Any number of times when we were working with new shooters and they miss it and we say, “Well, did you match the speed?” “Yeah, yeah, I did.” “Well, match it better.” On the third time of matching it better, they really matched it and the target blew up. “So, you really matched that one, […]
You should do the post-shot routine when working on basically any target. If you miss, this post-shot routine will then become automatic. This is the one routine that nobody wants to do, but it’s probably the most important. After you’ve made a great shot, just take those fractions of seconds to relive it. Then it […]
We have been to South America and Mexico more than 50 times both to hunt and coach in the field on the real thing. Almost all of the hunters that went with us were our clients and could already shoot really well. But like all great performers, they were always pushing themselves to get better […]
Dr. Dan Laby is probably one of the best sports vision scientists in the world. Anybody that’s in that business will tell you he is the pioneer in sports vision. He found that when they tested elite athletes and non-trained people on simple visual decisions, they all had the same reaction time. When I say […]
When we teach new students our system, they’re just gobsmacked with how simple it is and how the brain will take care of all the stuff that they’ve been trying to take care of. But several things have to happen in a sequence for that to happen. The first and most important thing is you […]
In Daniel Coyle’s book, “The Little Book of Talent,” he talks about breaking things down into chunks and taking a little bit at a time. “Letters are useless by themselves, but when you combine them in the right sequence and become words, and the words become sentences, and the sentences become paragraphs.” Pay attention to […]
It’s important to use the post-shot routine when working on your weaker targets in practice. When you use it after every shot, it helps you with your correction routine if you miss. When performing, the post-shot is automatic for me. But even though I saw the lead, I do not get involved with the lead […]
Speed match is critical. Without it, the picture is not real. But with speed match, it becomes real afterwards. Anything you’re aware of in your sharp vision arrives at the motor center in five milliseconds. It takes 300 milliseconds for anything in your periphery to arrive in the motor center. When you’ve matched the speed […]
If your barrel’s not on the bird, you’re going to miss it in front. These are the kinds of things you need to give your brain instructions in great detail. You don’t want it to get fooled by the illusion. We have learned that the brain will anticipate the arrival of the target automatically as […]
When you shoot well and you get a compliment you should always attach your gratitude to that person. First, you have to look them in the eye and say, “Thank you for noticing.” And it needs to be sincere. We’ve always tried to help people to attach their good score to several specific things that […]
Mental toughness is not about how you think, it’s about what you think. But more importantly, it’s about how many times you thought it in the same way such that you are, when you’re in the zone, you are operating on your habits. When something is a habit, it happens at a high level without […]
In the beginning, it will be difficult for you to commit to the shot as predicted because of your desire to break the target instead of executing the prediction to see if the prediction was correct. When you begin to train this way – by committing to the shot the way you want it to […]
There are six basic target trajectories: left-to-right and right-to-left crossing and quartering, and targets going up and falling. And until you master at least two, you will not experience much consistency or confidence in your practice or tournaments. So, what do we mean when we say master a trajectory? Here is where the work begins. […]
Nobody comes out of the womb predisposed to be able to shoot a shotgun at moving targets without experiencing confusion. We’re talking about the confusion of looking at a target and getting the gun muzzle in front of it while matching speed and taking the shot. Everything about hitting a moving target with a shotgun […]
We ran across an interesting thought not long ago. If you do something to improve your shooting game for 15 minutes a day every day for a year, you will be better than 95 percent of the people out there. This brings us back to the reality that there is a direct correlation between how […]
The magic shooters are looking for is in the work they are not willing to do! There is a difference between comment and commitment, and nothing could illustrate it better than the example we just shared above. When your brain understands through repetition what it really looks like to hit a moving target, the more you […]
New shooters don’t have the shot inventory to properly visualize how and where they want the shot to come together, or they have been chasing all the targets down and trying to fix the shot at the end. Either way, if the shooter is successful, it will be short-lived. We find that the target presentation […]
