Earlier this year at one of our Mental Game Seminars, we talked about the mental side of performance – not just in sporting clays, but in fishing, golf, basketball, hunting, and business. Eventually, all in the room realized that the principles we were teaching were applicable to life itself.
We specifically talked about how quickly a person’s goal can change when shooting a competitive round of sporting clays. What do we mean when we say that a person’s goal can change? Well, hang on and we’ll show you how a well-intended casual round of clays can turn a sporting clays Good Samaritan into the Boston Strangler, Charles Manson, Edward Scissorhands, or, depending on height, Frankenstein.
It was Gil’s night to talk, so he talked with the group about the importance of creating the correct goals and sticking to them when you shoot, especially when you practice. To illustrate a point about how quickly thinking of score will make a person switch goals, he talked about a person who had decided to help a new shooter understand how to shoot sporting clays and just how much fun it is. For purposes of the story, we’ll call him Bubba.
Bubba was unloading his Polaris Ranger getting ready to go out and practice some crossers. As he was going into the range house to register and get a counter, the manager introduced Bubba to Sam, who had never shot sporting clays before. He had hunted all his life, but never shot even one clay target. The manager asked Bubba if he would mind taking Sam around and showing him a few things.
Reluctantly, Bubba, seeing himself as a great ambassador of the game, explained that even though he was there to practice, he would gladly just shoot a friendly round with Sam. Bubba never liked pulling for himself, even if the range did have counters that allowed for launch delays so a person could pull for themselves.
Sam went to his car and got a gun in a soft case and a plastic bag with four boxes of ammo and some foam earplugs in it. He put his sunglasses on and headed back to meet Bubba. Well, Bubba rolled up in his Polaris 4×4, with his Krieghoff in the gun rack, a couple of flats of ammo, his shooting bag next to the cooler with iced-down drinks, and the can of Off he kept in the corner of the bed just in case the wind stopped and the mosquitoes came out.
Intimidated, Sam eased into the Polaris, not knowing what to think, much less say. But he did remember to thank Bubba for taking him around on his first round of sporting clays. Bubba said it was no big deal and that his buddies would be here to shoot league about the time they would be finishing up, so things should work out just fine.
As they motored off to the course, both shooters felt good about what they were about to do. Sam was excited to shoot with the club President and ride in his Polaris, and Bubba was feeling great about sharing the game that he loved so much and being an ambassador for the sport. He hadn’t shot a friendly round of sporting in a long time. It just might be fun.
Here is how it went:
Station 1: Bubba 10/10 and Sam 8/10. Simple easy pair, minimum movement, eyes first, no problem for Bubba. But Sam was shooting a pump with a modified fixed choke and was anything but smooth. Bubba was congratulatory by saying “Nice shot” several times.
Station 2: Bubba 9/10 and Sam 7/10. A not-so-easy pair. Bubba only dropped one, but he was amazed at Sam. Bubba knew he was better than Sam but Sam kept hitting the targets with the worst form.
Station 3 and 4: Easy stations and the score remained the same. Bubba was up by 4 birds.
Station 5: Bubba 5/10 and Sam 9/10. Bubba did a little quick math in his head and realized they were tied. This was an easy pair, but Bubba thought it was a report pair and didn’t even shoot at the second target on the first pair. This flustered Bubba and rather than stopping and getting back into his routine, he just kept shooting. Sam hit them all but one and was having a ball.
Bubba was shooting first on all stations to help Sam and as they were leaving the station said, “Nice shootin’, Sam.” The enthusiasm in Bubba’s voice wasn’t quite there like it was in the first station. What would happen if this guy actually beat me, with a pump? Bubba thought. What would my buddies say?
At this point, Bubba abandoned his original goal of just going out and having fun shooting a round of sporting clays and being an ambassador for the sport. His new goal: “I gotta beat this guy!” He began to behave as most competitors do: more distant, more separate from the situation. He continued to say “nice shot,” but his heart wasn’t really in it.
Station 6 was easy and they tied. So was Station 7, and, to Bubba’s surprise, they tied again. Although Sam’s form was really bad and he was shooting a pump.
Station 8 was fairly easy, but it was a left-handed station and the new guy was left-handed. Bubba shot 7/10 and Sam shot 10/10. Now Bubba has gone from just wanting to beat him to, out of fear of what others might say, having to beat him. Bubba begins racking his brain for something he can do, some skill he could summon up from anywhere that would give him an advantage.
Station 9 was a separator station and the one that Bubba fell apart on last time he shot. After shooting his targets, he hoped that Sam would screw up here too. Well, Sam did screw it up (6/10) but not as bad as Bubba (2/10). Now Sam is up 4 targets going into the last station. Bubba’s mind was going 1,000 miles per hour. How could this guy be outshooting me? I’ve got minimum movement. I know about breakpoint, eyes first, pre-shot routine, special extended chokes, custom-fitted over and under. And this guy, shooting a pump with a modified choke with his bullets in a sack, is 4 up on me!
Station 10, Sam said he would shoot first and Bubba let him. He shot a 4/10, hitting the first and last pair and still having a ball. Bubba said “nice shot” but it sounded nothing like what he said back on Station 1.
But there was an open door. Sam was up 4 and shot a 4/10, so a 9 or 10/10 would give Bubba the win. First pair, dead pair; second pair, dead pair; third pair, dead pair. Things seemed to be going Bubba’s way, and now he desperately wanted to win. Fourth pair, dead and lost. Now Bubba’s mind began to fill with those “what would happen if” thoughts. And on the fifth pair, he misses both targets and loses to Sam.
What happened to Bubba’s original goal of just going out and having fun? It got lost in the score in a game of no real significance. But let’s look closely at the underlying reason that thoughts about score became so debilitating.
Bubba’s motivation was based on how it would look to others if he got beat by a newbie shooting a pump. He immediately went from having fun to thinking about “not looking bad.” The futile fact of this goal is that you can’t control what others think of you, so you’re doomed to fail when you begin.
Eventually, you’ll hopefully learn that you can’t control your score; you can only control what you’re about to do right now. One of the biggest lessons any shooter will learn in sporting clays is not to care about what others think. Stick with process goals and let the score take care of itself.
