In Search of the Historical Homer Kelley and his "Golfing Machine"

[Brian Manzella]

The time has come to write a definitive history of Homer, the book, the AI program, all the major players, etc.

First order of business:

Who spent the most time studying with Homer? After we come up with a top 5, I am going to interview every living one of them.

The top 2, the best I can figure were:
1. Don Shaw
2. Bruce Hough

This is going to be a heck of a project!

 

[Brian Manzella]

START HERE:

The Story of The Golfing Machine

In 1941, avid golfer Homer Kelley had a problem. He was playing very good golf, shooting in the seventies, in his very first year playing the game. Golf is supposed to be more difficult than this, he was told, so he wanted to know why he was playing so well. He talked to several golf pros that taught the game, but none could give him satisfactory answers. Being a scientist at work and at heart he knew that there had to be answers. So the engineering aide from Seattle, Washington began what he figured to be a one week project mapping out the "science" of the golf swing.

Twenty-eight years later he finished his project. A wonderfully complete study of why the ball goes where it goes, how the club moves to make it fly long and straight or short and crooked, and what the human body must do to get the club to move in these manners.

This study was published in a book, and has been updated five times since. It has long been acknowledged as THE most complete study on the way the golf swing actually works. It has ALL of the answers within its 241 pages. Every golf professional who has searched high and low to uncover or discover the mysteries of the swing and found the ANSWERS, has all wound up in the same place---this little yellow book.

The book separates fact from fiction and science from opinion. It explains, by using physics and geometry, exactly what is going on at impact and during the rest of the stroke. It breaks down the golf swing into its samenesses and differences. The samenessses occur in every stroke and are explained in fine detail erasing all mystery to the questions of power production and ball flight.
The differences are the variations of the 24 actions of the golf stroke that CAN BE DONE IN MORE THAN ONE WAY. From these twenty-four components and their variations, it is shown how countless effective golf "swings" can be executed to produce ideal ball flight. A trained instructor can use these variations to custom fit a player with a "stroke pattern" that gives them their best chance to execute what the book defines as the three imperatives to good ball striking and what Kelley calls the "secret" of golf---sustaining the line of compression. He defines sustaining the line of compression as keeping the original impact points of the clubface and the ball in contact with each other for the 3/4ths of an inch that it takes for the ball to spring off the clubface after impact.

It is this principle on which the system that the book supports is created around.
This system, The Star System of G.O.L.F. (G.O.L.F. is an acronym for Geometrically Oriented Linear Force) is a synergy of two processes. These processes consist of an "engineering system" and a "feel" system. The engineering system isolates and coordinates the mechanics of the stroke pattern. The feel system translates them into a describable sensation---describable to, and by, the individual player. The result of this interaction is the slogan of The Golfing Machine---"Let Mechanics produce and Feel reproduce".

The book was presented to the PGA of America, the organization that trains the vast majority of club professionals and teaching professionals in the U.S.A., in 1973. It was rejected as the official teaching manual of the PGA because it was considered to be "over the heads" of the PGA members and the golfing public. The PGA then crafted a "simplified" swing and teaching model based on the book that was incomplete and misleading. When this "simplification" was finally updated into a book (The PGA Teaching Manual) it contained 600-plus pages with less information about how the swing works then the 241-page GOLFING MACHINE.

Despite the over 25 years the book has been on the market, and over 50,000 books sold, most golfers have never heard of it. A significant percentage of the golf pros and amateurs who have heard of it ridicule it despite often never having read the book. There are numerous reasons for these opinions.

It is not a how to book. The book is complex due to its complete coverage of the subject. Because Kelley tried to keep the book's size to a minimum, so that it could easily be carried around, there is very little explanations of the explantations. An additional reason for the "heavy read" is it was written by a genius engineer, not an English professor or novelist. Because previously unknown elements of the swing were uncovered during the research, new terminology had to be adapted to classify these elements.

Perhaps the number one reason the book has remained an enigma is that most golf pros are severely undertrained as teachers. Nearly all instruction manuals are written from the experience of the author and this often leads to a "simplicity by omission" that has lead pros to not question old empirical axioms. Any thing, book, or person who is a threat to the assumption by the golfing public that "the pro knows it all," will be most certainly denounced by some in any way possible.

So how can the average player, above average player, or beginner learn from Homer Kelley's brilliant work besides, or in addition to, buying the book and reading it?