You can see people walk up to a stand, and they are scared to death to get ready to shoot that target. They don’t have a plan of what they’re going to do with the targets. And you can just see them when they’re gripping their gun, with sweat coming down their face, because they […]
How detailed should your routine be once you’re in the station? There are several levels of detail that we can discuss, depending on whether you’re in a tournament or whether you’re in a practice session, or whether you’re just watching clay target kill shot reviews and visualizing. I know that when we are practicing, which […]
Remembering the past is intimately linked with imagining the future. You had a bad day at the shooting range and your buddy calls and says, “Let’s go shoot at that range.” You’ll probably say no, because you think back to the day that you didn’t shoot well. As we’ve said thousands of times: it is […]
Positive or negative, or even verbal encouragement on the course while you’re shooting… none of it is good or will improve your performance. This is why the frustration occurs. What you’re doing or how you’re doing it, albeit well-intended, will not work, which means you have proven it with your approach so far. You must […]
A habit is nothing more than cue, response, and reward. And you have to do that “cue, response, reward” enough times, so that it becomes a habit. When I look at the target, I always use a skeet choke on anything inside of 25 yards. I always use skeet on anything inside 25 yards. I’m […]
If the targets are hard to see due to lighting or background conditions, find a spot that’s either on the target line or close to it. And after killing the first bird, get your eyes there and keep them still, so that they will go to the motion created by the moving target and the […]
“If we can accept that having some level of expectation is a normal and natural byproduct of training and competition, how do we best manage and deal with it?” Well, you always go into a practice or tournament with some kind of expectation. But you can’t let that really enter into the process. Because then […]
If you want to become a good competitive shooter, just like practicing your gun mount, you got to put a number on your back and get in the game. The first year in master class, shoot every event at every tournament you can afford timewise and moneywise to go without worrying about your scores. Just […]
We think it would be good to talk about one more step in the performance part of sporting clays that not many of you have considered. When you look at a target for the first time, your long-term memory sees it and instantly searches the inventory of similar shots that you have deliberately practiced or […]
For most of you, facing a long, crossing target will make you a little uncomfortable on your first attempt because you have no expectation of hitting it. You simply call for the bird and the gun magically goes out in front. Then the trigger is pulled and the target breaks. You were shocked, relieved, and […]
Things that happen to you just are. But how you remember them turns them into strong influences on who you will or can become. When you attach to the memory something positive that helped you to achieve this memory, it becomes more like you. We are all products of our past and how we remember […]
Our research shows several patterns that have emerged over the years we have been professional coaches, and it basically boils down to two things: either shooters begin to try or begin to evaluate while they are performing. There is a sequence we have noticed as shooters begin to work their way through the classes. It […]
Daniel Coyle, author of “The Talent Code,” has a knack for putting things in words based on his research of “talent hotbeds” – coaching situations that produced high performers consistently. This book is where we first learned about the myelination of circuits in the brain. The process occurs based on deliberate practice and tearing the […]
Let’s use opening your over-and-under shotgun as an example. You don’t have to consciously tell your hands where to hold the gun and you don’t have to look at your thumb to make sure it hits the top lever and exerts the correct amount of pressure sideways to enable the gun to open. Both of […]
Since you were six months old, you have been pointing at something you were looking at, so your pointing sequence is highly automatized due to the number of times you have pointed at a distant object. In our game, the gun must be pointed ahead of the target because the target is moving, right? Almost […]
The journey to mastery involves controlling and dealing with the many challenges and adversity put in your pathway to teach and test you. Skill resides in the filler in the brain and as you go through the classes you are (or should be) building filler through repetitions and positive reactions to the good shots and […]
