The Number One reason for missing sporting targets: not maintaining focus on the target through the shot.
Target focus is a simple thing. It’s either there or it isn’t. You either never had it or you lost it. If you never had it, the solution is simple – get it before you move the gun. If you lost it, more often than not, the basic move of the gun was wrong ( in 99 percent of instances, the move was too fast) and it pulled your primary focus off the target and onto the gun or the lead.
John Higgins said something whose true meaning is becoming more clear to us as we teach 1,500-2,000 people each year in our clinics, seminars, and hourly lessons. “You Americans are too intent on breaking the target,” he said. “Therefore, you never learn the basic move well enough to achieve consistency of any sort.” He has gotten smarter over the years.
Gil was reading an article the other day on the advances that have been made in golf equipment in recent years – exotic materials, oversized club heads, shafts with different amounts of flex, etc. The writer went to great lengths in describing the advantages of all combinations of composite materials, shaft flex, and club head sizes, and came up with what he felt was the best combination of all the current clubs. However, at the end of the article, he said something that was very profound: “If your swing is bad, you will hit bad shots. Nothing will improve your game as much as improving your swing.”
This is so true in shotgunning as well. We see people buying all sorts of products to make them a better shot. They buy new guns, adjustable stocks, different lens colors, different chokes, faster shotgun shells, glow-in-the-dark shotgun sights, and the list goes on. The sad thing is that if they would spend more time working on the basic swing dynamics and mechanics, their game would improve dramatically. But I guess that is not as easy as using their charge card to buy a few extra targets.
Gil’s uncle Dusty Garrett told him once that 90 percent of the fun of doing anything is having the best equipment you could possibly afford. Having the correct lens color for the situation you are shooting in is important. Using the correct chokes and load is important also. Having a gun that you are proud of and that fits you is of equal importance. We find that people shoot guns that they are proud of better than guns they aren’t.
However, I’m sure I could give Bobby Fowler a gun that he had never seen or shot before, with an unknown choke in it, with ammunition he was not accustomed to shooting, and he could still break ten out of ten 30-yard crossers. Why? He has a smooth subconscious swing – the keywords being “smooth” and “subconscious” It’s something that few people who shoot this game have. It’s the consistency of the move that breaks the targets. You don’t have to be smooth to be a great shot, but all great shots are smooth.
The more precise and consistent your swing and mount are, the easier it is to move the gun with the speed and direction of the target. The more the gun mirrors the target line and speed, the easier it is to maintain critical laser focus on the target. The better the focus on the target, the more targets you will break – period.
