The subconscious knows rhythm. For those of you who can clap a steady rhythm without music, do you consciously think about when you’re going to clap next? Do you tick off the seconds in your head? No, you just feel the rhythm.
Using that rhythm to manage the voice and stimulate feel is what the pre-shot routine is all about. It’s a crucial part of turning your swing over to the subconscious. If you’ll think back to elementary school music class, you’ll remember the teacher asking you to tick off numbers in order to learn rhythm. One and two and three and four. It always starts with the conscious mind, and the pre-shot routine is no different.
After you’ve entered the cage, asked the trapper questions about the targets, and watched the view pair all the way to the ground, you’ll want to have a consistent routine. Here’s an example of the basic pre-shot routine we teach: I confirm my plan because picking a breakpoint for each of the targets should be the first thing I do. I then load the shells into the gun, rest it on the rail, and with my front hand, I point at breakpoint one. As I do that, I tell myself, “I’m going to break the first one there” and visualize the target exploding.
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