Who led Mac O'Grady to Homer?

[KOC]

...In 1978, McGleno changed his name to Mac O'Grady, combining his mother's maiden name with the nickname of his friend McClelland. The new Mac threw away his past. He also got serious about lefthanded golf and took lessons from Sherry Wilder, a woman pro in Palm Desert. After a month and a half, he shot a 68 lefty. He still felt more comfortable swinging righthanded, although to this day he putts from the south side.

With the next year came a turning point in O'Grady's life. In January he heard of The Golfing Machine, something of a cult book by Homer Kelley. Kelley, an engineer's aide in Seattle, had broken down the golf swing into 24 components and 144 variations. The writing is at once mystical and scientific. "The first time I tried to read the book," says O'Grady, "I threw it down the stairs. I didn't even know what a 90-degree angle was. Fumiko told me, 'You must go see this man. Then it will be a guided struggle, not a blind struggle.' "

At first, O'Grady spoke with Kelley by phone and gradually ran up thousands of dollars in long-distance charges. He also flew to Seattle and spent 2½ days with Kelley. O'Grady became the teacher's pet, and his golf game improved.

But McClelland, for one, had run out of patience. In 1980 he wrote O'Grady off. "He told me I'd been the biggest disappointment of his life," says O'Grady. " 'You're such a good player, but you're never going to be great,' he said. He asked me not to come to the factory anymore. I was hurt, but I was no longer the feebleminded child. I said, 'I disagree with you. I only wish I had changed my name to Raphael O'Grady.' "

In October 1981, O'Grady married Fumiko in her hometown of Sakai, near Osaka. But then, perhaps the crudest blow was struck when, on his 16th try, O'Grady led the qualifying tournament after 36 holes. He shot back to back 80s at Huntsville, Texas and missed qualifying for the tour by four strokes. "I was afraid to call Mr. Kelley after that, but when I did, he said, 'That's O.K. You'll be a better golfer because of the struggle.' "...

Another death hit O'Grady hard in 1983; Homer Kelley died in February, while working on the seventh edition of The Golfing Machine. "For 20 years I had been marooned on an island of ignorance," says O'Grady. "That book got the clay out of my ears and lifted the veil from my eyes." Before he died, Kelley had said that O'Grady understood his book as well as anyone.

Mac's interview in 1984