1. A method of automatically registering a surgical navigation system to a patient's anatomy, comprising: using the surgical navigation system to pre-register a first spatial relationship between a surgical component and a reference array connected to the surgical component; using the surgical navigation system to pre-register a second spatial relationship between an anatomical feature of a patient and the surgical component; installing the surgical component on the patient such that the surgical component engages the anatomical feature in the second spatial relationship; and locating the reference array with the surgical navigation system to automatically register the position of the reference array relative to the patient's anatomy wherein the navigation system automatically registers the position of the reference array relative to the patient's anatomy when the reference array is within a measurement field of the navigation system.