Mr. Kelley, who passed away in 1983 while giving a seminar on his work for the PGA of America, in his wisdom, set up a program to authorize instructors to teach utilizing his system.

There are over 150 Authorized Instructors of this system worldwide. Authorized Instructors have won every kind of teaching award there is including mutiple winners of the National PGA Teacher of The Year. Their students have won every conceivable title in golf. But most would tell you that they are most proud of their former 100+ shooters who now score in the 70's and one time powder-puff hitters who now win long drive contests.

There are dozens of other instructors who teach the system, some very prominent, who have not been authorized, but use the information in their teaching as gospel.

The first professional Homer Kelley authorized was a golf pro with a gift for imaginative thinking. He has utilized this imagination to further develop the practical application of teaching The Golfing machine. His name is Ben Doyle, and he instructs both players and teachers on his lesson tee at Quail Lodge Resort in Carmel, California. Hundreds of teachers have copied many of Mr. Doyle's teaching methods either directly from him or from one of his teaching or playing professional students.

The Golfing Machine organization was run by Homer Kelley's widow, Sally, in Seattle, Washington, since Homer's passing. Today the organazation is run by a Authorized Instructor Joe Daniels who conducts Authorized Instructor classes and published the 7thedition of the book which includes notes that Homer was to include in his next update.

By Brian Manzella, PGA, G.S.E.D.

 

[Brian Manzella]

AND HERE!

Homer Kelley 1907-1983
As told by Sally Kelley

Many people may be surprised that Homer Kelley’s first love in sport was tennis, rather than golf.

Growing up in Minnesota with the Minnehaha Falls State Park in his backyard, Homer learned to play tennis. He hung out with the local tennis pros and over the years became very proficient with the game.

He left Minnesota in 1929 with a friend, driving across the United States in a Model T with the goal to reach Seattle and get a job on a ship heading to Australia or New Zealand. His arrival in Tacoma, Washington was on October 29, 1929 which coincided with the stock market crash. As a result, they decided not to leave the country.

To make ends meet, Homer got a job at a local billiards hall as a cook – a job which he hated but one that kept him employed during the Great Depression. The owner was an avid golfer and gave Homer a series of golf lessons. This was his first exposure to the game and he approached it with a great deal of curiosity. He was always asking questions that the local golf pros couldn’t answer and this lack of definitive information set the stage for the development of The Golfing Machine.

During World War II, Homer landed a job at Boeing, the country’s foremost manufacturer of aircraft. There, working in the engineering department, Homer found a home for his inventive spirit; there he created solutions to problems that seemed to elude others. He also became an instructor, teaching Boeing engineers how to apply the problem solving skills that came so naturally to him. From there, he worked for the Navy and continued to apply his ability to invent and problem solve until the naval base closed.

Homer and I met in 1953. I had just returned from a 12-year stint working in Hawaii and was working in downtown Seattle as a bookkeeper at the Frise Precious Metals Company. I met Homer at church one day. We were both Christian Scientists, “a religion that is a simple, scientific system of metaphysics used by practitioners throughout the world. The teaching of the system begins with an understanding of the basic tenets and rules set forth in the Christian Science textbook.”

With our Christian Science faith so strongly based on science, it isn’t any wonder that Homer – a man who was a scientist and inventor at heart – applied his faith into his written work as The Golfing Machine. Christian Science teaches us that “pure science is built upon self-evident truths. Exact science is knowledge, so arranged that prediction and verification by experiment are possible. Application Science is a knowledge of phenomena as explained, accounted for or produced by means of powers, causes or laws. Christian Science fulfils every demand of these definitions – it is a provable, definitive and demonstrable truth.” And, when the same approach was applied by Homer to the golf swing, the result was the same – a scientific system based on verifiable truths that are proven, definitive and demonstrable. Just as with The Golfing Machine, Christian Science Founder Mary Baker Eddy writes “To mortal sense, Christian Science seems abstract but the process is simple and the results are sure if the Science is understood.”

When I met Homer he had been making notes, since 1940, on the concepts which would evolve into The Golfing Machine. Those first golf lessons, the unanswered questions and lack of definitive information from golf professionals were “percolating” in his mind. Because of his “faith” he knew that an answer would eventually show itself and that science would prevail. Later, in the book, Homer would define this time as the “incubation” period. Which is taking an idea that you don’t understand and turning it over and over in your mind, which eventually will yield an answer.

