Your game has made the fourth level if you always complete your pre-shot plan before you walk to the ball, never have to look again, and can recite a poem or sing a song while you swing. In other words, if you can make your swing while having non-golf, non-action thoughts that have no mechanics in them, you have reached the fourth dimension. Precisely speaking, the fourth dimension is for well developed habits and needs no more thought at the moment of activity than riding a bicycle. The fourth dimension also enjoys the long life that goes with bicycling. Once you learn the basics, you don't have to continue to learn those, you only need to maintain conditioning and refine or occasionally polish technique. Keep in mind, though, that when you ride a bike, you are thinking. The thinking we do while riding, however, rarely concerns the mechanics of it. The same scenario goes with golf.

You will find the rest of the "mastery" story at http://clearkeygolf.com/fourth.htm

And more at http://www.iseekgolf.com/mentalgame/

which is the Australian Golf Forum that serves much of the East, where our articles are regularly published. Look especially at "Mystery or Mastery."

We also published in "The 2000 Official Guide..."

We need to know how to repeat, as nearly as possible, the ways Mother Nature got us through our first dozen or so years. Those years provide the model. We had to go from knowing nothing and not being able to do anything to being able to ride a bike, write, and walk, to name a few, "automatically." We need the same with our golf, but the fact is that very, very few players have gone all the way to the "automatic" stage. Playing on "automatic" is the substance of the Fourth Dimension in your game. It may get talked about, but it rarely gets done.

We will not beat you up with self-hypnosis, goal setting, imagery, visualizing, focus and flow as though these were ends in themselves. These are areas that are involved, but only in the supportive ways that are germane to their secondary purposes. The mainframe of building your game will take you to the fourth and highest level of learning, so that your body can keep doing what it has learned how to do, without having to grind in some fanciful concentrated way on your skills and actions. Thus, you can safely manage and move beyond the anxiety, yips, frustration, errant shots and fickle confidence that haunts so many players. And you can have it NOW!

And here is a portion of what is in "Our Vision" on our clearkeygolf. com site

On the opening pages of clearkeygolf.com, we say...

Reality requires a grasp of HOW those cliched statements are actually practiced. It means "going from the third level of learning and competence (the skill level) to the fourth, and highest level," where habits are locked in and become useful. Only there can a player be genuinely on automatic, and most players have failed to make that trip - yet. They may honestly believe (or think) that they have, but the evidence says otherwise.

At KeyGolf, we help players, instructors and coaches learn...

*Step 1 - How to develop Skills with maximum retention in minmum time..

*Step 2 - How to transform skills into Habits with maximum retention in minimum time...

*Step 3 - How to implement Habits for playing with maximum consistency in minimum time...

Step 4 - We engage the process that "Clears the mechanism"...Literally takes the player to Automatic... And that may not be what you thought it was...

"Conventional golf instruction, both physical and mental, does not fully explain the process and does not allow you to master your swing.

Learning to go automatic is the key skill for developing a swing that will enable you to find your consistent and natural game. Now the many mental gurus and sports psychologists have understood this for a long time. BUT... they have never told the desperate golfer HOW to achieve this automatic game. Most of the mental instruction has been like much of the swing instruction, full of conflicting ideas and never getting to the root of the problem.Golf's Master Skill... How to Own Your Golf Swing"

and...

If you look at many of the skills you do an a day to day basis you will see that you perform many of them without thinking consciously.  What do you think about while you brush your teeth, or change a light bulb? It is highly unlikely you will be thinking about the mechanics of those respective tasks. Now if you have been around golf for some time you have probably heard that analogy before. "Play golf like you ride a bike, don't think about it just play". What we have for you is different because we show you the exact steps you must take to actually achieve the level of Master.

Going automatic (subconscious) while you play does not mean you don't think and use your conscious mind. There are specific times when you must use thought process and logic and definite times when you want to be automatic. When you learn the how, what, when and why of the automatic process you will have a distinct advantage over all of your buddies and will be a step closer to owning your golf swing.Golf's Master Skill... How to Own Your Golf Swing"

“There are two reasons we can think of to work on the practice tee: one is to build a skill and take it to habit, and the other is to adjust an existing skill or habit that may have slipped a little. Perhaps we have confused the act of "going to the practice tee" with systematic practice, as if just showing up there will get the job done. Unless there is something specific to build or adjust, the only reasons we can think of for going to the practice range are to take advantage of enough space to loosen up before the game or to enjoy a bit of "action" when there isn't enough time to play.

Practice is no more, no less than the activity required to repeat and learn an action that supports one's efforts in relation to a goal or objective. Once that action is learned, habitualized and added to one's automatic action portfolio, practice is completed.

The notion that a memorized skill won't stay in shape unless it is practiced beyond what is required for natural preservation is highly suspect. It is rare to see someone practice shifting gears before driving a car. We don't know anyone who practices writing before signing a check, brushing before grooming hair, chewing before eating, or stepping before walking.

Consider carefully what follows as you move through this section on "Practice." Remember that "Practice makes permanent, not necessarily perfect."