How hard can it be

... if you can break it with a golf ball

Guerinis

I got my Guerini in the Spring of 2009 and put 9,575 shells thru it that year. This year, I put 20,300 shells thru it. All without a single hiccup. I think they are great guns for the money and they seem to be catching on. Mine is going to their Maryland facility this winter for a checkup, for free.

I saw this picture on Trapshooters.com today, its a custom stock for a CG made by Dennis DeVault. Imagine how big the owner's hands must be to fit that grip.

I wanted to shoot this weekend but we had snow and sub-zero temperatures. My dad shot a 3 bird sporting clays tournament in Delaware, have to shoot an auto, and won this trophy. And he's smiling this time.

Skeet

Went out to St. Charles Sportsman's Club last night and shot some trap, ran a round of singles which felt good. I've been having some troubles there. A friend of mine just joined and he came out with a friend and we shot some skeet. We had the skeet field to ourselves, it was a cold night. I put the O/U barrels on my MX2005, 1-1/8 ounces of 9s and a modified choke will smoke a skeet target hard. But most of the skeet targets escaped unscathed. It was fun, we had a good time, skeet shooting is a lot more social than trap shooting. Shot some doubles from post 8.

Slow day at work

My cousin got married 1-1/2 years ago and my uncle had a fishing tournament in one of his ponds. Cal won two trophies with an assist from my Dad. What a great day. He wore that Indiana Jones hat everywhere for awhile.

Nice weather for shooting

We had a great weekend in Illinois, sunny, temps close to 60. I shot Saturday and Sunday, some good rounds, some poor rounds. I asked a friend of mine to stand behind me and watch me shoot yesterday from my handicap yardage. He noticed two things. I had an inconsistent set-up in that sometimes I would mount, call and shoot quickly and other times I would mount, take an extra second to get my eyes out where they should be and then call for the target. You can guess which process was more likely to result in a broken target. I have been really inconsistent shooting lately so this is something to work on. The other thing he noticed was my gun moving before I called for the target and then going in the opposite direction of the target, i.e I'm moving the gun before I have a good look at the target. So two basic things to work on.

Not shooting as much

ATA shooting is over and I haven't shot as much. Leaves more time for taking Cal and his friends rock wall climbing. I did shoot (poorly) some on Sunday before Cal's football game.

Last ATA shoot

St. Charles had their last ATA shoot on Sunday, 200 handicap targets. I didn't shoot very well, 87 and an 89. They got a good turnout and the shoot was well run. Weather was great. I did have a good time at the toga party the night before even though we left before the police and the fight. Mrs. Eberhart on the right.

WSJ on breaking out of a slump

The Wall Street Journal today had a good story on breaking out of slumps, both at work and in sports. Its too long to post in its entirety but here are the highlights.

Causes of Slumps in Sports and Work
• Fear of repeating past failures
• Dwelling on past mistakes
• Loss of confidence
• Overthinking the next move or play and choking or freezing
• Overtraining in sports, burnout on the job
• Forgetting your original purpose or attraction to your sport or job
• Constant destructive criticism by a coach, fans or a boss
• Resurfacing of past fears arising from psychological trauma or injury

Techniques to Change Negative Thinking
• After a mistake or failure, refocus immediately on a past success.
• Visualize yourself succeeding on the next sale, meeting, play or game.
• Record and refer to your past peak performances, on video or in writing.
• List your strengths and assets and refer to the list in stressful moments.
• Turn off your mind and focus on step-by-step processes.
• Use rest or relaxation techniques such as deep breathing.
• Surround yourself with encouraging people.
• Develop rituals to focus your mind in the present moment.
• Recall the original purpose or attraction that drew you to your sport or job.
• Work with a psychologist or therapist to identify causes of performance blocks.

I got some more good practice in last night, ran a round of singles, shot a 23 from 27 yards and then 25 yards. And left after shooting a 24 from 25 yards. My confidence is back, comfortable in new gun, shooting decent scores beyond my current handicap. Having fun again.

Smile Dad

Dad shot a second place sporting clays score in Delaware to win the trophy and a bag of dog food (?). Way to go Dad.

We had a terrific weekend in Illinois, 80s and crystal clear. You know these days won't be around long. I shot a lot of handicap between Saturday and Sunday. I shot them all with my MX 2005 and am starting to get my confidence back. Weekend scores were as good as I shot with my Guerini. My friend helped me set it up Thursday night, it feels pretty good. Last ATA shoot of the year next weekend at St. Charles, 200 caps.