We recommend fitting a gun with light cheek pressure and that the gun be stocked so that with light cheek pressure, the Point of Impact (POI) be 50/50. While some shooters like floating a target, we are not among them. We have two reasons for this. First, let’s say your pattern is 60/40. That means […]
Young shooters are easily excited with the rapid learning and skill-building they experience, but they will soon hit the proverbial wall where it takes more effort to move to higher and higher score plateaus. This is described in detail in several different sports in Daniel Coyle’s book “The Talent Code,” where he talks about the […]
It’s easy for shooters to dwell on the failure on the last station. But the winners learn from it and move on, and leave the misses behind them in the cage, maintaining a calm quiet mind. Most shooters would let that last stand affect the rest of their day by overreacting to the failure. It […]
Some people think shooting is about breaking targets. But in our experience, it should be about so much more, especially when it comes to learning to perform. We have the privilege of shooting with young shooters as they enter college and go through it. In talking to their volunteer coaches, we see many of them […]
The thing that confuses shooters is that they don’t practice with the required intensity. They’re out there going through the motions, having fun. And then when they go to a tournament they try, and their brain doesn’t recognize them. They’re not relaxed, or happy-go-lucky, they’re not having fun. They’re trying. What you have to do […]
After you enter the downward spiral and are confused for 25 to 30 minutes, you’re toast for the day. This is due to your brain injecting cortisol into your system, which is a hormone that kills performance at every level. After 25 to 30 minutes of injection, there is so much cortisol in your system, […]
We’ve all heard the stupid phrases our brain injects that do anything but help us remain positive and stay in the zone: “Is that the right hold point? Be sure you get the lead right. I wish that guy didn’t talk so loud. You only got two stations to go. Can’t miss any more. Down […]
There’s a difference in shooting a shotgun and learning how to compete. First of all, you have to be able to shoot a shotgun and break the target the way you want to break it and where you want to break it without thinking about it, and trust your subconscious. Then once you get to […]
When we go into the negative spiral, we begin neutral, but we become hesitant and doubtful due to hoping to shoot great today. The wrong brain is already in control. From hesitant, you slip into the confused state because your brain is confused – this is not how you practiced. Your working memory is playing […]
Pressure, real or perceived, makes our brains say the most stupid things to us at the most inopportune times. We have talked about how to overcome these lapses into doubt. But when you make it a habit to turn everything into a positive, it instantly allows for us to not let anything negative lead us […]
In Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson’s book, “Every Shot Must Have a Purpose,” their mantra is “neutral or happy” from an emotional standpoint. A lot of emotional outbreak, whether positive or negative, is not good. If you’re overly congratulatory and excited about positive things that are happening, you risk throwing your adrenaline out of control, […]
You’re very confident about the things that you’ve shot the most of. And you don’t have to think as much about how you’re going to shoot it because you’ve shot them 10,000 times. We as human beings like to be confident and comfortable when we’re out shooting. Therefore, we typically will practice things that are […]
You can never put the gun consistently further in front of the target than you are comfortable with. The reason you were able to do it in the first shot was because there was no expectation. You just looked at the target and let the gun go and it went out there and you pulled […]
You have to have a goal for your practice. That comes from an assessment of what happened last year. Let’s say you went to a tournament, and you realized that of the 18 birds you missed, 11 of them were right-to-lefts. What does that tell you that you need to practice? The right-to-left sight picture. […]
Effective practice demands a higher level of engagement. You can’t cram for skill-building in shotgun shooting; it’s a gradual process that requires thoughtful and deliberate effort. A recent consultation with a master class shooter highlighted this point. Despite his high skill level, he struggled with certain targets. Our discussion revealed that his practice lacked specific […]
It’s a common human tendency to remember events more negatively than they actually were. This negativity bias affects our perception in various aspects of life, including clay shooting. Surely you’ve experienced a day when everything in your game feels as chaotic as a soccer game with six-year-olds playing with three balls. The negative comments start […]
