Dear Vicki and Gil,
I went to the state shoot this last weekend and shot great on the first day of the main. But on the second day, I began to flinch and went from an 82 on the first day to a 65 on the second – and the targets were not harder. I thought you guys had cured my flinching but now they seem to be back. Help!
(We could sign the names of most of the people who shoot sporting clays to this question/statement but for now, we will call the author Mike.)
**
Well, Mike, seems as though you have stumbled onto one of sporting clays’ bumpiest roads. And don’t feel alone, because everyone will eventually end up on this path, and whether they get off it will be determined by their attitude. This will be a topic of a series of tips from us over the next few months and the main topic of our next book. You tried to duplicate what you did on the first day of the shoot instead of replicate what you did that allowed you to have a good performance. We know it sounds like a word game, but hear us out.
Some will say you “got in your own way.” Others will say that “you tried too hard,” and then some will happily say “see, I told you those flinches would come back.” Well, they are all wrong and right at the same time. You did get in your own way by trying too hard to shoot a good score. You became hesitant and began to check the lead, which leads to your flinching and poor performance.
Now, the mental gurus will tell you that you can reprogram your brain and this will not happen again. And your shooter friends and coaches will tell you that a release trigger will solve your problems. We, however, will tell you that this will not be the last time you will see this. And it’s just one of the things you must go through to learn to compete in master class.
That’s right. We said master class. We have coached hundreds of shooters into master class in our decades of professional coaching. They have all gone through this phase of performance – and it is a phase. We have successfully coached many shooters who have the time and desire to compete in master class. They’re winning punches every week all over the country and they will tell you that they all went through this.
Later on in this series, we will be addressing how and what we coach advanced shooters, as well as the rumors our students hear about our inability to coach anyone into master class or coach a master class shooter into a champion. This phase, for all shooters, has some common threads. The first one is that it ain’t fun, but it’s an important part of learning to perform. How you react to it determines in great part how long it lasts and how often or if it will come back.
Yes, that’s right. We said it will come back at every plateau you push through. And what will bring it back is how much you want to win.
It’s like driving a boat; if you are under power you can control the boat, but if you shift to neutral to stop and think, you have no power and cannot steer it. In a car, if things aren’t going right, you can apply the brakes and stop the car, regroup, and begin again.
The same holds true in an airplane, and it’s why many pilots who have the required number of hours to fly but lack the experience to think far enough ahead get into trouble. This usually happens when going to a new plane that is two or three times faster than the plane they were used to. The plane outruns their ability to think and plan ahead, and they get into trouble. At altitude, that is not good. In an airplane, you never want to run out of altitude, airspeed, and ideas at the same time.
What happened to you on the first day is you were having fun shooting the event with no expectations. Just walking through the course, making a plan, and shooting the plan. Your breakpoints were all correct, and on top of that, you were committed to breaking the first target of each pair in the correct breakpoint, then eyes first, then the gun and the gun just went to the right spot and the targets just broke. You were focused on what we call process thinking, which is what Vicki teaches best: make the plan, then shoot the plan until they tell you to get out of the box.
Your score was a result of making good plans and trusting your hands to put the gun in the right place. All you had to do was just focus on the target and work the plan, and you had fun doing what you had been practicing. Then on the next day, after shooting in the 80s, you realized that you could shoot a really good score and maybe even win something if you could shoot as well the next day.
While thinking about this, the 12 or 13 easy targets you missed today began to float through your memory. All of a sudden you can easily see yourself shooting a 93, or even a 95. Wow, that would really put you up there.
It all seems logical (and most of all, reachable). Except for one thing. When you began the round the first day you were not trying to shoot a score or trying to win. You were just doing what you have practiced and what you did that eliminated the flinching from your game. Just like Vicki says, “make the plan, shoot the plan,” and do it over and over until they tell you that you’re finished. Then go to the next one, and so on and so on. That was how you shot the score you did.
Now that you have been dreaming about winning and justifying how you could do it, and knowing what you had to do to win, what do you think your mantra will be shooting today’s round?
