The Golfing Machine - basic summary

When I first read The Golfing Machine by Homer Kelley, I was convinced that he could not have made it more complicated if he tried! There are certain paragraphs in the book that I have read and re-read countless times and still wonder if I fully understand what it means. However, if you can look past all the cross-references, and study it with a sincere goal of trying to understand what Kelley is talking about, it can really help to "systemise" the golf swing for you.

My goal here is to summarise the main points in the book to give you a basic idea of what it is about. If you want to have control of the golf ball, you have to master "the triad", each with, you guessed it, 3 aspects:

The three imperatives: 

1. A flat left wrist - controls the club face
2. A clubhead lag pressure point - controls the club head
3. A straight plane line - controls the shaft

The three essentails:

1. A stationary head
2. Balance
3. Rhythm

The three zones:

1. The body
2. The arms
3. The hands

In order to control the golf ball, you have to control the golf club, and the golf club is made up of three elements:

1. The shaft - straight plane line
2. The clubhead - lag pressure point
3. The club face - flat left wrist

The power package:

1. The right arm bending going back and straightening coming down (like throwing a punch)
2. The left wrist cocking on the backswing and uncocking on the downswing
3. The left hand turning on the back and rolling through on the down
4. The left arm moving across the chest on the backswing and exploding off the chest through impact.

The lag pressure points:

1. Palm of the right hand pushing against the left thumb.
2. The last three fingers of the left hand
3. The right index finger pushing against the shaft
4. The left upper arm against the chest.

The flying wedges:

1. The left arm flying wedge - keeping the left arm and the shaft in a vertical alignment throughout the swing
2. The right FOREARM flying wedge - keeping the right forearm and the shaft in a horizontal alignment throughout the swing.

The hinge actions (club face control):

1. Horizontal hinge action - club face closing through impact
2. Vertical hinge action - club face opening through impact
3. Angled hinge action - no opening or closing through impact

Swinging or hitting:

1. You can either swing, or pull the golf club (like a throwing action)
2. or you can hit, or push the golf club (like hitting with an axe)

Kelley breaks the swing into 24 basic components, components that every golf swing posseses; and within these 24 components, 144 component variations. So, everybody will have a particular swing pattern that can be defined by these components and variations. The key is to have components that fit together and that don't work against each other.

In my opinion, The Golfing Macine is an unbelievable piece of work for when it was written (1969), and I think that Kelley probably could have worked out the missing pieces of how the body works (things like stretch shorten cycles), if he was alive today with technology at his disposal. Lastly, there are major differences between the variations. Some of the variations are way more efficient than others and somebody reading the book may assemble their swing according to a pattern that is not physically efficient.