Retesting & progress FAQ

It is the third step of one fix, one plan, one retest. Without it, "it feels better" is the only evidence you have; with it, you can see whether the specific thing you practiced actually moved.

The comparison is a directional read from video, not a lab test, so it is deliberately careful. It will not call something progress when the two clips were filmed differently or the new one was hard to read.

If your golf fix came from launch-monitor data, the retest is a new session from the same setup rather than a video. More on the idea in the retest guide.

A typical finding gets 7 days. Beginners get a little longer and advanced athletes a little less, because a change takes hold at different speeds at different levels.

For some athletes the window also adapts to their own record: it shortens after a retest that shows the issue is still there, and lengthens after improvements in a row — always between 3 and 28 days. When the date moves, the app shows a one-line reason.

The retest readiness meter counts days through the window — it tracks practice time, not how good your swing is. Mechanical change shows up over days and weeks rather than in one session, so give the fix real reps before you film.

Before you film, you can confirm each one. All three confirmed makes a strong comparison, two a usable one, and fewer a weak one that is read cautiously — the retest still runs, it just claims less.

After you film, SwingVantage checks what it can see for itself — camera angle and height, your size in frame, whether your whole body stayed in shot — and tells you if something you confirmed does not match the footage. It cannot see which equipment you used, so that one rests on your word.

Repeat the same motion too: compare a chip with a chip, not with a full swing. Good, even light and a steady phone keep the new clip as readable as the first.

• Improved — the issue you practiced dropped down or off your priority list. In Motion Lab, it stayed gone across two retest clips, or your overall read rose clearly with nothing moving backwards. Keep reinforcing it before moving on.
• Some progress — moving the right way, but not a clear improvement yet. In Motion Lab, the issue still shows up but is no longer your top one, or your overall read rose clearly while one part slipped. Keep the same focus.
• No clear change yet — the issue is still your top priority, or the read has not clearly moved. That is normal: mechanical change shows up over weeks, not single sessions. Keep practicing, or swap the drill.
• Regressed — only from comparisons that can support it: launch-monitor sessions from the same setup, or two closely comparable Motion Lab clips where the overall read clearly dropped. Day-to-day variation is normal, so treat it as a prompt to slow down, not a verdict on you.
• Inconclusive — the conditions differed, the new clip was too hard to read, or an app update changed the analysis between the two clips. Nothing is held against you; see why a retest is inconclusive.
• Looks fixed — confirm with one more clip. In Motion Lab, the issue did not show up in this retest clip. One clip can miss it, so nothing is recorded until one more retest, filmed the same way, confirms it.

Every result lists its cautions — a different angle, a hard-to-read clip — and reminds you that a video comparison is a directional read, so you can judge it yourself. It also comes with one next move: find your next fix, keep going with the drill or try a different one, re-film cleanly, or go back to basics.

• A different camera angle or height from the original.
• Standing closer or further away, or part of your body out of frame.
• A darker, blurrier or shakier clip than the first.
• A different shot — a chip against a full swing — or, in golf, a different club or effort level.
• A different handedness setting, or a mirrored clip: some front cameras save a mirror image, which swaps your lead side.
• An app update between the two clips that changed how the analysis reads them.
• No read that both clips could produce, so nothing to line up.

An inconclusive result costs you nothing. It is not counted as a failure or a step backwards, your fix stays the same, and Today offers the retest again. The result names what differed, and if you confirmed the same conditions beforehand it points out which one the footage disagreed with.

For most causes, re-film from the original spot and setup, then retest again — see keeping conditions the same.

An app update is the exception: re-filming the same way cannot fix it, because your earlier clip was read by the older analysis. The result says so. Compare with a clip recorded since the update instead — when your plan is waiting on this retest, Motion Lab offers to make the new clip your plan's starting point. Your fix stays the same, and your next retest is compared with that clip.

How much it matters depends on the change. A different view — facing you versus from behind — means the clips cannot be compared at all. A smaller shift in height or distance lowers how comparable they are, and the result says so in plain words, such as "the camera sat at a noticeably different height".

Your plan's retest is compared with the clip the plan started from, so the dependable fix is to go back to that setup and retest again. If you cannot recreate it — a new range, a new phone mount — pin the new clip as your baseline in Motion Lab and film every later clip from that same spot.

Your plan follows along: once a fix is complete it moves to the next thing holding you back. While your recent scores keep trending up it adds a little more work, or raises the challenge if you have been consistent (never for a youth account), on the same fix — a retest decides whether that fix has changed.

Progress shows a plain "Improved" only when the retest was filmed under matching conditions; otherwise it reads "Improved — not yet verified". See why one retest is not proof.

For some athletes, improvements in a row on the same focus also stretch the time before the next check.

• Current focus — your active fix, whether your plan is under way, your practice streak and the drills you have tried.
• Retest results — each before-and-after, with its verdict and cautions.
• Status — "Improved — not yet verified" until a retest under matching conditions confirms it, then a plain "Improved".
• Timeline and trend — what happened when, with a trend chart once you have 3 analyses, so one or two sessions are not over-read.
• Milestones — earned from real steps like completed practice days and retests.

Golfers who import launch-monitor data also get a separate view of those numbers over time.

On the Retest page, a clip you filmed as a retest is paired with the clip it was a retest of; otherwise it is paired with your previous clip of the same motion.

Motion Lab first checks whether the two clips are comparable — same view, framing, capture quality, and how much of the motion both cover. A close match shows the change in each read; a loose one marks every change as directional only; clips that are too different get no numbers at all, just the reason and what to do next — usually re-film, or after an app update, compare with a clip recorded since.

Golfers with launch-monitor sessions can also compare two sessions' numbers on the Compare page.

That is why an improved result says to keep reinforcing it before moving on, and why Progress adds "not yet verified" to an improvement unless conditions matched. For some athletes, a run of improvements lengthens the gap between checks rather than ending them.

The reverse holds too: one disappointing retest does not mean the fix failed. Read the cautions first — a different angle or a hard-to-read clip explains a lot of surprises.

A comparison is only as trustworthy as the weaker of the two clips. Before judging any change, Motion Lab scores how comparable they are — camera angle, framing, capture quality, and how much of the motion both clips cover. A weak score means "Inconclusive", never a claim of improvement or decline.

A clip the quality check asked you to re-film is not used as a retest at all. If your retest clip comes back below Good, apply the fixes the quality check suggests and film again before reading much into the result.