Homer Kelley's Golfing Machine: The Curious Quest That Solved Golf

In 1939, a billiard hall fry cook from Tacoma named Homer Kelley played golf for the first time and scored 116. Frustrated, he did not play again for six months; then when he did he shot 77. Obsessively inquisitive with a mind for science, Kelley devoted the next 30 years to solving the science behind the perfect golf swing, self-publishing his findings in 1969 in a book titled The Golfing Machine.

Unlike the bestselling instruction books of the day that required golfers to conform their swings to the author's ideals, Homer Kelley configured swings to fit every golfer. The Golfing Machine was revolutionary but also intimidating: heavy on physics, geometry and scientific vernacular, Kelley's work was largely dismissed and seemed doomed to obscurity before visionary teacher Ben Doyle and his superstar prodigy Bobby Clampett brought Kelley's teachings to worldwide prominence--only to see Clampett suffer an inexplicable implosion and blow a seven stroke lead at the British Open.

Validation finally came 70 years after Homer Kelley's odyssey began, and 25 years after his death, in the unexpected form of a teenage girl when Morgan Pressel, a "Golfing Machine baby," became the youngest golfer ever to win a major championship.

With exclusive, first-ever access to Homer Kelley's archives, veteran journalist Scott Gummer delivers an enlightening look into the nuances of the game and paints a fascinating picture of the man behind the machine, the ultimate outsider and under appreciated genius who changed the game once and for all of us.