I got Homer a job at the Frise Precious Metals Company where he again used his problem solving skills to invent a way to separate the mercury from the silver. We were married in 1954 and moved into our first home in the Wedgewood neighborhood in North Seattle shortly thereafter.

With his new job, he had more time to spend playing golf and with that he began to pull together the concepts that later formed the book. Homer felt so strongly that there should be no reason for the lack of knowledge about the golf swing that in 1960 he quit his job to work on the book full-time. We bought our second home, just blocks from our first home and it was there that he set up a studio in the garage and started to write – “hunting and pecking” on the typewriter every day.

During that time, we would often go together to a driving range across from the University of Washington. There he would hit balls and use me as a sounding board to critique him. He would often take the time just to observe people on the range hitting balls, making comments like “10 years from now, that guy won’t be any better. All he needs is a little definitive information”. He was always analyzing people and working on his own swing as well. The pros at the range would point him out to people and say to their students “See him? That’s how you should do it!” And he even worked on my swing, which improved greatly under his instruction – another proof point that the ideas he was writing about were solid and applicable.

When the book was published in 1969, there were both skeptics and followers to Homer’s work. To the skeptics, Homer would always patiently approach criticisms with “That’s an interesting thought, but what if you looked at it this way?” He made sure that people understood that he did not makeup the information in the book; that, in fact, The Golfing Machine is based on scientific principles covering physics and geometry. Homer – using the same problem solving techniques that he used with any job combined with the basis of his faith as a Christian Scientist – explained that he simply applied these age-old proven principles to the golf swing. And with that, The Golfing Machine was born.

But for some, they just weren’t ready for this approach to golf – for many, he was before his time. He knew that they were arguing scientific principles and didn’t take their criticisms personally. He hoped that eventually they would understand that he was only interpreting this information and he was willing to share the knowledge knowing that it was proven.

His followers became a very devoted group, even some of the famous names came to our house for instruction and taking a break in the kitchen to enjoy my homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk. Homer found himself traveling more and more to teach and present the concepts in The Golfing Machine. During the 1970’s and early 1980’s, many articles were published about Homer and the book.

With that notoriety, golf instructors came to him for more information. He realized that the world could benefit from instructors trained with the definitive concepts of The Golfing Machine. So, he set forth to develop an authorization program that would allow instructors to easily explain these scientific concepts to their students. Ben Doyle, Tommy Tomesello, Alex Sloan, Don Shaw, and Larry Aspenson, were some of the first to follow Homer’s works and many would follow until Homer’s death in 1983.

While Homer’s death was untimely – The Golfing Machine’s authorization program was just hitting its stride – I can certainly say today that Homer would be pleased to see that The Golfing Machine is moving forward in the direction that he had intended. He would tell those who are interested and perhaps even struggling with some of the concepts they are learning in the classes to “hang in there – you are on the right track.” The current program continues to reflect Homer’s vision, appreciation for knowledge and his application of scientific principles to all facets of The Golfing Machine.

 

[JeffM]

Brian - I hope that you (or some other person) writes a book that explains the TGM book. I recently read the book and found it incomprehensible, because there was no explanatory prose text. It was simply an endless series of photos/positions/mechanical principles. I think that it needs a comprehensive "story" that explains its logic.

Jeff.

 

[self-mastery]

The Golfing Machine needs a major makeover to interest the average golfer. I think that a TGM dvd would be great. The DVD should show several different patterns and explain them using TGM terms.

 

[Michael Jacobs]

Nice posts and topic Brian! When I traveled to Seattle to visit Sally in 2001 I was working on a similar project. The goal was to create a Triple sized book, where it would have a history of Homer, the book itself with all different content from all the editions, and finally an explanation page that went along with every page. Along with that, the 7th edition the way he left it, the plan was to have 5 GSED's Ben Doye being the leader, help write the explanation pages. Obviously deal never went through because of financial reasons, came close though. On the other hand, the week I spent in Seattle was spent doing research on Homer - - I have notebooks filled with Notes about him and hours upon hours of videos of Sally and nearby friends disucssing his life and works, I'll show you everything when you come to Long Island. Its snowing up here today, so I am going to go up to the attic and retrieve some of that stuff and I'll make some posts with some of the awesome info.........

One thing I will say, Edition #1,2,3 are absolutley Gems
Also, a lot can be said of where he did his practicing in the studio, if I can figure out how to post pictures here in posts, I have some great pics of a week's worth of stuff in Seattle.

