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[After that sentence was written, along with what is below following this insertion, the enormously tragic event at VA Tech took place. That is not part of what triggered the content of this newsletter. Besides, it is far too early in the "life" of that tragedy to deal with anything other than the shock, outpouring of emotional release and anger that always, and must, accompany unavoidable grieving. Only the magnitude of the shock, release and anger will vary from circumstance to circumstance, and the proportion of the attendant grieving will increase incrementally according to the number of those affected by it, requiring a year or more for resolution.

We are constrained to say, however, that we have very mixed feelings about the quality of television “news” coverage. On the one hand it has provided at least a part of the palliative vehicle for emotional release that invariably shows itself through victims' repeated renditions of “what happened.” The musings of those affected are a necessity for relief and that must go on for awhile. On the other hand, most of the questions the news people have insisted upon asking are far out of bounds at this point in time. With a view to the important stages of grieving, this stage is identified and known as "emotional release." That one takes days to months, depending on the severity of the loss. The reporters’ juices have dripped with the “why” and “who” questions, which will surely need answers, but in another venue. at a later time. Perhaps most inappropriate has been the "How do you feel?" question. One has to wonder what sort of creature is so destitute of empathy that they think they must ask that question. Far too soon, the attention had been shifted from the bereaved to the perpetrator. Let the authorities deal with "whodunnit and why." That part is for later. Too many looks at things that do not need attention at the moment and interrupt the normal value of emotional discharge. The news agenda contained, and continues so, much that would be better managed at other times, and should be, first by authorities, but that’s apt to be fodder for an entire book.

As we write, the tv is blaring the "Today Show" and the mundane discussions continue with the “why’s” and the “who’s.”  When a reporter interviewing students says, “Good morning ladies and my condolences on your loss,” as an intro, just the cold, impersonal way that it put forth indicates that those doing the news are far from being knowledgeable about human needs in such circumstances, and unprepared to participate appropriately in meeting them. What is needed is an outlet for feelings, not an inquisition into those feelings. It is as if the agenda of the questioner is more important than the feelings of the injured. Reminds us of times in the hospital ER (we were, in fact, there) when accident victims would be brought in and some “greenhorn” or even seasoned veteran would be more concerned about what caused the accident, where it took place, and who did it, and getting hold of the Blue Cross information than in stopping the bleeding and taking care of the patient’s immediate needs. In this situation, however, the perception and response of the health care givers and medical people was commendable, even if the news people were not so thoughtfully engaged.

Overnight, it has changed again. Now the victims' grieving has being shuffled aside and all attention has gone to the boy, his guns, bizzare thinking and speculation about his life and motives. It is no wonder there is such anguish in this country about victims' rights. They are apt to be ignored and replaced by overwhelming curiosity about dirty linen, crooked values and attitudes, and why not? By the time most happenings are a few minutes old, the reality has already been trashed by the media. So pardon us if we call attention to that reality here, in passing.

Grieving is an orderly process, following a natural course, whether we recognize it or not. Its discharge honors a universal pattern, no matter you were just wounded at the OK corral or suffered only a missed tee-shot or three-putt green. Folks simply have missed how that worked. It just hasn't received attention very often. The repetition that typically accompanies emotional release is apt even to follow something as minor as an errant golf shot through several following holes more often than not, as the player keeps looking back at the “tragedy.”  Go to any funeral home and you will hear the bereaved repeat the same stories over and over – part of the way of familiarizing oneself with a loss to enable grasping its meaning gradually. It is clear that we need more knowledge and better skills in dealing with such strong concerns. For the VA Tech people that is an immediate need and concern. For a golfer, the knowledge of self-management and the ability to postpone the need to vent is paramount. The critical issues and time frames may be different, but the process is the same. Just don't count on tv to help].

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We began thus: “Recent national and world events, coupled with a wide range of responses from people in general, triggered our thoughts for this edition of our newsletter."

No human being has all of the resources to be found available to the species. Each one of us has some of the whole, and that leaves any and every one us with areas of absent traits, which often get cited as one or more "weaknesses." "Absence" does not constitute "weakness." What is clear, however, is that we, each one, have sufficient endowment to do many things well, just not everything. The rest of that story is that we can, and in fact, must reach similar goals in a variety of ways. More particularly, it is necessary to reach goals by way of our own resources – not by borrowing from “accounts” that are in someone else’s “bank.”

What is heard more often than not is a corporate mindset suggesting that we (collectively, nationally and internationally) must move on a track that is best described by the “all things to all people” myth. No one, nor any corporate group can be “all things to all people.”  Also heard loud and clear is that we must not fail, and anything short of “winning” (whatever that means) will be labeled “failure.” What is not so clear is whether this way of thinking is being derived from paths our culture has taken, or if our culture is being coerced  to coincide with what the powerbrokers say it should be.

If it’s war, what are the criteria associated with “winning?” What does the word carry in meaning? If it’s golf and 150 players start a tournament, we know only one will win. If winning is everything what do we do with the other 149?

That has brought to mind a simple reality: if you cannot describe the nature and dimensions of a task, a function of life, an objective or goal, you will not be able to do it or enter into it successfully. If you can’t describe it, you can’t do it either.

Now segue to the game we all profess to love – our golf.  It is not uncommon to hear players, instructors and by-standers pointing to “things” we “ought” to do to make our games better. “Play by feel,” the saying goes. “Stay in the present.”  Just “let it happen.” “Slow it down,” “Hit it harder.” Don’t stop your follow-through.” “Let your hips turn.” “Make your legs move.” “Get your footwork right.”  “Watch that grip.” “Pay attention to what you are doing.” "Get that club on plane." And you can finish the list, which is often transferred from the mouth of the speaker to the ear of the listener without passing through the mind of either.

