Ask The Instructor: Scorecards

Question: Is it a good idea to analyze your scorecard at the end of a shoot or just forget about it and move on mentally? 

Answer: There are two answers to your one question. I encourage you to take a picture of your scorecard immediately after each round. I don’t recommend spending any time analyzing your performance immediately after your shoot, however, particularly if you have another event on the same day. Nevertheless, there is a treasure trove of valuable insight contained on each and every scorecard you turn in after a tournament. Capturing this insight by taking an image of it for analysis in the comfort of your home, is a great idea. You have paid good money to shoot in these events. Why not leverage the insight you can gain from your scorecards to improve your game? For instance, what if you discovered that you consistently missed more targets on the third pair of each station than on the first, second, or fourth pair? After two dead pairs you might be thinking “I got this” or “Hey, I’m really shooting well.” After getting this into your head, you fail to focus as acutely on that third pair. Upon discovering this, you might want to solidify your pre-shot routine. What if you missed more targets on the first two pairs than the second two pairs? The targets on these stations were clearly within your technical ability or you wouldn’t have been able to break both targets on your third and fourth pairs. Unfortunately, you needed to shoot the first two pairs to figure out the correct strategy. Perhaps, in this case, you need to improve your pre-shot planning process. Identifying a pattern in your misses on a scorecard can provide tremendous insight that can help you direct your practice as well as help your instructor to direct his coaching more effectively. A most glorious sight would be that of competitors everywhere whipping out their smart phones and taking a snap shot of their scorecards at the end of each round. Give it a try. You just might avoid some of those misses the next time around.