How will you know if you are improving?

How do you know if you're actually making progress?

Are you getting better at what you're working on?

What is your proof?

You can't judge progress on a guess or a feeling. You may feel like you are improving, but true progress must be backed by objective, measurable data.

As a Physical Therapist, I do standardized testing on my patients. These are specific tests like those that measure someone's range of motion in their joints, tests of their muscle strength, their functional mobility or risk for falls. The tests are done on the initial evaluation and then a progress check is done where the tests and measures are repeated after several weeks of Physical Therapy to evaluate improvement. These progress checks help to determine if the current treatment plan is working or needs to be adjusted to meet their goals. It's not about hoping the patient is improving, it's about proving it.

This same logic can be applied to anything you are trying to get better at, especially golf. If you are serious about getting better, you need to determine your baseline by gathering your statistical data about your game. Golf stats offer concrete proof of how your game is trending. An "after" picture doesn't mean as much if there is no "before" picture to compare it to if you want to see how much has changed.

With golf, we can use statistical data to give us the facts about our game. This is why it's so important to get your baseline data to figure out where you are currently before you set goals and come up with a plan to work on your game. This is your "before" picture. Doing a Progress Check where you compare your initial stats with your now current stats after spending time on key parts of your game will give you your "after" picture of what direction your game and parts of your game are trending.

Routinely analyzing your game through progress checks is essential to long term improvement. It is during this analysis of data that you should take the opportunity to modify your goals and make new ones depending on the results you get. You may need to pivot or tweak what you are working on if things aren't working as planned. Maybe you need to switch things up. Try something different. If you don't stop and do these progress checks routinely, you will continue to do things that aren't helping you.

One thing I think is incredibly important to keep in mind is to not use your score as proof of progress. At least not while you are making changes. Your score will most definitely get worse while working on different parts of your game, such as when you are working on a swing change after a lesson. Make sure you are looking for trends within the individual parts of your game until your game comes together more before looking to your score as proof.

Progress checks can also be used to help keep you going. It can motivate you. If you see that you are moving in the right direction, it can help push you to continue on that path because you are seeing evidence that your hard work is paying off.

What is improving?

What is your proof?

A Progress Check Note is built into Break 70 Roadmap program. On this easy to use form, you will compare your baseline stats to your current stats and determine what is better, worse or same. To learn more about it, click the link below.