Every shooter experiences moments of failure and pressure. However, successful shooters differentiate themselves by how they react to these situations. A common response to pressure is to speed up – in movement, conversation, and actions. This rush often leads to increased tension, faster hand movements, and a loss of focus, all detrimental to performance. Understanding […]
A thorough examination of a master class shooter’s scorecard can uncover significant insights. Despite a high level of expertise, areas for improvement are often evident, such as unforced errors and inconsistencies across different pairs of shots. A detailed analysis can highlight the critical importance of maintaining a focused and consistent approach in each shot. It’s […]
In the journey of mastering clay shooting, the mantra is clear: repetition breeds skill. Just like railroad tracks, which become polished and smooth with frequent use, shooting skills are honed through consistent practice. It’s not just about firing rounds; it’s about deliberate, structured repetition. This is how knowledge transitions into skill—through repeated application, learning from […]
Shotgunning is about more than just hitting targets; it’s a gateway to invaluable life lessons. For young athletes, especially those in college, shooting can teach honesty, discipline, and how to learn from failure. But here’s the catch: you get out of this game what you put into it. This isn’t just about investing time and […]
In our travels shooting, coaching, and speaking about our passion, we’re still amazed at the perceptions that each shooter brings to what they do when they shoot a shotgun. We’ve spent most of the last few decades confused, constantly searching for a deeper understanding of how talent and skill is really developed, and that definition […]
When will you be willing to fully embrace the concept of breakpoint and being early? It is a choice. When will you be willing to fully embrace the concept of subconscious lead and stop looking at the barrel? There’s a choice. When will you be willing to not be afraid to play really far out […]
Anything contrary to what we believe is easily dismissed as not believable. Your performance is the byproduct of your concepts, and the learning threshold is the summit of your current abilities. Your learning threshold, where you’re going to begin to learn, is at the edges of your ability. This is where the “aha” breakthroughs occur. […]
A student of ours once came to me and said, “Man, I’m really having a problem on the first two stations.” “Well, that’s a good thing,” I said. “What? That’s a good thing?” I said, “That means once we get that solved, they’d better look out, huh?” “I hadn’t thought about it that way,” he […]
You need to determine how far you’re comfortable traveling to a shoot the morning of the shoot. Experiment. Look for patterns. Some people might be comfortable traveling for two-and-a-half hours and taking an hour break before you shoot and then shooting that day. We encouraged one student to drive to a shoot for 30 minutes […]
Talent is the ability to anticipate into the future without fear. Skill is the ability to do what you do subconsciously. Let’s use a fishing metaphor, shall we? Your subconscious skills are running the boat, checking the wind, and setting up a line where you’re going to use a shoulder motor where you can control […]
The competition isn’t a win-or-lose thing. The competition is an opportunity for you to lay it all out there on the line and keep giving it a hundred percent. At the end of the competition, go back and evaluate what happened, what targets were you comfortable on, what targets were you not comfortable on, and […]
Habits are built this way: cue, response, and reward. The cue is a trigger for the automatic response to start. The response is the behavior itself, and the reward tells our brain whether we should store this habit for future use or not. Toothpaste is a good example. When no one brushed their teeth, the […]
You’ve got to put yourself in the game and fail enough times, but keep trying harder and doing the things that we’ve talked about on the Coaching Hour in order to succeed. Remember: you can’t think your way to the right action. You’ve got to act your way to the right way of thinking. You […]
“Focus ratios” are what we call the amount of focus a shooter puts on the target versus the amount of focus on the gun as a term of percentage. For many people, these things change. For example, you might have 98 percent on the bird and 2 percent on the gun, 95/5, or 75/25. When […]
Failure to Effectively Accept Results. Fear. The thing that enables us to get past fear is courage. And courage comes to you in different ways. What do you have to trust in your game to overcome fear? You’ve got to eliminate all the “be sures.” Be sure your feet are right. Be sure your hold point’s right. Be […]
First, you’ve got to take time off. And if you have been keeping a log, refer to what you’ve done in past years. If not, then start keeping a log. You can go to the log page on the Knowledge Vault. Here’s where the log pays big dividends. If you’re keeping a log and you […]
