The Quiet Eye Sequence
When I'm in the zone (whether it's teaching or competing) my conscious plan has to be taken care of before I ever load the gun. I have to know what it's going to look like. I have to know where I want it to happen and...
The Paradox of the Anticipation Circuit
We have become so much more aware of the power of the subconscious mind and how quickly it can make things right. This is especially true in shooting clays because we see them every day. I’ve seen some gun mounts where the person didn’t even deserve...
Failure Shows You Your Patterns
Don’t be afraid of going to three shoots and having the same thing happen to you over and over again. Because if the same thing happens to you over and over again, guess what? You can look at it as “I’ve got a terminal problem...
Looking at Your Top and Bottom Scores
You’re not always going to bring your “A” game to the show. As hard as you try, you’re not always going to do that. I went to the Beretta World Championships in 1987 and was fortunate enough to spend probably 45 minutes under a tent...
The Limits of Working Memory
Working memory is limited in duration and capacity. It can hold on to things for about 10 to 20 seconds if you don't do something with them. And there can be no more than four things in the working space at any one time. One of...
How Do You Start Your Shooting Year?
When you begin your new year or come back from your break, it’s important that you write down what kind of targets you practiced; how many, the frequency of practice, and the duration of practice. Whatever you did last year, if it worked out, you ought...
Being Prepared for a Variety of Conditions
There are a couple of different kinds of practice. There’s conditioning practice like when you go to the gym and work out and run to stay slim and fit, and it could be your gun mount practice. It could be the three-bullet drill, playing with...
Being Competitive in Master Class
"The last year and a half have been relatively easy for me to goal set - punch into A, then punch into AA. Now my short-term goal is master class. But I'm trying to figure out a long-term goal. I want to end up competitive...
Practice and Compete with the Same Intensity
Every shot you take in practice and in a tournament, big or small, has to be with a hundred percent commitment to the plan and your routines. When you’re congruent and in the zone, effort is optimized. You’re not stressed. You’re in control of the target....
Skeet Chokes and the Feedback Loop
The first year that the World English Sporting came to our country, I was doing an experiment in the offseason leading up to it. I had a full in the top barrel and a modified in the bottom barrel, and I was shooting everything with...