 

[hg]

Nice posts and topic Brian! When I traveled to Seattle to visit Sally in 2001 I was working on a similar project. The goal was to create a Triple sized book, where it would have a history of Homer, the book itself with all different content from all the editions, and finally an explanation page that went along with every page. Along with that, the 7th edition the way he left it, the plan was to have 5 GSED's Ben Doye being the leader, help write the explanation pages. Obviously deal never went through because of financial reasons, came close though. On the other hand, the week I spent in Seattle was spent doing research on Homer - - I have notebooks filled with Notes about him and hours upon hours of videos of Sally and nearby friends disucssing his life and works, I'll show you everything when you come to Long Island. Its snowing up here today, so I am going to go up to the attic and retrieve some of that stuff and I'll make some posts with some of the awesome info.........

One thing I will say, Edition #1,2,3 are absolutley Gems
Also, a lot can be said of where he did his practicing in the studio, if I can figure out how to post pictures here in posts, I have some great pics of a week's worth of stuff in Seattle.

MJ

Sorry to hear that finances was the sticking point to what sounds like a great project....hopefully you can post the pics...would love to learn more about Homer and his journey...it has been fascinating so far.

 

[golfbulldog]

One thing I will say, Edition #1,2,3 are absolutley Gems
Also, a lot can be said of where he did his practicing in the studio, if I can figure out how to post pictures here in posts, I have some great pics of a week's worth of stuff in Seattle.

Mike, i recently got a 3rd edition and it is a brilliant book! I know that you have done a comparison of editions and would love to hear your thoughts on where you think Homer was going... and why he made the changes he did...

The thing that struck me was that edition 3 is only 150 pages!!!! edition 6 is 241!!!! an extra 90 pages !!!!

Edition 3 is far easier to read and sets out the, for some.., "mythical" 4 barrel stroke pattern. I am about to start another thread to discuss this... i hope you and Brian and "4 barrels" Steve can comment. Thanks.

 

[Brian Manzella]

A few questions...

Here are a few good questions:

What book did Homer think was the best instruction book?

Who did he think had the best golf swing?

Is Carl Johnson still living?

...I have about 1000 more...

 

[golfbulldog]

Here are a few good questions:

What book did Homer think was the best instruction book?

Who did he think had the best golf swing?

Is Carl Johnson still living?

...I have about 1000 more...

I read somewhere that he thought that Hogan was the best mechanic...

I read Percy Boomers book "on Learning Golf" and i hear so much TGM phrases...Percy taught through feels alot , whereas TGM repeats through feels but so many similar phrases...

It would be fascinating to see which books Homer had in his library!! Which ones were hardly used and which ones had the spines broken and coffee stains etc!!

 

[golfbulldog]

The time has come to write a definitive history of Homer, the book, the AI program, all the major players, etc.

First order of business:

Who spent the most time studying with Homer? After we come up with a top 5, I am going to interview every living one of them.

The top 2, the best I can figure were:
1. Don Shaw
2. Bruce Hough

This is going to be a heck of a project!

Jay Perkins wrote a message on another site ... he seemed to spend alot of time with Homer...

 

[Michael Jacobs]

My guess - His favorite Golf book Sam Snead How to Play Golf
Favorite Regular Book - Science and Health

 

[golfbulldog]

My guess - His favorite Golf book Sam Snead How to Play Golf
Favorite Regular Book - Science and Health

Mike, did you see his collection of books when you visited Sally?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Here is what I am looking for...

I am not looking for opinion.

I am looking for the story. Once upon a time.... The story.

EXAMPLE:
the story = A letter written to Sally Kelley said X.

the opinion= "Sally would have wanted X..."

 

[Michael Jacobs]

I am not looking for opinion.

I am looking for the story. Once upon a time.... The story.

EXAMPLE:
the story = A letter written to Sally Kelley said X.

the opinion= "Sally would have wanted X..."

OK, Sam Snead's how to play golf - was sitting on his piano and had the most wear and tear than any of his other books

He had a lot of swing sequences of Jack Nicklaus hanging on the wall

 

[birdie_man]

Brian......putting together some kind of definitive history on Homer and the book sounds like a big task......

What made you think of doing this? Too much misinformation?

What would this ideally accomplish?

Here are a few good questions:

What book did Homer think was the best instruction book?

Who did he think had the best golf swing?

Is Carl Johnson still living?

...I have about 1000 more...

Who's Carl Johnson?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Good questions, Paul.

Brian......putting together some kind of definitive history on Homer and the book sounds like a big task......