At the beginning of the year, it’s important to find your idiosyncrasies. They’re going to be certain things that you will have a tendency to do under pressure. You’ll take things for granted: Muzzle too high. Muzzle going up. Not being comfortable with the muzzle being well in front of a right-to-left bird. Eyes moving […]
“If we can accept that having some level of expectation is a normal and natural byproduct of training and competition, how do we best manage and deal with it?” You always go into a practice or tournament with some kind of expectation. But you can’t let that really enter into the process because then […]
Your opponent is instrumental in creating this growth. The better the people around you that you are competing with, the better you will have to shoot to compete with them. The better your opponent is, the closer the competition will be, and the more benefits will result. But looking at competition in this way requires […]
A blindside bird is one that comes from your left if you’re a right-handed shooter and from your right if you’re a left-handed shooter. When shooting a blindside bird, it’s important to open your stance so that you can see the bird as early as possible. However, when you open your stance, it’s essential to […]
This is a segment inspired by Fred Shoemaker’s book “Extraordinary Golf” that Gil and Vicki used at a coach’s clinic in Nebraska about coaching kids. One of the things you have to get kids to overcome is fear. They’re all afraid to screw up because they’re intimidated by their peers. The coach actually […]
The timing drill is done on a skeet field. You go out to station eight and take three or four steps back towards station four and face the center stake. The gun hold point is over toward the high house, and the focal point is into the low house. You call “pull” and you throw […]
Seeing a marked improvement in your ability to shoot targets is not a quick evolution. This is why we keep saying to shoot singles with routines. There are no shortcuts, but everyone is looking for one. The resistance to change, something to make us better is due to not wanting to go through the restructuring […]
The people who are still in mental management and the people who are selling “reprogramming your brain” and mental chewing gum as the know-all and end-all will tell you that all you have to do is learn how to think and you’re going to be a champion. And nothing can be further from the truth. […]
Balance is something that we take for granted because we use it every day. Unless you’ve had an inner ear infection or some kind of problem that affected your balance to where you couldn’t overcome it, you don’t realize how valuable it is. We’ve worked with different athletes in different athletic venues, and were shocked […]
“When shooting below your feet, how much closer should your feet actually be? Should foot closeness vary with downward angle? Should my feet touch every time? Is there an optimal distance between your feet? I’ve been trying to vary on what felt right and I get mixed results. I think I am getting jammed somehow.” […]
The performance mindset is to break the target at all costs. But in order to get into the learning mindset, you need to stop trying to break the target. If we can get you to focus on the change, focus on what we want you to focus on, and not try to break the target, […]
You’ve got to be methodical about everything you do and every shot you take. If you’re not methodical and intense every time that you get ready to call for the target and go after it, then your results are not something you can look at and build on. You’ve got to practice intently with your […]
Back in 2021, a shooter we were helping told us that exchanging had really helped him, because it made him look at him game. “It made me look at what was going on outside of sporting clays in my life,” he said. This shooter had six or eight life-changing things that occurred to him in […]
The OSP system is not a system of complex leads. It’s not a system of gun speed being faster than bird speed. It’s very simple: 70-yard line, nose on the target, be early, as it comes stabilize the picture, pull the trigger, front edge in the breakpoint. This is a system that can be applied […]
There’s a catch-22 in shooting competitively. You do it for the enjoyment and the thrill of competition and you start shooting well. Then all of a sudden you think, “Well, this is why I’m doing this, and I’m excited about that.” It’s okay to end your post-shot routine and say “attaboy.” But we tend to […]
Your correction routine is going to evolve. A few years ago when we changed our approach from getting you to hit the targets to teaching yourself to self-correct, we began to realize that just looking harder at the front of the target was not the correction that would work for the majority of shooters most […]
We are just getting back from the NSCA National Tournament in San Antonio where we spent eight days in an RV. It was a great time seeing all the folks – sponsors and friends that we have been with for the past 35 years. This is the only tournament that we shoot all year so it […]