Nary a word do we hear about how all that is done. In other words, missing are the descriptions needed, the instructions for assembly, to finish the job with reasonable success. The sound to be heard more than any other is “Well…Back to square one.”

Occasionally, however, something or someone will unwittingly display a true approach to success, but not really be able to describe how or why it happened (the success), except in the most casual, seemingly exceptional, guise.

Such was the case with Zack Johnson and the Masters this year. He certainly was productive, passing by a lot of very good players. He accounted quite well for himself and his game. He even revealed, though off-hand, and unacknowledged by others, that he had solid “mental” help for his game. He reportedly mentioned that when we felt any tension he just used verses of scripture to keep his cool. At least that is what was told to us by a clear key user who happened to hear him on “Live with Regis and Kelly” on Monday after the bestowing of the green jacket. That reported comment received no further notice that we could uncover, even with the most thorough of Google, Yahoo and Big Mamma searches.

It reminded us of a video tape in our files that goes back to the 1991 Paine Weber Senior Tour event in which Bob Murphy interviewed Bob Brue after a fine round by Brue. Murphy asked him what he thought about while playing and Bobby replied that he thought about things like “I wonder why Hawaii has interstate highways,” whereupon Murphy burst out laughing. To make a long story short, Bobby simply said, “That’s a lot better than ‘take it back low and slow, or don’t get too quick,’ or some other instruction that you cannot follow.” As Bobby walked away, Murphy was heard to laugh and say “I wouldn’t want to stand too close to him in a thunderstorm.”

As with Bobby, Zack revealed a true reality of his golfing experience. The only difference is that Bobby was well informed and experienced with his use of clear keys. As far as we know, Zack just found his own way and hopefully, he will see that it is a highly stable form of dealing with the tension that typically springs from anxiety.

Both Zack and Orel Herschiser found their relief via what, on the surface, would appear to be “religious” or “spiritual” resources. Orel used his version of the resource in a pitching appearance in a World Series back in the 1980's, which he later related to Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, saying the he handled the pressure of pitching simply by "singing the Doxology" in his head while he delivered the pitch. The truth – the very clear and valid reality - is that both Zack and Orel did no more or less than allow themselves to be involved with a universal principle, though if you are personally one who follows religious tenets, feel free to refer to that universal principle as coming from the create hand of God.

Where our human progress tends to break down or go unfinished is at the very point at which we find ourselves missing the ability to describe what and how something happens (or happened) in the most basic terms – thus to be able to press forward and replicate our success.

Instead, if you look closely, you will see, for instance, that most golf practice is carried out in a series of new daily experiments. It is designed for hoping to find something “new” today that will allow better play today or tomorrow than yesterday. There is more “practice” shaped around doing a thousand different things one time each, than being carried out by planned focus on building necessary habits for a successful game through a well designed practice strategy.

It’s worth repeating. If you look at a task and you cannot describe it, you will not be able to do it, unless you have been blessed by a fortune cookie or an email with a shamrock message, which you passed on as instructed.

If you step back and allow yourself the luxury of some objectivity, it is likely you may see what we see. Golf is…a rather strange, quite extraordinary game. It is extraordinary in its magnetism for those who play it, seemingly drawing them into endless searches for the perfect swing – if not perfect, at least better than “what is there now.”  Instructors – and we are hoping this is not perceived as fault-finding – tend to aim at some portion of the golf swing when teaching and lose themselves in self-described, sometimes strange explanations of the results students are getting from their games and then trying to correct what are described as “faults.” When the instruction is literally described in terms of the laws of physics and/or universal principles, it is, sadly, more often than not seen as having nothing to do with “how people learn golf.”

It is made strange as many instructors try to teach “their way” while disregarding the way the student learns. And that, in turn, is found to spring from not really knowing how people do their learning or the individual style by which they do it. The only golf school we know of that consistently teaches according to the student's learning style is the Bird Golf School. If there are more, we have not found them, other than a few individual instructors scattered about the country.

The upshot of missing critical information emerges as a lively demonstrative cry from players for more help with their games. That, indeed, is a perpetual cry that increases with each new idea, new club, new bit of technology, very few of which come with “instructions for assembly.”

Shortly after writing those words, we happened across the following quote (author unknown) which points to a new book by Bobby Clampett, entitled “The Impact Zone.” Whether the book’s content touches our concern here we don’t yet know, but we do hear a similar sound to what we are seeing at this point in time.

The following quote was not attached to an identifiable author, so we report it in anonymity:

“The Impact Zone is a unique instructional guide in that everything in it either focuses on or applies to improving a golfer’s understanding and execution of impact. Here, acclaimed professional golfer Bobby Clampett concludes that the overwhelming bias and convention of today’s contemporary teaching environment is to value swing styles over swing dynamics, and in so doing, the overwhelming majority of golf teachers miss the boat in terms of teaching the game effectively. Ultimately this emphasis on swing style comes at the expense of helping golfers to develop sound swing dynamics, which are the real keys to consistent ball striking and better golf.”

So it seems clear to us that the clarity of descriptions for finished products that lend themselves to completing tasks successfully are at least being noticed by others. Even so, we would be remiss if we did not point out how we would have said that: 

“Ultimately this emphasis on swing style comes at the expense of helping golfers to develop sound swing dynamics, which are the real keys to consistent ball striking and better golf.”... As long as the swing dynamics match and fit the individual player’s swing and communication styles, since s/he is the one doing the learning and the swinging.

Hopefully we don’t need to say it, but we will anyway. Every bit of this is tantamount to the development and usefulness of your mental game. So don’t leave home without it.