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A student of ours came to a great revelation the other day. After several months of shooting and taking lessons his scores, which had gone way up, began to go up and down. The ups were good, but the downs were becoming too much the norm. The downs were really showing up on tournament day. All I want is a trophy and out of E class, but really I just want the trophy, he would say. We would try to explain to him not to let his expectations steer his tournament day. Finally after several bad scoring tournament days, he called whining about how bad he was performing. Gil and I both talked to him about his goals, his expectations and his learning curve, but we especially wanted him to relax and enjoy the game, learn from his mistakes and let his performance GO!, and stop whining about not winning. The next day he went and played a round of golf (having not played in 3 years) very relaxed and not expecting anything but to have fun. That is exactly what happened. He couldn't miss. Always hitting the ball perfectly--not concerned about the woods or the water. Even getting an applause from the group behind him after hitting a great iron shot farther than anyone did with their woods. He couldn't believe the way he had played-it was better than when he played every week. He called to tell us about this experience and how he had taken what we had been telling him about not being so mechanical and letting it go and used it on the golf course and was amazed that he had played so well. Our next step was to take this relaxed state to the sporting clays course. Not surprisingly the same thing happened-his scores went straight up. The most important things that Gil and I saw, was that his attitude was so much more relaxed and his performance went up. Paul, in his need to get a trophy, had forgotten why he had taken up the sport of sporting clays. He had forgotten how FUN it was to break those clay tarets. His expectations had made him more concerned about missing targets rather than enjoying breaking them. This is a sport and its supposed to be fun. Getting yourself all worked up over your misses only causes you to concentrate on missing and not hitting. If you are thinking about missing, then that is exactly what you are going to get. Think about the hits and about how much fun it is to break those targets. You will find that you enjoy it more and your scores will probably go up. Changing Leads Vs. Chokes I've heard people talk about changing their leads instead of changing their chokes. Which has the most effect on the size of the shot cloud? Mark Faggard, Beaumont, Texas This answer is probably going to ignite quite a few already too short fuses, but you asked for it! I defy anyone to show me how changing shot sizes can change the size of the shot cloud greater or more precisely than changing choke! In my experience, it just wont happen. That is why I shoot an over/under shotgun. To take advantage of having two chokes. The reason you change choke is to give you the largest diameter shot cloud at the distance you are going to break the target. Maybe its best to explain this using a specific example. Lets say that you are shooting a report pair of crossers. The first bird crosses at 15 yards and the second crosses at 30 yards. If you shot a semi-auto I would recommend you use an improved cylinder choke with 9s on the close bird and 8s or 7 1/2s on the far bird. There will be a difference in the diameter of the shot cloud at 15 yards using 9s instead of 8s or 7 1/2s, but it will not be very much! The ideal choke and load for this pair would be cylinder or diffusion choke with 9s on the close bird and improved cylinder with 8s on the far bird. Cylinder or diffusion choke will yield a 22-28 diameter pattern at 15 yards with 9s depending on altitude, humidity and your individual gun and load. Improved cylinder on the other hand will yield a 14-18 diameter pattern at 15 yards given the same variables. At 30 yards, improved cylinder will yield a beautiful 28-30 pattern using 8s. The larger diameter of the shot cloud, the greater the pointing error you can have and still break the target! My advise to you is to change choke if you want to achieve the greatest and most consistent effect on the diameter of the shot cloud! Eye Dominance When you write about your technique of automatic vision compensation when you concentrate just on the target and how the mind-body computer will compensate with proper gun alignment, how does eye dominance play in this scenario. The testing of my vision indicates to me that my left eye is mainly dominant, but occasionally it isn't. I shoot right handed. I think this is the reason that sometimes easy targets are missed. Harry Wiley, e-mail Eye dominance becomes more evident as you become more aware of the barrel of the gun. If your eyes vary from focusing on the target to the barrel even if it is a slight moment, you will lose the bird and most probably will miss it. Your letter says you just began shooting clays after a 30 year absence from occasional trap. In trap, you were probably more aware of where the gun was. If you do that in sporting clays, you will not hit the bird-100% of your focus must be on the target. We have learned that there is a 3/10th of a second delay from the mind to the hands. If your eyes are telling your brain where to be,and if it takes 3/10 of a second to get there, then you will be behind. Don't play this game in the past. Look at the front of the target and let the gun get somewhere in the front and pull the trigger. Too much thinking about where the gun is, leads to being behind. Your focus must be completely on the target. The reason you are missing the easy close targets, is not eye dominance, it is too much time is spent trying to locate the barrel and put it in front. Just put it somewhere in front. The shotgun is a very forgiving instrument, because of the width of the pattern. If you are looking at the front of the target, let the gun get there, don't try to put it in an exact lead to it or that thinking thing enters into the shot. That will put you behind. Be more concerned about your focus on the target and let the mind-body computer do its job. It will or how could you drive a car onto a freeway. You know you need to be in front of the next car, but how far--far enough not to get hit. You don't think about it, you just go. Do the same on the clays course. Simple Mechanics The level of commitment MUST be greater than the expectation. We teach mechanical excellence and mental focus and trust. One must have mechanical excellence before true mental focus and trust can occur. Ideally, you can develop mental focus and trust while you develop mechanical excellence, however, mechanical excellence must be developed and constantly practiced in order for one to ever come close to their potential. The first step on your journey to your potential is understanding the simple mechanics of shotgunning.
It is that simple! Anything else you put into the shot just clutters up the mechanics and takes away from your focus(concentration) on the target. You read lots of articles and watch lots of videos on swing through, pull away, maintained lead, sustained lead, modified pull away, diminishing maintained swing- stab, etc. Although all of these are mechanical techniques, they have more to do with a persons style than anything else. Each technique has risks. Some have more than others. But they all have great risk when a shooters focus is on technique and not on the target. We feel that way too many people get hung up in the trip that the gun is making and they lose sight of where it needs to go. The gun must be in front of the bird when the shot is taken. The more time you spend thinking about what the gun is doing the worse you will shoot. Instead of focusing on the trip the gun is making, FOCUS on the destination and the trip will take care of itself. You'll hit more targets and have a lot more fun. After all, best I can remember, when I went to Grammas house, I always enjoyed being there more than I enjoyed the trip!
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