We have talked about practice and performance both from a mental and mechanical standpoint in this column. We have compared our game to other shooting venues, and we’ve put forth the thought that in all other shooting venues, you practice the game that you will be tested on when you shoot a tournament.
This is definitely not how it is in our game of sporting clays. To a certain extent we feel that it is why our game continues to grow in participants, especially the non-registered recreational shooters.
In the game of trap, the shooter works on fundamentals and establishes a rhythm and timing that enables him or her to develop a feel for the targets and become proficient at the game. When a problem arises, it’s fairly easy to isolate and fix, due to the fact that there are no or very few variables in the game.
The same can be said for skeet. When a shooter begins the game of skeet, they work on each station until they begin to get a feel for the game as a whole, and their scores begin to rise. If there’s a problem, it’s fairly easily seen by looking at the score card, because the game of skeet is the same whereever you shoot it.
Also in trap and skeet, the game is the same on the practice field as it is on tournament day. Yes, wind and background can create some difference in result in these games. But great pains are taken to have flawless clear backgrounds with the sun never in your eyes. Great pains are also taken with setting the targets so that they fly exactly the distance, direction, and speed as required by the rules of the game.
Sporting clays come along after trap and skeet, so the practice mentally of skeet and trap flowed right into sporting clays. In trap and skeet, as we mentioned, when you practice you shoot the game you will be tested on game day. So, shooting the game more and more often is bound to make you better at the game…right? It’s preconceived notion that in big part keeps sporting shooters from getting better as quickly as they could, and in some instances just getting better at all.
It does sound logical: shoot more and you’ll get better. It does work that way for the most part if you are going down the skeet river or the trap river. But if you’re navigating the sporting clays river with the same logic, you’ll find yourself going over Niagara Falls before you know it. It won’t be the fall that will hurt you – it’s the sudden stop at the end that tends to get your attention.
Our findings indicate that you must practice, but it is what and how you practice that determines if or how rapidly you improve in sporting clays. You can go shoot sporting clays a lot, but if all you do is shoot the course and look at your score, you will not find much improvement or satisfaction either.
Skeet and trap have stations and trajectories that are predictable. Simply looking at the score card will give you a realistic look at what you need to work on mentally or mechanically. The targets are the constant. In trap, if you miss most often on Station 4 then practice Station 4. Adjust your hold point or focal point and shoot Station 4 until the problem goes away. You can troubleshoot skeet the same way.
The trouble with applying the same logic in sporting clays is that the targets are not the same course-to-course, or even day-to-day on the same course. Although wind can change skeet or trap targets, it can change sporting targets much more dramatically. Skeet and trap targets are shot under power, and depending on the course design, some or many sporting targets are not shot under power, making wind much more of a determining factor in the target difficulty. Unlike skeet and trap targets, time of day and lighting can dramatically change the difficulty level of a sporting target.
Isolating the real problem is much more difficult in sporting than in skeet or trap. Said another way, the problem can masquerade as something else in sporting more easily than in skeet or trap because of the variable in the game.
What should sporting shooter look for when a problem arises? Rarely is the real problem the actual target or trajectory that is missed. The overwhelming majority of sporting shooters convicts themselves of target ineptitude without being aware that they are getting at and trying to fix the result of the miss, not the cause. Add to this the fact that at the first sign of a problem the typical sporting shooter rushes to judgment, and actually turns what was a simple breakdown in a basic fundamental into a terminal case of target ineptitude.
Their anger imbeds the failure and when they see the same presentation or one similar to it in the future, they turn into prophets (and the hole gets deeper). In fact, you could ask them a simple question such as how they are doing and they will be quick to tell you of their most recent self-conviction of target ineptitude (like you gave a darn) and never answer the original question about how they are doing.
The thing that’s puzzling to us is that these people keep listening to their own advice. And when it doesn’t work, they listen again and again. Then they typically ask a friend who can hit their perceived nemesis target for advice, because if their friend can it hit it then they should be able to tell them how to hit it.
Sounds logical to us. But when their friend tries and can’t help, then they go to someone who’s good shot at their club and ask for their advice. Again, another logical bit of self-advice. When that doesn’t work, they go to a top shot at their club who gives lessons part time in the hopes that they can help them fix their problem.
Here’s the problem with all this logical self-advice: the people the shooter turns to each time gave the troubled shooter well-intended advice, but it was based on how they shot and their experience level, not the experience level of the shooter with the problem in first place.
Had the troubled shooter gone to an experienced coach and sought advice on the problem, the chances are that the root cause for the problem would have been found and the problem would have gone away quickly. An experienced coach understands that all problems, regardless of how great or small, always come back to a breakdown in basic fundamentals. Fix the fundamental and the problem goes away.
Good advice often comes from someone who might not be as good as you at doing what you do, but their advice comes from their successful and unsuccessful experiences in other areas of life, and they deserve a close listen.
Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut, and free advice will always cost you more than you paid for it. Seek advice from an experienced coach and build your game on sound basic fundamentals.
