Sept 2005 Golf Digest
 

Because of my studies in The Golfing Machine- I read the two major golf magazines sparingly. I enjoy the ‘Major’ issues- but the instruction reeks.

I did subscribe to a year's worth of Golf Digest because the price was right- FREE. I got my last issue today with a big notice to now pay for a real subscription. I was thinking maybe......

George Pepper wrote a book called The Secret of Golf that explains the secrets from 47 instructors and theories. Homer Kelley is one of the 47 detailed in the book, but in the magazine excerpt he is not one of the 18 listed.

Instead of Homer Kelley, readers get Jack Kuykendall- a certifiable loon, and Count Yogi- a fraud, whose under instruction I ever could find of his is to be simple and relaxed and just let it happen- Great !
Also instead of Homer, Dick Aultman’s Square to Square, Peter Beames’s Walk-through-swing, ala G. Player- so let s steer and hit off balance. It is sad. Not to mention David “Gravity” Lee is included.

One of my favorites- Percy Boomer’s secret reads like TGM- turn mechanics into feel and let the pivot produce lag (my words). And J. Douglas Edger’s secret reads like Boomer’s book- On Learning Golf.

So- no, I won’t subscribe to Golf Digest even at the free price. Sorry for the rant.

I looked it up on their webpage to see what you were refering to and it makes me wanna barf alot too.....

http://www.golfdigest.com/search/?/f...etofgolf1.html

Somethings wrong with the world....

I picked up the book which I like. The Golfing Machine only has two or three pages versus 8-9 for some of the other Secrets. Joe Dante on the other hand has a very nice write up.

Re: Sept 2005 Golf Digest
 

I'm on the same "free" subscription plan and got the same expiration notice... I also made the same decision not to renew. By the way, did you see in that issue that Tiger said he is hitting better drives, now that he is using a Stationary Head? Go figure. :D

What about the very first statement below the photos at the top of the article: "Henry Cotton said, educate the hands." Where have we heard this? :D

Ya man! I read that article last night!

Secret?!?!? My ass.

There is no one secret....and if there is one then I agree with Homer- it is clubhead lag and sustaining the line of compression.

They even say in the intro: "As even Tiger knows, great golf doesn't last. We can play over our heads for a few shots, a few holes, maybe even a few rounds, but not forever. Inevitably, the secret dies--the magic move, miracle key or foolproof method we'd clung to suddenly stops working, and we have no choice but to search for another."

We have no choice but to search for another???? What? So are they pushing the WOOD method now? I doubt Tiger needs to go "look for another (quick fix)." How about- "I had a bad round."

That article is garbage....it's only there because it's something they can put on the front page- hell, even I wanted to read that article when I saw it. But it looks like it was thrown together by a 20 handicapper who doesn't know the swing himself.

These articles should only be a "time-filler" read...but too many people actually take this approach to golf IMO.

-Paul

Homer would be the first to say he didn't invent the wheel. Many have the similar concepts and thoughts about the swing.

Homer did develop a better way to look at it and his approach, daunting for sure, is the first of its kind. Nobody has presented it better. No one.


As for secerts, birdie man, there are none that works like a magic pill.

Practice mechanics to produce feel...... you know the rest.

A flying wedge here, extensor action there, a few choice pressure points in the mix, throw it DOWN....... ------ > a machine you got. (more or less, lol)

Actaully what one can find interesting is

a. How many of the so called secrets are documented in TGM?

b. How many of the so called secrets came before or after TGM was published?

If anything, one could with some time using this and other articles that are raised to the level of the greatest golf instruction, to show that TGM is in fact complete, it has it all, not just a bit here or there? That is not to say that everyone has it right but at least they are looking for and attempting to identify components and variations of the golf stroke and the principles the drive the golf stroke.

They, unlike this group, still have a way to go....

What, no mention of the EdZ drills?

Balance?

You would think such a 'unifying theory' would get some attention!

](*,) \:D/

Did they at least list the imperatives and essentials in the section on TGM?

lag pressure?

Quite a lot of TGM in some of those 'secrets' from what I see.

I like this one:

Paul Trevillion

Secret >> Control the stroke with the right palm, letting the left wrist act as a hinge. Grasp the top of the grip with the left hand, then slide the right hand down the shaft (the shorter the putt, the lower the right hand).


