Many people may be surprised that Homer Kelley’s first love in sports 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, until eventually it yields 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 “ten 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 make up 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 took 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.
Homer Kelley Author of The Golfing Machine
The Golfing Machine was first published in 1969 after 28
years of research by the late Homer Kelley 1907 - 1983, it
has been 42 years since its first publication and we are now
up to the 7th Edition which was published in 2006.
Homer’s first exposure to golf was back in 1929 when he
worked in a Billiard Hall during the Great Depression
years.
The owner was an avid golfer and gave Homer a series of
lessons. On his first game Homer shot a 115 and exactly six
months later he had a 77.
Well Homer thought he’s got it made, he’s finally perfected, mastered the golf
swing.
The only thing was, that when he went out again he couldn’t get anywhere near
that score. So he went back to his Golf Professional and explained what had
happened.
The Golf Professional said fine. Well you must have been a lot more relaxed.
Homer said that the night before he never slept as he was so nervous.
The golf pro asked Homer what he thought and homer said he felt he had a slower
and smoother swing so the professional said fine just continue doing that. That was
no answer for Homer.
Five different teachers later, five different sets of instructions later Homer was no
closer to achieving his goal.
Homer loved the game of golf. It really broke his heart to see so many people
having so much trouble playing this great game.
So this inspired Homer to gather all the possible information about the golf stroke,
he list and he categorized, he tested and he practiced and then he evaluated it all
and he wrote the book The Golfing Machine that equates a golfer with a machine
and sets down the Scientific Laws that govern the golf stroke.
Homer wasn’t a Golf Professional; he was an Engineer in the Navy and by his own
admission he never actually had an Engineering Degree. He worked for the Boeing
Aircraft Company and he was recognized as a problem solver even though there
was no actual position.
To Homer’s own way of thinking and talking others who had read many books on
golf, that all golf books were alike. At that time there were 115 recognized golf
books on the market.
So what was different, what was so special that Homer had to write yet another
volume when there were so many already? Homer thought that there should be
something better than “Feel”, or something behind “Feel” that needed to be
investigated.
He found that there were Relationships that had to be maintained and understood
and the best way to describe these Relationships was on a Geometrical Basis, as
nothing as complicated as golf could be handled with “Feel” without a “Feel
System”.
So from the Geometrical Relationships he began to take the “Feel” from
Relationships rather than just how
it felt and this gave him something
concrete to go by.
Homer thought that if players could
duplicate this motion on a
Geometrical Basis and decided for
themselves how it “Feels” to them,
then everyone would have their own
interpretation.
So it is not, Geometry as a Science,
as a study of Geometrical problems,
theorems and so forth but of Geometrical Figures such as Circles, Arcs, Points,
Lines, Rectangles, Triangles and so forth.
Law is the Cause, swing, stroke, procedures are the Means only and Ball Flight
whether intended or not intended is the Effect.
So use whatever Means to apply the Laws to get the desired ball Effect. These are
not just any made up golf laws but Newton’s Laws of Force and Motion.
In January of 1981 Homer conducted his first Authorized Instructors course and
the attendees were Mr. Alex Sloan, Mr. Tom Tomasello and Mr. Larry Aspenson.
We hope you have found these topics informative and compelling. The information
found here is merely a small representation of the vast amount of information resources
available in the groundbreaking instructor’s textbook The Golfing Machine.
The Golfing Machine, LLC includes a worldwide network of Authorized Instructors
whose accomplishments and accolades are second to none. We are expanding our
global network of Authorized Instructors, who provide their students on a daily basis
with the world’s most accurate and reliable source of information on the golf swing. We
invite take the first step in becoming an authorized instructor by attending our GSEB
classes. We would be honored to be a part of your continuing education and welcome
you to experience our comprehensive education experience.
Around here, too. I was up with the dogs at 5:00 this a.m., let them out through the garage door and found myself standing in my robe between two cars working on my flying wedges with two dowels. Pressure points, impact fixed, flying wedges, level left wrist, bent right wrist... Man, there's a lot one can do without a golf ball. I'm thinking that danged thing just gets in the way (double entendre).
Around here, too. I was up with the dogs at 5:00 this a.m., let them out through the garage door and found myself standing in my robe between two cars working on my flying wedges with two dowels. Pressure points, impact fixed, flying wedges, level left wrist, bent right wrist... Man, there's a lot one can do without a golf ball. I'm thinking that danged thing just gets in the way (double entendre).
And hands!
ICT
__________________
HP, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Progress and not perfection is the goal every day!
Thanks. I'm not quite sure how good a job this is. My ambitions were somewhat higher. But in all honesty: from being 5- 8 strokes over my rising hcp (like last year and the year before), I'm now starting to lower my hcp, so in that perspective I'm now 5-10 strokes better than I used to be on an average day ..
The thing that has helped me the most is probably my ability to get to the (par 4) greens in GIR or nearby by using the Hybrid on the approach shots when I can't get there with a 6 iron. The chipping and bunker shots don't scare me as much as they used to... That makes it fairly easy to get the bogey (and in some cases par)..
It takes thousands of repetitions to get a new move ingrained, just keep working on it and enjoy the smaller victories along the way !
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