Nothing to brag about but squeezed out a second place

DGSC had their Grundy County Handicap today, it was windy and made for tough shooting. In the first 100 handicaps, I shot 24, 22, 18, 24 to finish with an 88. Surprise, that was good enough for a second in my yardage category and I won this buckle. I was happy. It clouded up for the second event and I didn't shoot much better with an 86. That was good for nothing but a hasty exit. The scores overall seemed low, tough day, but the winner of the first event was a 27 yard shooter. That's some good shooting.

Last year, I won the first event and got my first punch to 21 yards.

Still having problems

St Charles had their shoot yesterday, I shot a 94 at singles which wasn't great but the conditions were poor. Still, there was a 100 straight and my friend and squadmate Randy won A class with a 99.

The handicap was a trainwreck for me. I shot 20, 15, 22, 20 for a 77, low for the year. Really not sure what I am doing wrong. Maybe I underestimated how long it takes to get used to a new gun, I have 1000 rounds thru the MX2005 versus 29,000 thru the Guerini. I might switch back to the Guerini for the balance of this year and then commit to the MX2005 next year.

Frustrating way to go into the end of the year but I created my own problems changing the way I shoot in August and then changing guns two weeks ago, a double whammy.

Better Shooting and a New Gun

I drove down to Indiana Friday night and picked up a used Perazzi MX2005 combo. I have been looking for one and one came up at the right price and right features. I shot it at the patterning board Saturday and raised the comb/adjusted the rib to get it to shoot where my current gun is. I shot it a little on Saturday and like the way it feels. I broke a 22 from 27 yards with it which is good for me from that yardage.

Sunday, McHenry Sportsman's Club had their ATA shoot. I decided to shoot the new gun. I muddled my way thru the singles for a below average score. In the handicap, I shot 21, 24, 24, 23 for a 92. That is much better than I have been shooting and it was with an unfamiliar gun so I was happy. There was another 92 at my yardage so there was a shoot-off which I lost, I dropped three, he ran them. Thats a tough competitor. Runner-up felt good after not placing since the Grand.

Regardless, getting my confidence back. The targets I missed I had a hard time seeing as the all orange targets transitioned from the tree line to sky. In the past month, I have been missing targets that I could see clearly so going back to the high hold point is working.

The trigger in the MX had a release in it that I took out and the pull is way, way too heavy. So that has to be adjusted. Overall, I really like the new gun, the recoil seems less, it opens and closes like a bank vault, and I was only 1 or 2 handicap targets away from shooting an above average (for me) score. It was fun again to shoot after a disappointing run.

Still struggling, but.....

Shot at Downer's Grove today at the Northern Illinois Zone shoot. It was a really nice day but fairly windy. I only shot the handicap event. I lost two targets on the first post and ended the first 25 with a 19. Obviously a disappointment. I went on to shoot 21 and 21 in the next 50. Now its a train wreck. So I figured I would experiment and held high above the house (like I used to) and look down for the target. Ran the final 25.

So I have been holding low on the house for ATA targets since the beginning of August. That is pretty much exactly when my handicap (and singles) average began to fall apart. See the chart above, the vertical axis is my average over the last 100 caps, the horizontal line is the number of handicap rounds.

I shot a lot of great handicap scores holding high, I shot my 98 at Darien holding high. I shot a mess of 95s holding high. Experiment over, I am going back to what worked in the past. I stopped at St. Charles on the way home and shot some good handicap practice scores, it just feels better and the targets broke harder.

I've shot at 18,525 targets this calendar year, I should not be breaking short-yardage handicap scores below 90.

Taking a break

I shot a little on Saturday but am planning on not shooting until later in the week. I'm hoping that a little time off will break the slump I'm in.

Darien

In the spirit of keeping a positive attitude, I didn't shoot as good at Darien Saturday as I did the last time there. I did get some good practice in on Sunday and left after running a round from my handicap yardage.

Quiet Eye

A friend of mine suggested that missing the first target too many times is usually because, "your eyes were not ready for you to call pull. You have to take your time and reset your focus at the start of every move." I tend to rush (everything) and I bet that I call for the target within a second or so of mounting the gun.

My friend told me about watching Harlan Campbell shoot at the Illinois State Shoot a few years ago and how he counted 3 seconds between Harlan shouldering the gun and calling for the target.

I remember working on this in the spring but somewhere along the way it got lost and forgotten. Probably after I shot a good score and figured I had trap shooting all figured out.