What made you think of doing this? Too much misinformation?

What would this ideally accomplish? Who's Carl Johnson?

Researching The Golfing Machine's information and story is something I HAVE ALREADY BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 26 YEARS. Actually before that. I heard about the book in 1980. I had to find the book first.

I know probably 80-85% of the whole story already. I just thought people would come out of the woodwork and tell the story FOR ME, and fill in the blanks.

No chance. Why? Everybody's got an agenda. I know a whole bunch I can't say. So, basically, the whole truth will probably NEVER get out. And you know what? So what?

There is a whole bunch of misinformation, but, to be fair, go do some Bible research. They were editing Jesus.

It took a lot—and I mean a lot—but I finally realized:

What in the heck does ANY OF IT have to do with what I going to teach today in my 11 o'clock lesson?

Not a DAMN thing.

AND....What in the heck does ANY OF IT have to do with me reaching my dual-goals of becoming the BEST teacher on the planet, and being thought of as such.

What was the REASON I wanted the whole truth to get out?

Easy. I thought it would level the playing field. But—who am I kidding? This playing field called "the golf instruction business" ain't level—and it will never be level. So what? I'm still playing. Who's got next?

I mention Carl Jonson, and nobody responds??? It was a test. Lots of people know who he was. He was a very close friend of Homer and Sally, a very prominent lawyer in Seatlle who had a lot to do with building Sahalee Country Club, where they played a PGA. http://www.sahalee.com/clubhist.aspx?SecID=38

He did a lot for TGM after Homer passed, and had to deal with all sorts of people who were doing Homer and Sally wrong, so to speak. I spent a lot of time on the phone with him, and he was VERY nice to me. I was very young, and very eager, and I had millions of ideas. He listened and helped me a bunch. I hope he is still with us.

Sally was the nicest old lady you would ever talk to—like your great-grandmother. She was some kind of smart too. I am so glad she lived a long time.

At the end of the day, I had this SILLY IDEA that the TGM community would be like a City, full of action and plenty of big, tall, different buildings. People could visit the ones they wanted, and get the help they needed.

The LLC with Joe Daniels would be an old stately courthouse. Ben would be the Empire State Building. Chuck Cook would be a W hotel. Gregg McHatton the Transamerica. I would be some Italian building with a painted ceiling. The Martin Hall buliding, the Tom Ness Building. Every AI a building.

No chance.

Then it all becomes about WHO can HELP WHO play BETTER.

We can't have that. The Italian might win.

So, here we sit, like the box of 36 TacFlow grips I made Stan Stopa buy in 1985, and they were still sitting on a shelf in 1995, with 35 of 'em STILL in the box.

Thanks for all the good info Homer, you saved me a lot of time.

And now....on to the rest of my life.

 

[rwh]

What the 11 o'clock Lesson Wants

What in the heck does ANY OF IT have to do with what I going to teach today in my 11 o'clock lesson?

I'm pretty sure that 99.9% of students who take that 11 o'clock lesson don't give a rip, either. We just want to get better.

 

[golfbulldog]

My own bit of research... Tacflow???....

So, here we sit, like the box of 36 TacFlow grips I made Stan Stopa buy in 1985, and they were still sitting on a shelf in 1995, with 35 of 'em STILL in the box.

Thanks for all the good info Homer, you saved me a lot of time.

And now....on to the rest of my life.

Had to find out what these things were...

"TacFlo has developed a line of grips made of Silicone rubber. Their new grip for 1996 is the Black Gold Dust which is a silicone rubber and cork combination that is 30% lighter and retains it's tack when wet or dirty. The tackiness is an inherent part of the silicone and not just a surface coating or dripping method. The TacFlow grips also come in very unique colors that can set your custom clubs apart. No two grips colors are the same and are a mixture of blue, gold, light blue, green and pink.
Call the company at 800-833-8429 to order direct (min order 200 grips) or order from Golfsmith."

BUT DON'T CALL .... TAKEN FROM :-

PGA Trade Show Review
"LIVE" FROM SUNNY ORLANDO
Saturday January 27, 1996
Final Recap later this week.

AT http://www.clubmaker-online.com/pga.sat.html

 

[Amen Corner]

It took a lot—and I mean a lot—but I finally realized:

What in the heck does ANY OF IT have to do with what I going to teach today in my 11 o'clock lesson?

Not a DAMN thing.

Are you talking about the missinformation or the TGM information?

Sorry for not understanding the underline.......