Severity
Severity is how significant a swing fault is expected to be for performance, labeled Critical, High, Moderate, or Low.
Severity is the estimate of how much a fault is likely to cost you in performance terms. This means measured in strokes, points, distance, or accuracy depending on the sport. It is assigned by the rules engine based on two inputs. This means how far outside the target window the relevant metric falls, and how much that deviation typically affects outcomes in the research and coaching literature the rules are derived from. A fault that produces a 30-yard slice on every drive is Critical — it costs distance, accuracy, and scoring on every swing. A fault that causes minor uneven results on low-percentage shots is Low — real, but not worth prioritizing ahead of higher-impact issues.
The four severity tiers (Critical, High, Moderate, Low) drive the advice engine's ranking. Critical and High severity faults are surfaced first regardless of how many lower-severity faults are also present. This is. This is because the expected performance gain from addressing them is highest. Moderate faults are addressed after Critical and High are resolved. Low faults are noted in the record but rarely surface as primary advice unless all higher-severity issues are already resolved.
Severity is estimated based on typical performance impact across the population of athletes with similar fault patterns and skill levels. It is not a promise of what the fault is costing you in particular. A fault rated High may have a larger or smaller impact on your individual game depending on your other strengths and compensations. Severity is a useful prioritization signal, not a precise measurement of personal performance loss. It should be treated as the engine's best estimate of impact given the evidence, combined with your own knowledge of which issues are costing you the most in practice and competition.
Start with the Critical and High severity findings. These are the issues the system estimates are costing you the most performance. Even if a lower-severity finding feels more obvious or annoying in practice, the highest-severity faults are likely the root of most of your performance loss.
Once Critical and High severity faults are resolved, Moderate severity findings become your focus. At higher skill levels, the difference between Moderate and High performance outcomes can be significant. This means elite players often have no Critical or High faults remaining and are optimizing within the Moderate tier. If you have reached this stage, the severity differences between findings become smaller and contextual knowledge of your game matters more for prioritization.
Example
A path fault that produces a 30-yard slice is rated Critical; a minor tempo uneven results is rated Low.
How it shows up on video
Severity ratings in the report are displayed as labels (Critical / High / Moderate / Low) next to each fault. A Critical severity fault typically involves a consistent, large-magnitude deviation from benchmark. This means visible in the skeleton overlay as a clearly displaced joint or angle across multiple swings.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a low-severity fault does not matter. This means a low-severity fault may still affect performance. Severity reflects how far outside benchmark the measure is, not necessarily how much it impacts ball flight or outcome.
- Prioritizing a visually dramatic fault over a less visible but higher-severity fault. This means severity is determined by biomechanical impact analysis, not by how obvious the fault looks on video.
- Not expecting severity to change as you improve. This means drilling a Critical fault successfully will lower its severity label over subsequent sessions as your metrics approach the target range.
- Ignoring low-severity findings entirely. This means low-severity findings often represent early-stage faults that will become high-severity if the primary fault is addressed without awareness of the compensatory patterns.
In SwingVantage Motion Lab
Severity labels appear on each finding card in your SwingVantage report — Critical, High, Moderate, or Low — alongside the fault name and confidence score. The color coding in the interface reinforces the severity tier so the highest-priority findings stand out visually. When the advice engine selects your primary advice, severity is the primary factor in that selection.
Frequently asked questions
How is severity different from confidence score?
Severity describes how much the fault is expected to matter for performance — how big the problem is. Confidence score describes how certain the diagnosis is — how sure the system is that the fault is actually present. A finding can be high severity but low confidence (the system suspects a big problem but does not have enough data to be sure) or low severity but high confidence (a minor issue the system is certain about). Both dimensions matter for prioritization: ideally you focus on high severity, high confidence findings first.
Can severity change over time for the same fault?
Yes. As your swing develops and other faults are resolved, the same fault pattern may have a different effective impact on your performance. A path fault that was Critical when paired with a severe grip issue may become Moderate once the grip is corrected and the path fault is the only remaining issue. Severity is re-evaluated on each analysis based on your current data, not locked from a past assessment.
Related terms
- Primary vs. Secondary FaultThe primary fault is the swing issue with the highest severity and impact on performance; the secondary fault is the most likely co-existing issue.
- Rules EngineThe rules engine is the configuration-driven core that checks your shot data and symptoms against sport-specific target windows to identify the best-fitting pattern.
- Recommendation EngineThe advice engine ranks possible fixes by impact and confidence so you get one high-leverage priority fix — not twenty competing tips.
- Confidence ScoreA confidence score is a 0–100 calibration of how much to trust a finding, scaled by sample size, shot-to-shot consistency, and how complete your inputs were.
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