Hmmm... so the farther down I grip the putter, the more the motion becomes exactly like tossing a ball underhanded with an extention of the right hand...... :idea:

I like that EdZ...

It's in the notes now.

Wasn't implying anything. I just love seeing the quote in Golf Digest. Just like I got a kick out of the TGM lingo on Inside the PGA Tour a few weeks ago. :D

I get GD, so I'll see all 47. Of the people who do get GD, we should have a contest to pick the worst "magic pill" for the average golfer. A nominee can't just be described as "sucky" or something equally subjective. It has to be substantiated in terms of its conflict(s) with TGM competencies. ie "This little gem is guaranteed to foul the Hinge AND bend the Plane because".... etc.

Special weighting should be given to anything that uses vocabulary that obfuscates the TGM nomenclature. ie Try to explain to somebody the Inclined Plane after he has swallowed and digested Jim Hardy's SP/DP defintions. :)

I don't suggest this to be nasty, I just see it as an interesting op-ed excersize. The winning analysis gets e-shipped off to GD, with everybody's name on it and a demand for "equal time". :)

Charlie

Cotton a machiner?
 

Here are some more Henry Cotton quotes from 1948 you may find interesting.

Ever since I decided to make golf my business I wanted to be a crack golfer and calculated that the nearer my golf swing could be made to resemble the action of a machine the better I would be. So I began to explore ways of getting a machine-like swing and eventually I arrived at the controlled backswing, now known as the “three quarter” swing.

If the player holds the clubface square at the address and holds the face down to the ball as long as possible, then he can go to the top of the swing with little wrist-roll, but these players are the shut-faced players and do not work their wrists in the way I do and the way I teach.

Some American players are “edging round the back” in an effort to get the left wrist lying flat at the top.

The ordinary player is always worried about the uncocking of the wrists but those who have trained, flexible wrists can “forget it.” The player with a bad grip and slow working wrists will find the correct positions impossible to attain.

If the club-head is always late and the clubface just a fraction open at impact and the swing is the normal easily-repeatable under-pressure swing many players proceed, in order to force the face just square, to make their swing complicated and full of effort. In so doing they destroy the whole of their acquired rhythm. I know that it should be possible to work out such a fault but to the average persons with limited time and ambition, it is not easy. I mention this case as it is the most common fault.

I like to feel that I hit the ball hard but disguise the hit in a swing as much as is possible; but many players who would imitate my swing should learn to hit first as no golf ball was ever sent a long way without a very hard hit.

There are two main ways of attacking the golf ball; to make the clubface work from open to shut or from shut to open.

From observation, I should say that more shut-faced golfers turn finally towards using the open face than vice versa. This is because in shut-faced golf much more strength is required in order to hold the clubface square to the ball at impact and to fight the ever present inclination of the clubface to close too much if the wrists are allowed to roll at all before impact.

The latest American technique is to use a shut faced push stroke for all iron shots, particularly those from 80 yards down. A series of lofted rough-faced pitching irons are employed in this way. I do not like it but must admit that the way Willie Turnesa played throughout the week at Carnoustie made me think it was a system to be respected and to be noted by would-be champions as something to experiment with.

Generally speaking, the most consistent and accurate players lift their heels the least from the ground during the swing. Those who “ride” their weight on the insides of their feet and keep their heels down always impress me favorably.

Now that a golf ball can be hit a longish way with an easy blow there is no need to wind up from the ankle and to throw one’s entire weight into the shot. It is better to learn to hit the ball from a position where the body is solidly anchored down. A good fast hitter can make his arms and wrists do all the work and play with the minimum foot movement to help him, as the winding and unwinding of the hips and shoulders is of greater value than the lifting of the heels up and down.

When should the wrists begin to work? This point is truly personal but there are a few simple rules involved in the question. A weak player needs to hit earlier than a strong one; a player who plays with a very open face throughout the swing needs to close the clubface to get it square at impact and so has to decide whether to close it on a gradual turn or on a kind of snap turn. Players who use a snap turn of the wrists usually hit a long ball as they are late hitters but are apt to misjudge this turn when under pressure. I prefer to see a player use some proportion of push in his shots when he has to produce winners.

At present the only way to get sufficient power into a full shot is to use a turning and flicking action.