Here is a good article on the quiet eye and how it relates to trap shooting. I appreciate someone taking the time to help me, maybe this can help some other shooters as well.

Butt Kicked

Shot at Downer's Grove today, it was a nice day, humidity broke. They got a big turnout. I shot a 95 at singles, which is a target below this year's average. So not too bad but not great. I missed the first target out of the house. My friend Harv shot 100 straight as did another shooter on our squad. There were 7 100 straights today, so I was on a great squad.

I felt ready for handicap but missed the first target out of the house, again. Things went steadily down hill after that. I missed the first target out in the second 25 as well plus 13 other targets to end with an 85, my second worst round of handicap this year. I could see the targets clearly, I just couldn't seem to hit them. I shot better scores in practice the day before from the 25 and 27 yard lines. Maybe practicing that far past my handicap is a mistake. So a disappointing day, I was shooting good all week but my game just fell apart.

Fall League Started

St. Charles' Fall League started last night. We didn't get shooting til late and it was pretty dusky. I missed the first one out of the house (dummy) and then flinched at the third one to close singles out with a 23. I ran my handicap targets to end with a 48 which I am really happy with. I need to break at least a 46 every week to hit my goal of 370/400.

Holding lower on the house instead of holding high and looking down below the gun seems to help. Less chance for my eyes to play tricks on me. Holding high works for me when my eyes and mind are fresh but by Thursday my eyes are usually fried and I've shot some pretty poor scores holding high. I learned a good lesson from the wobble trap shooting, see below.

I've also gone back to basics, really trying to concentrate on the target as soon as I pick it up, repeating to myself, "see it."

Trapshooting USA this month had a nice article about a league that has been running in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania forever. My dad grew up there. This is a great magazine, you can browse thru old issues on their website.

Downer's Grove shoot this Sunday.

Practice/Grand

Shot a lot over the weekend, handicap, some wobble, singles, 100 doubles yesterday and then some handicap drills by myself after the club closed. I'm going to start practicing doubles more and get back to my handicap drills instead of just going out and shooting on practice squads. It was very nice in Northern Illinois yesterday.

Here is a good recap on the Grand, its nice to see that turnout was up.

I read that the winner (Devon Harris) of the $100K shoot-off at the Grand used a Perazzi MX2000RS (above). It said he was shooting 2-3/4 dram #8 Federal papers. A relatively light shell and not the 7-1/2s that conventional wisdom says to shoot from long yardage. Including the event he won and the shoot-off, he broke over 150 straight from 27-yards.

Dad and I at Grand

"The less tension and effort, the faster and more powerful you will be." - Bruce Lee

Grand American

I shot six events, one went well, the other 5 were sub-par. I got a third in my yardage category on our first day, tied at 94. We almost left and went out to eat but went over to check the scores and a friend of mine from Downer's Grove suggested checking the shoot-off lists. That's when I realized I was tied for third. So me and Ray from Arkansas shot off (above). He dropped three and I dropped two, I remember thinking on my last target, he shot first, that all I have to do is break this and I win. So first Grand trophy and first shoot-off. I was disappointed with how I shot the next two days but the third place was a nice surprise and we had a great time. It was hot but the humidity broke Friday and Saturday. Dad shot his first ATA targets, Cal had a good time. I thought Sparta was a tremendous place to shoot and am hoping to go back next year. The shoots started on time and ran great, the lines moved fast, you could print out your own pay-out checks and it was fun to look over all the vendors.

From Today's New York Times

Keep a Quiet Mind to Avoid First-Tee Jitters

We all get the first-tee jitters. We have all experienced the frustration of hitting it great on the practice range and then dubbing one when it finally counts.

There are techniques professionals use to defuse the tension. Dana Rader, one of Golf Digest’s top 50 instructors and one of the few women on that list, blames pre-shot routines. It’s not that you shouldn’t have one, but Radar believes golfers shouldn’t do them standing alongside the golf ball.

“The idea is to keep the mind quiet; you don’t want to be having any conversations with yourself standing over the ball,” said Radar, whose golf academy is in Charlotte, N.C. “So the last thing you want is to be standing next to it for a long time. Get away from the ball, go stand a couple steps behind it, then look at the target and breathe through your nose.

“Think about someplace calm or think about what you’re going to do for dinner that night. Take one practice swing. Make everything feel as normal as possible, like you felt on the practice range. Then with a quiet mind, go walk to the ball and hit the shot.”

