Show Instinct Is Guide of the Great By GRANTLAND RICE RIC WHICH WHICH IS THE MAIN factor in sport competition d d i ire r e c t thought or the subconscious mind How much success success belongs to quick brain work w 0 r k and how much to intuition intuition intuition tion To help settle s e t tIe this i 1 issue s s sue u e we we 3 called in the patri patri- patriarch patriarch patriarch arch of cf brain brainwaves bra b r a I n waves the same sam e being John Kieran who in his day was wasa a high class com- com Grantland Rice at Fordham and who needs no further comment when it comes to toa toa toa a matter of brain action The mind ac ac- according according ac- ac according 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 de de- decide decide decide cide whether he must go inside or stay outside A Ted Williams will often wait until the ball is within 15 feet of the plate before he de de- decides decides de- de decides to swing swing swing-or or not to swing That is another fifth of second fifth second decision Some brains of course work faster than others But there are few that can work with split-second split speed in mak mak- making makIng making ing a decision Subconscious action takes over or intuition or whatever you yoo want to call it Both Eddie Arcaro and Ted At At- Atkinson Atkinson Atkinson kinson 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 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 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 liDe A younger fighter in his prime sees an opening and punches at practically the same instant Or he sees a punch coming and ducks Later on he is just as smart His lIis brain Is just as good goodas as it was years before But his subconscious action has slowed down his intuitive action has gone rusty rusty so so he punches for forthe forthe forthe the opening too late or he doesn't quite duck dock in time timo Joe Louis for example has 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 knockout punch Applied to Golf Now golf is a game J. J Kieran continued that should be played with a subconscious mind entirely But it The ball isn't moving so there is the deadly temptation to start thinking what thinking what club to use etc This is when the trouble be be- gins Remember that round Watts Gunn had in the amateur at Oak- Oak Oakmont Oakmont Oakmont 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 IS 15 holes in a row I talked to him later and Watts admitted he didn't remember a athing athing athing thing that had happened in those 15 holes I never thought of anything he said I just kept swinging the club head I was in a sort of mental groove There was certainly no con con- conscious conscious conscious 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 sub sub- subconscious subconscious subconscious conscious effort was of any use Direct thought or brain action has certainly wrecked many a around around around round of golf Kieran continued If a fellow could just step up to 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 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 |