It is curious how the very raw beginner, knowing nothing of wrist work, always takes the club back with the face square all the way; he is immediately taught to roll his wrists for his power. One day perhaps he will be left to follow this natural path.

The advantage of teaching players a simple system, with the minimum of wrist roll, is that every player can soon have his game “repaired” should he lose his form. I am sure that a gradual squaring up of the face on the way down is safer than a quick unwinding hit and so as I have advised before, a combination hit and push is preferable.

Anyone who can discover a system of teaching precision has a fortune just for the taking, but this precision unless a person is gifted, only comes through concentrated effort.

If you have been losing length lately and have not been playing as well as you are able, examine as well as you can the parts the right and left hands are playing in the shot and give your strong hand - the right - a chance to hit the ball; it wants to, if you will allow it.

Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan have recently contributed instructional golf books to the world’s already extensive golf library. These interesting, easy-to -read books follow the same lines in presentation and curiously enough describe the same method.
The young American generation of golfing machines considers the method used by these golf stars as something new, original even, whereas, in fact, it is probably as old as the game- even in golf “there is nothing new under the sun”. The theme in these books is that it is safest to keep the left wrist from going under the shaft too much at the top of the swing, as we have seen done for years by Harry Vardon, J.A. Taylor, James Braid, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and others, and to make the back of the left hand and the arm remain in a straight line; in other words, that there are no wrinkles at the wrist joint. The value of this position, it is claimed, is that it keeps the clubface shut or half shut at the top of the swing and by restricting the wrist action, cuts out the danger of “letting go”.
That this method produces results and wonderful results is beyond argument as these three athletes have long demonstrated, but having been aware of this method and having tried it extensively myself, I feel that it requires more than average athletic ability to use successfully. I think that it is a strong person’s method, as the power required in the left arm and wrist to hold “the back of the hand to the objective”, to use Nelson’s own words, is considerable.

Imagine the ball has little legs, and chop them off.

A system that requires less than 100 per cent use of either arm, I cannot consider a good one.

To hit a golf ball, precision is required and this cannot be taught in a matter of minutes by anyone.

I have found that to do an accurate, strong golf swing, golf muscles are needed. This is no discovery of course, but I am sure that it is essential to determine which are the weak muscles and work on them.

The grip must allow the hands to apply power in the surest fashion, via the wrists.

The big trick in putting is not method. The secret of putting is domination of the nerves.

Homer Kelley was on record saying that he put the book together from many sources, Cotton's work propably among them.

Homer's 'new' ideas were 'invented' when noone else had already saved him the work.

Basically, TGM is a systemitzed version of all Homer's studies...both of his work and others.

You are right, there is 'nothing new under the sun,' but Homer made it possible to start YEARS ahead of him and teacher like Ben Doyle, who took the information Homer gave and 'ran with the ball,' and Lynn, who keeps Homer's preference alive, have made it possible for guys like me to do what I do.

Trust me, the devil is in the details, and the MONEY is NOT, as Cotton claims, in the system, but in USING the concepts in the system in fixing all these poor souls who don't "Know what we know," in the most understandable way possible.

The only real short cuts are more and more know-how

-Homer Kelley (1-E)

Cotton a machiner?
 

So should Cotton's contributions to the Golfing Machine be examined and if found to be substantial and substantiated, be acknowledged in some meaningful way or not?

The better part of this magazine was Tiger realising and talking about a stationary head....

I didn't see that part...I'll have to check er out again...

I believe Homer used Ben Hogan's "Power Golf" too.

Longball300

Re: Cotton a machiner?
 

This was recently debated about a college professor who used a book as the foundation for an outline for a course he was teaching without given credit. Although the book was used more than any other source, additional material completed the outline. The result of the debate stated that no credit was needed for the outline as long as the material used from the book was not uniquely presented or researched by the original author.

Since Cotton, Hogan, Ernest and Bobby Jones, Boomer, Amour, etc all taught golf and each had different ideas about the golf stroke. Homer’s study is unique in its presentation and depth. Homer never claimed to discover a new way to swing the club- although I think the Hit stroke is close- but his approach and use of language is unconditionedly his.

Homer started the book with one problem to solve- how to get a solid impact on the ball. Everything else in the book radiated from that first “problem.”

Homer doesn’t need to credit anyone, nor does any other golf instructor with an original approach to the golf stroke. But there aren’t that many ‘original thinkers’ out there.

