Is there a difference between Swing Keys and Clear Keys?
Swing Keys typically are used by players as "triggers" for the swing. They also serve some players as temporary reminders of something they want to be sure to remember on each shot. It's like taking a grocery list to the store so you don't forget something for dinner. It's like a string tied around the finger. Or, for some players, it may be no more than similar to carrying a rabbit's foot or other "charm" as a safeguard against "bad Luck." As such the swing key becomes ritualistic. Now that's not strange when you realize that all ritual has an element of purposefulness in the area of warding off evil. When Swing Keys are only used in such ways, however, they have not been tapped for their full potential.
Using them fully means seeing that they can guide our learning and give full leverage to the necessary pre-shot instruction required for best results as one executes each shot. One must think about a skill in order to do it. And one must inform oneself directly about any habit desired for an upcoming shot. One must also be explicit in instructing one's own non-discriminatory system before walking to the ball to make a shot That is, of course, if what is desired is a consistent and reliable playing framework. Swing Keys can help in both respects. Once the instruction has been made in pre-shot, however, we have to be ready to let go of the Swing Key and move to a Clear Key. That is, if what we want is to reach the automatic level for execution. For learning, one must use swing keys for the necessary instruction to create a skilled learning response. That will need to be followed with Clear Keys in order to facilitate moving the skill to the habit level, as in learning, or simply going directly to the habit level, as in playing.