Does that work? “Absolutely,” she said. “I tell people to think about being on the beach instead of the first tee.

Goal Setting

Lanny Bassham's book, With Winning in Mind, states that, "One habit separates the top 5% of competitors from the other 95% who just play, setting goals." It's basically mid-season for me so I'll look at where I am compared to the goals I set last winter.

Shoot 100 straight. Not yet, four 99s, but close.
Get punched to 25 yards by the end of the year. Not yet, punched to 22.5 so far.
Attend State Shoot and Grand. Done
Maintain a 96 singles average. Got it.
Shoot 360/400 in Spring trap league. Got it, barely.

When you meet your goals, you have to set new ones, to that end:

Get classified AA in singles.
Shoot 370/400 in the Fall trap league
Shoot a higher score in the Fall wobble trap league

I have really had a lot of fun shooting this year.

Dennis DeVault Newsletter

I took a clinic with Dennis DeVault last year which I thought was really well done. I see lots of happy customers for the stocks he makes as well. He puts out a nice newsletter every month, you can sign up for it here.

Wobble League Over

Final night of wobble league. I shot a 45 and a 49 for a total of 288/300, 96%. Far better than last year. I won a 10 round trap card for St. Charles Sportsmen's Club. I got something better out of the wobble league than that though. In wobble trap, you have to hold lower on the house to account for the low birds. I had success with that and was breaking better or as good weeknight scores at wobble than at weeknight regular, ATA style targets. I figured I was getting a better look at the birds. I applied the lower hold to my ATA targets over the past few weeks and am seeing better scores.

Matt ran a nice league and there were brats on the grill last night. There are fall trap and wobble leagues to look forward to and more immediately, leaving for the Grand on Wednesday.

Punched to 22.5 Yards

I shot at Darien today, after being at the beach on the East Coast for a week. It was 100 and humid back east, it was mid-80s today in Wisconsin and not that humid. Crystal clear and no wind. I shot 75 straight in singles and then dropped a target on the last trap to end with a 99. That tied A class and we agreed to split the money rather than shoot off. In the handicap, I ran 75 straight and then dropped one on post 5 and then one on post 1 to end with a 98. My previous high at handicap was a 95. There was another 98 (from 27 yards !!!), we split the money rather than shoot off. I was very happy. Everything just came together, it was very smooth, it didn't seem to require much effort.

I am sure that the good shooting today was the result of being on vacation and not getting up at 3:30AM and staring into computer screens all week. I already have found that I shoot better on Sunday than Saturday with the extra day's rest.

That's nephew, son and daughter at the go-kart track in Fenwick Island, Delaware.

Punched to 21.5

This weekend was the Grand Chicago. Saturday was 200 singles, I shot a 94 which was disappointing. After the break, ran 50, missed one and then ran final 25 for a 99. So a good comeback. Can't figure out what I was doing wrong on the 94, a lot of chipped targets. Its been feast or famine in singles lately, three 99s but also a 92 and a 94.

Sunday was the handicap, it was hot, humid and windy. I shot a 93 which I didn't think was very good but it won my yardage and the high score overall was a 94. I bought myself in the "special event" and basically won back expenses. And finally earned a half yard punch to 21.5 yards. The video, shows (poorly) the two 94s shooting off for handicap champion. That's Illinois Hall of Famer Herman Welch officiating.

Wobble Week 3

Shot a 48 in the wobble trap league last night, 24 and 24. Missed the first one out of the house in the second round and then got the rest. Warm night but clear and sunny. My friend Randy broke 50 straight, first time that has happened in the league. They had their largest turn out for the shoot as well.

100th Grand Chicago Handicap

This weekend, Downers Grove Sportsmans Club (a club I like going to) holds the 100th Grand Chicago Handicap. It was first held in 1910 at the Chicago Gun Club. This picture is from that club, circa 1908. The New York Times (!) had a preview of the first event, noting that 500 shooters were expected to attend. There was a $500 trophy. If my information/math is correct, that is the equivalent of about $11,000 today.

Finding The Extra Target

I read something on Trapshooters.com about this book. I think it's out of print but I found a used copy on Amazon.com. It's got a lot of stuff of limited value (how to clean your gun, skeet rules) but I found a good practice routine called the Five by Five. Basically, you lock the trap, shoot five straightaways from post 3, shoot 5 from post 1 and five from post 5. Then lock the trap for hard left, shoot five from post 1 and then lock it for hard right and shoot five from post 5. It teaches you the sight pictures for straight aways, quartering and the angles.