Our experience tells us that on the first day you shot without expectation and your round on the second day was nothing but expectation. This is how expectation becomes your boundary and why your flinching came back! In other words, you began the round “shooting not to miss” instead of shooting the breakpoint. Instead of concentrating on timing and breakpoints, you were checking the lead ever so slightly, and unfortunately, you had some success checking the lead.
So, what do you think you did? That’s right – you checked it even more, Your breakpoints became wherever the lead looked right. You began slashing the muzzle around like swatting bumblebees with a badminton racket, and nothing good happened until you had fired your last shot. Thank God it was over. This has not been fun.
Earlier we said that this was a phase and it’s something everyone has to go through to learn how to perform. Controlling expectation is huge, but like the Yankee who visited the blacksmith shop, sometimes you just have to try something before you can actually learn from it.
It seems that when the Yankee went to visit the blacksmith shop there was a horseshoe lying on the anvil. The smith said it was hot and not to touch it. Well, you guessed it, as the smith turned his attention to something else, the Yankee reached out and picked up the horseshoe and immediately dropped it. Hearing the shoe drop to the anvil, without turning around, the smith asked if he had gotten burned. The Yankee replied, “Naw, it just don’t take me long to look at a horseshoe!”
What you have experienced is something that you have to go through to learn how to optimize your talent and ability. In our experience, there is no exact formula to help you push through this plateau because all shooters are different. That difference creates a different formula for each person due to mindset, practice schedule, and goals.
There are certain things that you can do to get through this phase. The first thing is to write down in your log what happened on the two days – what was different the second day and what you are going to do the next time you find yourself in this position?
What would we recommend? First, appreciate that there are many things that have to happen for you to have a winning performance that are out of your control. That’s right, we said out of your control! On our Coaching Hour three or four years ago, we spent two shows talking about all the things that must happen for you to have a peak performance that are out of your control. You know the one that everyone overlooked until we brought it up?
Everyone must miss more targets than you, and you can’t control what others do, think, or say.
The bottom line is you can’t control winning. The only thing you can control is what you are doing right now. Whether or not you will have the opportunity to win will be determined by how well you control what you do each time you pull the trigger, the quality of your plans, and the consistency of your routines. That is what we mean when we talk about focusing on the process.
If you look at this kind of performance as an opportunity to learn instead of a statement of your self-worth, then you will learn from it and move on. But one thing still remains: it is and always will be how you react to the situation outwardly and on the inside that will determine how quickly you will learn to get through this plateau. You will not get to the next level without experiencing it. So, if you look at it as something you must go through to get where you want to be, then the odds of you learning from it are much greater and your journey will be much shorter.
Just remember: once you get past this the first time, it will be a little easier to do the next time you face it. And eventually, you will come to understand what allows you to have your best performance. Nolan Ryan said, “Champions stay on top by being willing to improve.”
One more thing: it is at this level that shooters typically are the most uncomfortable, and they will do anything to eliminate that feeling. You know what we’re talking about! You know that feeling. It’s the one that “everyone is looking at me and my score.” The more you imagine this, the more you want it to go away – and quickly, too.
Here is where the money comes out and people buy what we call “Shotgun Bling.” You know that stuff – if it can be screwed, glued, or twisted onto a shotgun, the sky is the limit. And if you can get it with free shipping, even better! Depending on how bad the score was, it might even be “overnighted” in an attempt to soothe the savage beast.
Well, Shotgun Blingers, let us tell you, if buying new stuff would make you a better shot, you would have to be a good shot to begin with! There ain’t nothing that you can buy that will improve your shooting if you can’t shoot to begin with.
Our good friend Mark Landry once said, “excuses are the crutches of the untalented” (Kinda blunt, but true). Another All-American student and friend Dean Olson said on our Coaching Hour one night, “never look for equipment solutions to training problems.” Enough said.
Once you learn what it takes for you to perform at this level and you practice it into your game, you will begin to get past it. Then you will find yourself at an even higher level and the same old thing will happen again and again. You will find that the more you experience this learning curve, the quicker you will begin to recognize the thoughts that make you go down this road. Eventually, you will begin to get past it altogether. However, like the Yankee and the horseshoe, when you see the sign that says “Wet Paint DO NOT TOUCH,” you will probably have to just see if it’s really wet!
