Show Instinct lend Is Gui Guide of tie the Great By GRANTLAND RICE WHICH WHICH IS THE MAIN MAm factor in sport competition direct thought or the subconscious mind How much success belongs to quick brain work and t y how much to intuition tion To help settle t this his issue we l called in the pa patriarch patri tri tri- 5 arch of bra brain brainwaves i n r waves the same being John Kieran who in his day was wasa a high class com- com Grantland Rice at Fordham and who needs leeds no further comment when it comes to toa toa toa a matter of brain action The uThe subconscious mind according according according ac ac- ac- ac cording to Kieran does most of the work The brain cant can't work with the speed needed to handle too many situations For example a Jockey has less than a fifth of a second on many occasions to decide decide decide de de- cide whether he must go inside or stay outside A Ted Williams will often wait walt until the ball is within 15 feet of ot the plate before he decides decides de de- de to swing swing swing-or or not to swing That is another fifth of fifth of second decision Some brains of ot course work faster than others But there are few that can work with split-second split speed in making makIng making mak mak- ing a decision Subconscious action takes over or Intuition or whatever you want to call It Both Eddie Arcaro and Ted At- At inson bear out this angle in regard to racing Ill be moving up Arcaro said and suddenly theres there's an opening to the left I haven't time to size U things up Your intuition acts for you you and and sometimes your intuition can be wrong You can use your brain in mapping out a race in ad ad- vance But once you get into fast action youve you've got to depend a lot loton loton loton on your reflexes or your intuition which are the products of ence In fact I think this is where experience counts most I mean in giving you the right intuition Boxing follows the same line Une A younger fighter In his prime sees an opening and punches at practically the thc same instant Or ho he sees a Do punch coming and ducks Later on he Is just as smart Isis Ills brain Is just as ns good goodas as It was years before But his subconscious action has hns slowed do down his intuitive action has gone gono rusty rusty so so ho he punches for tor forthe forthe the opening too late or he doesn't quite duck in time Joe Louis for example had as asgood asgood asgood good a brain in 1948 as he had In 1938 but though he kept catching Walcott in 1948 his subconscious reactions were too slow to land a out knock-out punch Applied to Golf Now golf is a game J. J Kieran continued that should be played with a subconscious mind entirely But it isn't The ball isn't moving so there is the deadly temptation to start thinking thinking- what club to use etc This is when the trouble be be- gins Remember that round Watts Gunn had in the amateur at Oakmont Oakmont Oakmont Oak- Oak mont in 1925 I think Watts lost the first five holes I know he was being murdered Then suddenly he seemed to settle into a trance and he won the next 15 holes holes 15 15 holes in a row I uI talked to him later and Watts admitted he didn't remember a athing athing athing thing that had happened in those 15 holes U I never thought of anything he said I just kept swinging the the club head I was in a sort of mental groove There was certainly no conscious conscious conscious con con- effort in anything Gunn did He went sailing through until he hemet hemet hemet met Bobby Jones in the final round where neither conscious nor subconscious subconscious subconscious sub sub- conscious effort was of any use Direct thought or brain action has certainly wrecked many a around around around round of golf goU Kieran continued If lOll a fellow could just step up to toa toa toa a ball and think about nothing at all allas allas allas as he swung the club head scores would take a terrific dive Heres another thought along these lines Kieran reported Ive known a lot of of- baseball and football players Many of these these- not all of them them them-I I wouldn't call too smart I wouldn't say their brains were too agile although they had their share of good sense Ive I've seen these fellows make few mistakes They were generally where they should have been Some instinct seemed to guide them I know it wasn't sharp thinking Trying to Think On the other hand Ive I've known extremely intelligent players I mean intelligent off oU the field who always seemed to be pulling some boner or doing something wrong |