Invariably, the first round I shoot is my best of the day. My scores will gradually drop off as I continue to shoot. I’m in excellent health. I shoot 2 3/4 dr., 1 1/8 oz, and recoil doesn’t bother me (at least not that I’m aware of). I don’t feel as if I’m getting tired. I usually shoot in the mornings, not at the end of the day. I shoot skeet, 5-stand, and sporting clays. The same phenomenon occurs in all types of shooting except actual hunting. I don’t notice this drop-off on live birds. At present, I do not shoot in competition because of this problem. Any thoughts?
-Larry Fry, Poway, CA
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Sounds to me like you have done just about everything you can to improve your performance on clays. You shoot in the morning when you are fresh and you shoot light ammunition which doesn’t kick. You have certainly been very observant of your results! This could, however, be the problem!
When a shooter becomes score or results-oriented during his performance, the result is typically underachievement.
The scenario goes something like this, using a 10-station, 100-target bird round of sporting as an example: You begin shooting on Stations 1 through 4 excited about being there, having a good time, and shooting the birds one at a time without a care in the world.
All of a sudden you are on Station 6 and you realize you have only missed seven birds out of 50 and you have a great score going. On Stations 6 through 10, your shooting becomes erratic. You have lost your sense of rhythm or timing. The birds start hitting the ground whole. The X’s you dreamed of turned into O’s. The score you expected to shoot when you were on Station 6 turned into a mirage. It seemed the harder you tried to break the birds, the worse it got, and the birds on the last half of the course were easier than the ones on the first half. You would normally break those types of birds easily – without even trying! But today you couldn’t buy a target.
Vicki and I see this a lot. It’s called “lack of staying in the present.” When we talk to our students about the psychology of performance, we stress how important it is to stay in the present. You can only control what you are doing now; you cannot control your total score. The total score is the sum of all the shots, both good and bad. A good score is the result of staying in the present each and every time you called “pull.” When you were on Stations 1 through 5, you shot each bird without expectation, as one bird. When you realized you had broken 43 out of the first 50 targets, you immediately doubled the score and thought “Wow! I could shoot an 86 today!”
At that instant, you left the present and went into the future. You stopped doing what you were doing when you shot 43 of the first 50. You began to think about your total score instead of the target you were shooting at that instant. You began to miss. Because you expected to shoot an 86, you began to count birds. Then you began to shoot not to miss instead of shooting to hit. What little confidence you have left in yourself as a shooter now vanishes like the rabbits you smoked on the second station.
Your expectations have become your boundary. The reason you do not see the same result on live birds is that you are typically in the present. When a live bird flushes, you are startled and you react to that bird. Rarely do you count live bids until the end of the day or until you get close to your limit.
Your comment about not shooting competitions because of this problem makes us even more sure of the answer.
Ever wonder why people always shoot better in practice than in a tournament? The targets are the same, but the scores are lower. When people shoot a tournament, they overtry. They try to shoot a score instead of staying in the present, shooting each bird one at a time, and letting the score be a reflection of their true ability.
There are two things that improve performance – enjoyment and learning. When you practice, your goal needs to be to learn and enjoy. When you perform, your goal must be to enjoy and learn.
