“Why do I shoot so well in practice but not in tournaments?”

This is a constant question from all our students.

— Practice with a purpose. Each time you are going to practice, have something specific to work on. Work on that one specific thing for at least 50 shots, then go play.

— Practice the six trajectories. Make sure you can hit the targets thrown from the six trajectories in at least three different places along the flight path. At some time during the round, you will have to shoot one of the targets in a spot that you may not be comfortable with.

— Practice learning the move and feel of the target. Try to be more aware that as you see the bird, you must start your move with the bird to the breakpoint. That initial move with the bird allows you to feel the move. You will feel like you are a part of the flight path and that you have the target in the palm of your hands. If you can feel like this, you know you are going the same speed as the target and are in sync with the target. When it feels right, you know you are going to hit the target.

Train Before The Tournament

Training for the tournament and practicing for the tournament are two different things. In practice, you have nothing riding on the score. You are having fun. There is usually a lot of kidding around with your friends and laughter – and of course a little harassment. You think you are ready for the tournament because you have spent days practicing, but then you go to the tournament and do poorly. You start missing targets that you never miss in practice. 

What happened? The biggest difference is your attitude. It has changed and you didn’t even realize it. You went from “just throw the target and if I can see if I will hit it” to “please don’t let me miss the target.” If you have trained for the tournament in your training sessions, there should be no difference in attitude.

Practice Your Mechanics. Train For The Tournament

At the beginning of your shooting year, get that gun out of the closet where it probably spent most of the cold winter. Go out to the range and practice feeling the gun in your hands again. You are just shooting targets and practicing shooting them in different breakpoints. When your mechanics are right and feel good again, then you begin your training for the upcoming season of tournaments. 

Train your pre-shot routine to be subconscious. Have a plan of where to see the target and where to break it for both targets, as there are always two targets in sporting clays. When you get into the stand, you should be on autopilot, not thinking, but focused on executing your plan.

Train your reactions to lost targets. Don’t get mad at yourself; fix the problem. We have all seen people miss some targets in a stand and then they begin to talk about their heritage. Stop this negative flow. It will be the downfall of your scores. It does nothing to improve your scores. It will only make you feel worse, and other people in the squad won’t want to be around you. Instead of getting mad, fix the problem by focusing harder on the target, making your move more in sync with the target or having a good gun mount. 

You must learn to train your emotions to always look at the good things that happen in the round. But we always look to the negative ones. If you only put emotion to the negative things that have happened, then you have made them a part of the shot. I want the positive things that happened in the round to be my central focus. There is always something good that happens when you are out shooting – find it and focus more on it than your score. Too many times people make the score a reflection of their self-worth. The sun will rise in the east and set in the west whether you shoot 40 or 80, so look for the good things to focus on, not dwell on a poor performance. Learn what your weaknesses are and make a plan to correct them. All successes come from failure. Learn something from your failure, and make a success out of it.