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Also, we have elected to provide a URL from which our readers may download the current issue so as to deter anything resembling "spam."Thanks, CGM

One Under Par
Volume 5, number 6.

A Newsletter fromKeyGolf.....December, 2004

Wishing One and All the Best for the Holiday Season!

Action or Reaction: You Make the Call.

If we often sound as though we are dissenting gadflies continually buzzing the golf world, we suppose that you have, indeed picked up what keeps flowing as our main theme. We believe we know why it seems to work out that way. Most of those who teach and play golf, except in the case of the actual physical golf swing motions they attempt to learn, have somehow failed to notice the active issues in how physiology relates both to the golf swing and the golf mind. They may get the swing part, but the longer we look, the less we see of relevance to the way golfers think, plan and play.

While we do not doubt that those who teach and coach golf are basically sincere, studied, and passionate about what they do, we have observed more than one “flaw” in the serving up of some methods. Even flawed concepts, however, can be helpful to some. What follows is a piece of philosophy, direct from an instructor, that illustrates the point. It also leads to a puzzle with a myriad of missing pieces.

As a philosophic prelude, he says that many ask ..."why is my practice swing so much better than the real thing?"

His answer opens and reveals his philosophy. He says ...”Now let me answer that for you. It's because of how we REACT to the strike of the ball and how we REACT to the intended target. ”We think we know what he means, but his “React” statement is misleading.

First of all, a golf swing is not an involuntary action (a prerequiste for "reacting”). It is voluntary (therefore not a reaction, but an action).

Second, he gives a "two-pill" prescription guaranteed to bring on anxiety - in effect, he suggests all one must do is learn to "react" properly to the ball and/or target.

We suspect that he has merely picked up on another way to describe the variety of "flinches" that are prone to take a crack at a player's swing which, indeed, tend to follow "anticipatory anxiety." Anticipation, of course, is always connected to something that just might happen in the future, as in "waiting for the other shoe to drop." So the word "react" only indicates that the player is already in the process of surrendering to the anxiety and hence, he either flinches, or "quits" in his forward swing before the clubhead gets to the ball. After the fact, we could refer to whatever happened as "reaction." What we think he wants to convey is that instead of "ACTING" in a continuing, uninhibited manner, we may be, in fact, "reacting" to something in our psyche that causes a flinch. In other words, he's trying to find a way to deal with both the effects of anxiety and the application of the automatic principle without understanding either of them. And then he continues by saying that you must "train your reactions."

Said another way, the "reaction" he references has nothing to do with the "mechanical execution" of the swing, but with what happens to that execution under the veil of anxiety. It appears he expects to correct a mental issue through the swing. The only way we can see that working is that if one improves his/her swing, it will ease the mind and feed a more positive degree of self-satisfaction. That, however, is much different from generating new swing habits.

One does not react to anything that is stationary (as in a golf ball before it is struck or a target in the distance). The ball is still, and so is the target. The only time you can strike a moving ball without penalty is in a water hazard. In that case, your swinging motion might be considered a "reaction."But when the ball is still (at rest) one ACTS upon it. There is no reaction to it. Reaction occurs when something is already in motion and we are confronted with it. As for targets, there must be some reason we keep looking at it, making glances toward it, as if to reassure ourselves that it isn't, didn't, won't move. (It's been a long time since we heard anyone excuse a missed putt by saying that the hole moved, though there are tons of jokes about it).

"Reaction" may be an appropriate concept to the extent that it refers and is limited to a glitch in the swing itself. Such glitches, however, only serve to signify an anxious intrusion in thinking, either before the swing commences or during it's motion. So, as the club approaches the ball, the anticipation of the player leads to a flinch (which can only come from situational anxiety). The flinch, itself, can be said to represent a "reaction," but the only thing the ball has to do with it is to provide the catalyst for the anxiety. Tension (physiological) from anxiety (psychological) causes the flinch, a point which the aforementioned instructor does not seems to grasp.

The teacher goes on to say...
"Think about this for a second - it has to be the only answer. By training these reactions, ... [the system] will literally train the most dominate [sic.dominant] aspect of your golf swing and game. This is why this methodology has proven to be so incredibly effective for golfers all over the country. When you learn to train what is already the most dominant factor in golf, you will unlock a golf swing and game that you cannot imagine right now...guaranteed!"

So like most others, he offers a salutory statement which, in fact, contains no working solution, because he does not see the real problem - the anxiety - and therefore omits any reference of how to manage it. In so doing, he necessarily must leave the entire process dependent upon a set of conscious behaviors, which he believes will correct involuntary movement. Well, that might happen occasionally, but it is a long way from the rule. So it will ultimately not make any difference what his students "learn" about "reacting" to the ball. They will still have to face the anxiety issues. Hopefully, they will find a way to deal with it.

In a sense, this became a critical review, though meant to be an illustration, since similar reference can be found for a number of teachers. It is one more case of lacking the kind of information that enables valid evaluation. Our comments should not be taken as a personal critique of anyone's ability, but of the philosophy which is apparently the main theme. We have enough garden paths on the published lists, so one more will likely not hurt or help, but it seems a time to provide solutions anchored in principle.

If we seem to spend a lot of time on this subject, it is because anxiety is with us always, never going away, and is, perhaps, the least understood influence bearing on our game. That presents a concern that needs attention, though, if anyone wants to, they can do without understanding and managing it. They just will not be able to lose the negative effects - and every action is vulnerable under those circumstances.

In summary, our teacher's philosophy maintains and stresses that if a player learns to "react" properly, that will put him/her on automatic. The fact is that when one has learned to employ the automatic principle (as in the clear key process), any motion which can be called "reaction" must come from one's developed habits (for good or bad, of course). We suppose that "learning to react properly" is just another mask to hide the meaning and activity that accompanies habit development. That would be the only way we can see to support the idea in principle. It may be that his approach has merit, if applied within the framework of anxiety management and a well-defined automatic principle. In that sense it may well provide more relief than some other methods that lack the elements he wishes to include. As long as anxiety, unattended, remains in the picture, there is no method that is likely to make the trip to full automatic. The goal we seek will remain unsecured, by definition.

Our learning and playing tasks continue to call for managing the anxiety and one cannot will it to go away or "train it out," no matter any or all protestations to the contrary. "Learning to react" is easily said, but not so easily done. The unfortunate result is that, as with all of us, what comes across as a philosophy must be presumed to represent what a person does, and that bodes poorly for helping the golfer who sees something in her/his own swing that needs attention and decides to try one more "new" idea, when that "idea" is a misleading one that may work in the short term, but cannot possibly survive the long term.

And a Happy New Year, too!

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