would be like pressing down on your accelerator and the car doesn't start moving until your pedal is almost touching the floor board. I checked the cables and it seems to be moving fine, no binding, and the cable moves as soon as I push the lever. It seems like the motor still has more to give except I'm already at the maximum throttle position. Is there an adjustment I can do to fix this? I know nothing about outboards. Any help is appreciated. I feel like I'm running at only half throttle.