It has been a busy year and we are already scheduling for 2023. If you would like us to come to your club, let us know so we can call and get them on the books. It has been a roller coaster ride for me and my eye issues. This goes back to 2018 when […]
April was a busy month. Our out-of-town clinics are really filling fast and “Gun-Fits-R-Us” is busy when we’re in town. Brian is working almost every day and his weekend clinics are all full. Plus, we got two days of fishing in! We went back to Camanche Hills in California, which was our first time in two years […]
Another Great Advance School Wrapped Up We are at the end of March, and I have to say it’s been a busy month. Our Advance School took up the first two weeks with a great group each week. There were a lot of new students, and it was a lot of fun seeing them come […]
It’s been a busy start to the year. January flew by and now we are at the end of February. And it’s all gone great! We have completed the schedule for the year, and it appears that it will be another fantastic year for OSP and all the folks we come in contact with. The […]
We are almost to the end of January, and what a busy month it has been. We have almost all the clubs and dates for this year posted. It will be a busy year like 2021 was. Brian and Gil went to Florida on January 2nd to start the year off at South Florida Shooting Club, teaching a […]
November and December have been very busy for us, just as it’s been very busy all year. I think people just want to get out and feel normal again. We added nine new clubs this year and they were all full with 10 students each day. We’re doing our 2022 schedule right now, so check and […]
We had a great time at the NSCA Nationals. It’s always fun to see everyone and remember why we love this game so much. Every year we rent an RV and stay on the grounds. And this year we even rented a clays cart to avoid having to tow it there. Being at the grounds […]
It’s the end of October, which means the rest of the year is going to fly by and 2022 will be upon us. We’ve had a great year and it’s been fun to get back traveling again and seeing repeat students and meeting a lot of new friends. We went to nine new clubs and […]
In April, we went to Iowa to teach the Scholastic Clay Target Program athletes and their coaches. I noticed that there was a blurry spot in my left eye, so when we returned to Fulshear, I called and went and saw my eye doctor. He tested each eye separately. The right eye was fine at […]
It’s been a busy couple of months and it feels like we are getting back to normal and traveling to clinics again. We have been to Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, South Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, and Tennessee. We’ve met a lot of nice folks and made them better shooters. There have been a lot of […]
It looks like people are getting back to some sense of normal. On our way to Sporting Clays at Cosner Reserve in Pelham, North Carolina, the airport was really crowded. There wasn’t a seat left on the airplane – and it was a brand-new plane, at that. This is the second time this year we […]
Gil and I just got back from Des Moines, Iowa where we were training the SCTP group and their coaches. What a great group of adults and athletes to be around. A big thank you to Larry Gay who is in charge of the group and took such good care of us. We did coaches on […]
Just like the wind, March flew by way too fast. We had two Advance Schools this year and due to the COVID restrictions, only 12 people were allowed in the lodge at 74 Ranch. So, we had nine students and three instructors for two weeks. We spent the majority of the time learning how to […]
Brian and I left on Thursday, February 11th for Ben Avery in Phoenix, to do three full days of teaching. When we left Houston, we were looking at what the weather was going to do. Our weather service was calling for a Winter Storm Warning for Monday. We got to Phoenix and settled in for […]
Well, 2020 is finally over. And just when I think 2021 is going to be a great year… things happen. But we are continuing to book clubs all over the U.S. to have a great year for helping people get better in their shooting skills and their lives. It all works together. We spent Thanksgiving and […]
Previously: My reflections on being able to see for the first time in 2 years. Gil, Doss, and I got three days to actually shoot at our field before Nationals. And that was the first time I had shot after my cataract surgery. I had not shot since last year’s Nationals, since I couldn’t see, so I had […]
Read Part 1 and Part 2 The second surgery is done, and what a difference they’ve made in my life. I really didn’t realize how bad my vision was until I could see. The first one went so well, with no expectations, and I thought this one would be the same. But even though I was already comfortable […]
In her first post, Vicki talked about the lead-up to her cataract surgery. In this post, she goes through the week following the surgery on the left eye. The afternoon after surgery I went home and did nothing but keep the eye open for a while until it got tired. So, I spent most of the […]
