Cardinal Shooting Center – Our First Visit

We visited a new club out of Columbus, Ohio last weekend and found an oasis in the middle of nowhere. This was our first time, and the facility is beautiful and huge.

They have a long row of trap ranges where they host three big trap shoots a year. They have RV hookups for miles and even 29 cabins to rent that come with a pool. The sporting clays area consists of two courses. One is a little easier than the other but we found both to have great targets and nothing that was too crazy. They had a great staff who welcomed us and all our students and wanted to make sure all was well. At the end of the weekend, they even asked us back two or three times next year, so we are excited to add them to our expanding list of great clubs.

We were full each day with 10 students and there was some popping going on. Everyone is always amazed that they don’t have to look down the gun and put that white or neon bead on the bird. But they can’t figure out why they miss behind.

Before we went to the course, everyone understood that would never work and they had to change what they were doing. Looking across the gun or behind the gun became the last thing they would tell themselves, so it was the first thing that came out when they called “pull.” That seems to be the one thing that really works and the one thing students don’t want to do each time.

We spent the three days creating new habits rather than trying to change habits. It takes 3,000 to 5,000 repetitions to change a habit and only 300 to 500 repetitions to create a new one. So which one do you want to do?

Getting the gun mount smooth was also something we spent a lot of time on. We talked about how important it is to have a good gun mount, even if you shoot with the gun higher in your shoulder like for outgoing trap targets or targets you have to take fast off the trap. Every good shooter has a good gun mount.

Also, we had six shooters who wanted to learn to shoot with two eyes instead of one. Four of them lasted through the failure of the different picture and were so excited that they could do it. Their struggle is not over, and they will have to do the three-bullet drill and flashlight drill to make sure the picture stays and they are confident in not looking at the gun. For the other two shooters, we decided to wait on that part, since they were just trying to learn a new system. That was more important than the two-eye issue that they could fix at home with the three-bullet and flashlight drills.

But everyone progressed beautifully with the system and all felt that they could advance their games, putting it all into practice and realizing that perfect practice is what they needed to do.

It was also nice getting out of the heat. A cold front had come through and made us go to Cabelas to get jackets… “had to” make us go to Cabelas… haha.

Until next year!