[Yoda]

Regarding the issue of respecting his "authority", I wonder if Homer Kelley would have wanted people to respect his "authority" or whether he would have simply wanted people to treat his amazingly insightful ideas/insights with a great deal of thoughtful consideration. I would imagine that he would have felt that the clarity and logic of his ideas could stand up to intense intellectual scrutiny, and I cannot easily imagine that he would expect people to unthinkingly accept his ideas simply because he is deemed by some people to be an "authority".

Homer Kelley demanded neither deference nor homage. Nor did he demand that his concepts go unchallenged. To the contrary, he welcomed new ideas, encouraged discussion and thrived on questions.

He did, however, insist that those who questioned his ideas bring the same support to their argument that he already had brought to his own. Namely, scientific proof. Also, he did not suffer fools gladly, and he would have considered it a total waste of his time to debate "what the definition of 'is' is".

The root word of the term 'authority' is author, and Mr. Kelley authored the most original work in the history of golf instruction. Working with tools that today could only be considered primitive, he published the solution to one of the great puzzles of athletic endeavor. He was a humble, but resolute, intellectual giant who earned his right to the title authority through his genius, and in his own words, "the sweat of blood on every page".

For five years now, I have done my best to help those genuinely interested in understanding his teachings and personal philosopies. At the same time, those dismissive of that authority or who otherwise cavalierly reject his work can generally expect to see two things from me:

My back . . .

And the dust from my sandals.