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Numbers Don’t Lie
By: Michael Riggs
Bio
ONE Way® founder, Michael Riggs, holds a master's degree in applied sports psychology from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. University of Virginia is recognized worldwide for its emphasis on research and innovation in the field of performance psychology. As an educator, Michael has opened the minds of students at all levels, encouraging them to "dream big." As a multi-sport athlete and longtime coach, he's worked with athletes from skilled amateurs to professionals. And as a business professional, he's fostered innovation.Using the ONE Way platform, each client is personally guided by a ONE Way certified Coach to realize his unlimited potential. ONE Way Coaches serve as objective guides who empower their client to become their own catalyst for change. Since 1996, Performance Consulting Ltd.has offered one-on-one personal coaching, group workshops, and custom presentations for athletes, business executives, and organizations seeking to think better perform better live better.
What is your average driving distance? Does your average number of greens hit tend to be higher on the front nine or the back? What is your average score, relative to par, the last three holes of your last five rounds? What is the average distance of your first putt for a green hit in regulation? After a 20+ foot lag putt, what’s the average length of your second putt? For putts missed, what percentage are short? And, by how much, on average? Do you play better in +2 club wind or in wet and rainy conditions? Etcetera. Etcetera. Etcetera.
Effectively keeping and using statistics has the potential to be your golden key to improved play. Strangely though, most players really don’t understand the true purpose of keeping round statistics.
High performing players don’t waste their resources. They realize that their resources are finite; not endless. And because their resources will eventually run out, they need to be used properly, conserved at all costs, and used intelligently with laser-like effectiveness. The shotgun approach to the use of resources is wasteful, at best, and downright game-killing, at worst. In most cases.
When asked, most players refer to their most valuable resource as… time. Not money. Not lessons. Not rounds. But simply the time to get things done. The clock just keeps ticking - regardless of what they are doing, how they are doing it, or where they happen to be doing it. Time simply cannot be slowed down.
And, once it is gone, it cannot be retrieved. Simple stuff, right? The valuable time spent keeping performance statistics, the subsequent time spent analyzing those statistics, and then the time used up talking about the analysis is time wasted if it does not translate into fewer repeat mistakes during competition and enhanced performance. So, what can players do to avoid this waste of their most valuable resource?
Use your statistics to plan and guide your practice sessions. If you notice from your stats that there is a consistent flaw or common error at certain points or junctures in a round, be absolutely sure that quality time is spent addressing and rehearsing the solution to the flaw. Bring the imperfection to your full attention, make sure that you understand its cause or causes, construct a strategy to avoid the future occurrence of the mistake, and then WORK on it in practice with laser-like attention to detail and supreme mental and physical intensity.
Very often, especially at the highest levels of competition, success and failure are determined by the avoidance of small errors at critical times. Winning is in the details. Details are in the numbers. If you are committed to reaching your full playing potential, your numbers must be used effectively to guide the time spent preparing for competition.