I assume it was Ben Doyle, but maybe not. What AI's, or others, spent the most time learning directly from Homer?
Don Shaw, a Seattle professional, knew Homer for many years, and I've been told that he spent some time with him almost every day the last five years of his life. Also, Bruce Hough, a local amateur no longer local, spent a great deal of time with Homer in the '70s.
I spent only the week of my Master Class with him personally, but we visited a number of other times by telephone. I believe much the same was the case with Alex Sloan, Larry Aspenson, the late Tom Tomasello, and other GSEMs such as Mike Holder, Greg McHatton, John Fey and Steve Snyder. I know Homer conducted a class with Dick Farley, Rick McChord and their The Swing's The Thing Golf School Staff.
To my knowledge, Bobby Clampett never met Homer personally. However, they did discuss his golf -- primarily putting -- by telephone.
yoda, how about ben?.....any knowledge of how much time ben spent with homer?
Mike,
I didn't deliberately omit Ben. He had already been identified as #1 in Jaminid's original post, and I included that reference in the Quote box of my post. I assumed it was common knowledge that Ben had the most 'time in grade' with Homer. I was answering the question, "Who else?"
If I remember correctly, you said in a prior post that Ben knew Homer for 14 years. Given the First Edition's publication in 1969 and Homer's death in 1983, that sounds about right. Is it?
i was actually honestly asking if you had any concrete knowlegde of how much time ben spent with homer...i have never really asked ben directly....i have always assumed that they spent many hours together
i do know that ben knew homer before that day in 1969 because they attended the same church...
I don't know how much time they spent together. I do know that Homer had a great deal of respect for the work Ben did to learn the book. Here's something Homer said (from the tapes from my Master Class):
"He really put in the time. When I can't find a reference that I know is in the book, I'll call Ben. He always knows where it is!"
Also, Homer told the story of how he came to meet Ben. He had gone out to a PGA Tour event being held in Seattle at The Broadmoor Golf Club, and he kept hearing people ask, "How's Ben doing?" and "What hole is Ben on?" He had no idea who Ben was -- turns out he was the Head Professional at the club! -- but he went out to take a look. He watched him play a few shots but didn't ask for an introduction.
Some time later, Homer was at a wedding reception, and one of the church members learned he was writing a golf book. She told him he "had to go meet Ben" who, unknown to Homer, was also a member of the church. Having heard the name for a second time and on that recommendation, Homer called Ben.
How did Homer go about selecting the 5 of you...or did you come to him?
Homer was in contact with many people interested in his work. He never
mentioned his selection process, but it was no doubt highly subjective. He
did have a prerequisite of a GSEB (Golf Stroke Engineering Bachelor) which at
that time could be conferred by holders of the GSEM (Master) designation. I
did find it interesting -- and perhaps more than coincidental -- that we five
represented one each from the North, South, East, West and Midwest.
From my side of the fence, for more than a year, I mounted a deliberate,
sustained frontal attack using the telephone as my weapon of choice. My
strategy?
Hybrid Mode
