How You Respond to Pressure
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,...
Analyzing a Master Class Scorecard
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...
Skill Development and Repetition
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...
Beyond Targets: Life Lessons from Shotgunning
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...
What Our Experience Has Taught Us
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...
Creating Concepts
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...
The Edges of Your Ability
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...
Struggles Are Good
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...
What You Need to Ask Yourself Before a Shoot
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...
Talent vs. Skill
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...