6bmike, that is interesting...

A long time ago on our technical papers we were required to list our reference sources, even if we didn't quote from that works.

So with some who continue to claim the TGM isn't given credit, is that misplaced? For example if a pro teaches the 'hands' are the key to a good golf stroke, it could have come from several sources, who if anyone needs to be given credit?

If the instructor uses TGM terminology as a foundation of his instruction than I would say - YES.

If the instruction is based on just good information like a flat left wrist or pull into a CF release then fine, good for him and his students. If the language is not used and I will state again, Homers language- the bane for many- is his greatest contribution to the learning of the golf stroke- then at best, the instructor should recognize where he learned it. And he may have learned it second or third hand- who knows? I don’t think Homer would care that his work is seeping into the mainstream of golf instruction after so many years.

I do feel that anyone that studied TGM, became an AI or not, they should have the decently to pay at least homage to Mr. Kelley in some way.

Back to the college course outline. The course was written by a third party freelance writer who specializes selling college course outlines to instructors. All the materials and references were listed. It drew attention when the one book was used so heavily. The panel concluded that the writer did not illegally plagiarize original thought but did a less than stellar job writing the course outline.

Cotton a machiner?
 

If a current golfing star won a British Open using acknowledged Golfing Machine principles, any promoter of the Golfing Machine worth his salt would be extolling his virtues from the rooftops. Henry Cotton won three British Opens with the interruption of World War 11. If he was successful using these same principles, (even if he expressed them in less arcane language) why then would you seek refuge in technicalities instead of welcoming him (or anyone one similar for that matter), with open arms? Would he or they not only be valuable assets to a promoter but a source of practical study and enlightenment to serious students of the Golfing Machine?

6bmike, thanks for the response.

Interesting that the references were included.

I still am in doubt on when credit should be given as demanded so often here. That is only because of the lack of reference sources in TGM.

Clearly some of the terms are unique to TGM, while others existed prior, maybe not as clear of description, but none the less existed. In fact some terms seemed to have existed that the only explanation avaiable was a photo or sketch, cause the text sure didn't make it clear or even attempt to define it. TGM for the most part didn't rely on implied meanings or understanding, a BIGGIE IMO.

I guess I just wonder if all the comments of being hung up on "Oh did you hear so and so mention the flat left wrist" using TGM again and not acknowledging it. My concern is that this approach may or has prevented TGM from taking its rightful place in the Golf Instruction World. I think it is more important for the information to be used, used properly than reminding everyone it is TGM. I think that those who seek will discover the source, TGM, that may be removed 2 or 3 times.

Still it is nice to see TGM mentioned in high profile.

Martee,

I know many have cried for Homer to be recognized by every instructor that teaches a steady head or flat left wrist. We all are passionate about the book and when the light goes on and changes your golfing life we change it to obsession. After a few times around the book, we see that Homer presented all of us with a superior way to discover the mechanics of the golf swing. When Homer listed the Three Imperatives, he didn’t change anything that Armour, Cotton or Boomer ever knew was correct, but he did give us a marvelous index for it all.

But I will cry out for recognition from any AI, current or past, in good standing or not, anyone that ever studied TGM and uses solely what they learned and passes it off as there own. There are many big time instructors making a great living off of their little secret yellow book.

And Homer did develop his own unique ideas like 6-B1-D, Flying Wedges and the Hit Stroke Pattern to name a few. It isn’t all just a catalog book.

Lynn has reached out and taught many professionals this past year. I see TGM seeping into even GD articles that wasn’t there in the past. Even Flick was teaching Impact Fix the last time he was on TGC-AL. McLean now lists Homer as an influence.

Very interesting discussion...

Positions has no meaning and use unless you know the relations they are supposed to facitate. And that's what Homer did, he told use the whys.

Homer told us why we should have a Pivot Centre (and the Head is the recommended Pivot Centre) as per 1-L

What's the point of the Flat Left Wrist? Law of the Flail: 2-K

He worked from first priciples, using the universal Laws of Force and Motion.

Golf is a discipline for which Homer gave us a nomenclature. Lynn, among others, has interpreted and popularized that nomenclature. Both have earned and deserve our gratitude, as do other pioneers in this field. Isn’t it that simple?