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Under Par A Newsletter from KeyGolf ...June, 2001 CLEAR KEYS...A Closer Look It is quite likely that only those who have been exposed to our Double Connexion book or one of our websites have discovered what a Clear Key is. The term may be confused with "Release Key", or "Swing Key." which are much more familiar to golfers who have taken time to study things like execution and pre-shot routines. Clear Key is a much more descriptive and accurate term, since it refers only to the time frame between the completion of a pre-shot routine and the finish of the golf swing. For the sake of clarity, here's a review. The name Clear Key describes, more accurately than other names, what most are getting at when they use terms like "trigger," "release key," or "buffer" for the swing. In addition, it is more compatible with the meaning of another oft used expression - "The Quiet Mind." We uncovered the clear key process when we were looking for an answer to the question, "How do you ACHIEVE a quiet mind? What are the steps to actually experiencing a quiet mind?" It's fine to say we need one, but how do you do it? The Quiet Mind was the goal. Key thoughts that would "Clear" the mind and keep it "quiet" turned out to be the core of the process needed to reach the goal. A Quiet Mind is the opposite of hacking in the head. A Quiet Mind is achieved by being able to narrow the focus of thinking to no more than a simple, patterned thought that we have chosen to call a Clear Key. That clear thought puts us on automatic and activates our swing habits. Focusing on Clear Keys brings us directly to the present, where there is no anxiety. Anxiety, you will remember, is only associated with the past or the future, not with the present. Of course, you should expect always to retain enough (normal) anxiety so that you do not become immobile! With anxiety minimized, our natural physical response is release rather than restriction. That will give us the best result we've got. Remember, though, we are not likely to be able to demonstrate a talent or skill we didn't possess in the first place. What we will have is a clear picture of what our "automatic" looks like. That will let us know exactly what we need to work on to improve our swing skills MASTERING THE MENTAL CLEARING PROCESS There are a lot of reasons a player might not get maximum benefit from Clear Keys. For instance, not using them regularly, not incorporating them into the learning process or when adjusting swing skills, not giving them sufficient time to be "locked in," allowing them to regress into a mechanical-type function, or using them only as a triggering device, but not long enough to buffer the entire swing. There is, however, only one path we know of to success with mental keys - through consistent and balanced practice of mechanical, followed by mental keys leading to dependable habits on the course. "Mechanical" or swing keys are used in pre-shot and "automatic," or Clear Keys are used for execution. We won't argue the point that it is a difficult process -finding the time - getting past the desire for immediate results - the subtle attitude that asks "does anybody have a band aid I can borrow, just till we get back to the clubhouse?" There's little question that we've all been conditioned in other ways for many years. It's only necessary to realize that something as fundamental as plain old "Trust," is an element that we have all struggled with since the year one. Yes, it is a difficult process. There are no short-cuts to reach mastery. But, if you think about it, you will notice that anything of basic value must not omit any part of itself if it is to remain intact. We may have trouble really remembering how long it took us to learn to walk and talk (yes, those are primary habit "packages"), but it's a lead-pipe cinch we didn't leave anything out on the way to success with those functions. The legitimate "short-cut" for golf is found in the CLEAR KEY itself. But it doesn't short-cut essential elements. It simply removes, or "short-cuts" the garbage. It cuts off all that scattered thinking we were doing and brings a little peace and quiet to our game. To build that in requires the whole "trip." We already know that CLEAR KEY users apply themselves in widely different ways - no surprise there. The surprise comes when someone tells us "I tried it for awhile but it didn't seem to help," and that person projects a belief suggesting that's the way things work. That person will never get to the mastery level for lack of understanding what it takes to get there. It's hard to make a trip if you don't know where you're going or by what means you will get there. This NEWSLETTER is not now, nor will it ever be, a golf-gossip journal. It is set to be a support system for players who are serious enough about their games (whether they shoot 60 or 120) to apply themselves in a world where they are surrounded by people who aren't that interested in anything more than the stories they can tell in the 19th hole. We don't have to tell anyone how hard it is to do anything - even when it's correct - when everyone else seems to be going in some other direction. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!? We found ourselves going through some old copies of GOLF Magazine. From October '88, page 98, the instruction for "straight hitter" got in our eyes. The entire column was dedicated to "Swing Triggers." The information in the column listed "hindrances to the swing" which "will break the tension and set things smoothly in motion." They listed five "keys" which were all mechanical in kind: "move hands, cock head, kick knee, twist hips, firm fingers." That sort of advice has not changed much over the years and gives us a prime example of what happens when we omit critical information from our understanding of anything. To use an analogy, what the article was saying is "to get rid of the tension, simply add a tension-creating activity." That's like saying "If you have too much jelly on your bread, simply add some more jelly." Two things are apparent here. The author of the GOLF Magazine article appeared not to under-stand the connection between thinking and the exercise of habits. There was no evidence of awareness in the article of what precipitates anxiety. No connection was made between the presence of anxiety and the normal blocking function built into every human system to provide an automatic (instinctive) defense against the harmful effects of anxiety. Giving choices of techniques that will create anxiety is not a solution to the problem. It is non-productive to experiment with "choices" when none of them can be expected to bring relief. CLEAR KEYS accomplish what "swing triggers" always in-tended, but couldn't complete without being vulnerable to instinctive blocking action. Clear Keys put the conscious thinking process in correctly timed relationship to the unconscious thinking process, even without having to know how that works. They let us use the least amount of conscious thought to manage the largest amount of unconscious thought. Habits (which only work on automatic) are totally a product of the unconscious thinking process. We do not consistently get our best shots without being on automatic. As we all know, since we've done it forever, we do get generally acceptable results without being on automatic, except when the wheels come off. The problem is that we can never predict when the wheels may come off. Ask Phil Mickelson about his last few tournaments. Better to be on automatic all the time, even though it might only be essential part of the time. That allows being on automatic to underscore what is meant by being in charge of our own games all the time and not having to worry whether we will be prepared for any event or circumstance. And that, my friends, is the rest of the story! A THOUGHT TO PONDER As we continued our journey through old golf journals, we noticed how often players who win one week fail to make the cut or do well the following week. It's rare to see back-to-back winners, not counting Tiger. Sometimes there is a massive difference in scoring between successive weeks. Beginning with his win at the '87 Buick Open, for instance, Robert Wrenn had a 36 shot swing by the end of the next tournament. If you follow their progress, you'll notice that even some of the best often appear to go through an extended struggle on the heels of a win. Some of that is the normal "let-down" that accompanies any success. But most of it is the uncertainty that goes with not knowing what caused the success in the first place. When you understand how your thinking works, which part is conscious and which is unconscious, how the two relate to each other, how each of them relates to habitual activity, and what we can do to manage both of them, you will not get stuck with an inability to recover either from success or failure - and we do have to RECOVER from both. Our instinctive system, the one with the built-in defender called the Immune System, doesn't know the difference between success and failure. It is equally "shocked" by both, so it does it's job, setting up tension to block out what is perceived as an invasion, and taking whatever time is necessary to do that. It is very difficult to produce a smooth swing while the system is instinctively in gear to block against "foreigners.". Without a clear key, you can expect to run the full course of blocking, followed by the normal time it takes to recover from that instinctive action. Using a clear key, you can momentarily by-pass the system, without violating natural human processes, and perform well, even under adverse conditions. Mastery at that level requires practice, conditioning and understanding. That is a fully invested trip. There are no speed systems to circumnavigate the process itself. =============================== |