Phil Kiner gave me another routine, shoot a round from 16 yards, calling with your eyes closed. Call, open your eyes and then shoot. I can't run 25 yet doing this but it teaches you not to panic.

Anybody got any other routines?

Great Interview

I heard a great interview on the radio that touched on a lot of things that apply across all sports. For just the fourth time in the history of the PGA tour, a golfer shot a round of 59 in a PGA tournament. Paul Goydos did it last week in the first round of the John Deere Classic in Silvis. He talks about how everything can come together on one particular day for anybody but the best pros put it together week after week.

SIEGEL: You were four under par at the turn. That means after the first nine holes, you had five pars and four birdies, which is terrific, and then you caught fire. You birdied eight of the last nine holes. What happened? What was going on?
Mr. GOYDOS: I'm trying to figure that out so I can maybe bottle it and keep it for the next 10 or so years. Just, you know, everything kind of fell into place. You know, I played the 10th hole very well and made a pretty easy birdie there and then just Mr. Putter decided to cooperate for the last eight holes of that nine and just, you know, everything I did turned to gold. It was one of those days where, you know, if I was walking down the fairway and tripped and fell down, I would have fallen down on $100 bill.
SIEGEL: Obviously, what you did yesterday, shooting a 59, demonstrates that if you can always drive the ball in a round as well as you can drive the ball and always hit your irons as well as you can hit your irons and always putt as well as you know you can putt, with that consistency, you can shoot a better round than Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus has ever shot.
And I wonder, what do you think it is? What is it that in one round permits you to have absolutely everything under control and at your best and, you know, I don't want to jinx subsequent rounds, but another 59 would be pretty rare if you do that.
Mr. GOYDOS: Right.
SIEGEL: What is it? What happens on a day like this?
Mr. GOYDOS: You know, I think that it's a series of events that come together and merge and supernova into a round of golf. Yeah, on any given day, Paul Goydos is capable of beating Tiger Woods or anybody else who's played the game. You know, what stands Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus or the people you talk about away from me and believe me, they're light years away from me is their ability to do it every single week.
Why everything again supernovaed for me yesterday, you know, it was just I think when we die and meet our maker, that may be the first question I ask.
SIEGEL: I'm just curious, before you go, I saw you were asked yesterday were you nervous with that last putt on the 18th green, and you said you're always nervous.
Mr. GOYDOS: Yes, that's part of the fun of the game. You know, nerves mean expectations, and my expectations are very high. I think that the day that I'm not nervous is the day that I probably retire.
Now, having said that, there's different levels of nervousness. I would have to say that from a golf standpoint, over that putt on 18 was probably the most nervous I'd ever been. And a big part of my success on making that put was more or less, you know, muscle autopilot than it was necessarily a calm head or calm nerves.
SIEGEL: Muscle autopilot.
Mr. GOYDOS: I just made that up myself.

Rough weekend for shooting

St. Charles held their Illini Indian shell shoot on Sunday. I missed a single on post 3 and knew right away I was going to have a problem. I spent the next 97 shells stabbing, chasing, flinching and waving my gun around like Zorro trying to break targets. I'm pretty sure I was cross firing at them, most of the 8 misses out of 100 came on post 1 and 2 left handers. The ones I hit were often just chipped, it was very frustrating. I had gotten a poor night's sleep and that has been percursor in the past for poor shooting. Visually, I could see them clearly, but something was going wrong between my head and my hands.

I shot a 91 in handicap, which isn't good but relative to the singles performance, not a disaster. A 93 won my yardage, a 97 was overall handicap high. That's some good shooting. More on the positive side: the club had a good turnout, a friend of mine shot his best singles score ever and I saw at least one league shooter join the ATA and come out. There also seemed to be a good number of junior and sub-junior shooters.

Wobble League, Week 2

Second week of Wobble League. I shot a 47, two targets down on last week. It was overcast, in contrast to last week, and I thought it was harder to see the targets, especially the low ones. A lot of chipped birds. Shot some handicap rounds, poorly, swatting at mosquitos, probably wrecking everyone else's focus as well.

Looking forward to lots of shooting over the next few weeks including the Grand with Dad and Cal.

ATA HOF - In 1938 Bernice Billett, 23, a college student from Wisconsin became the first women to compete wearing shorts at the Grand American. Attracted a lot of attention as you can see.

One at a time

"I don't expect anything before the match. I expect to play my best every point and try to fight every point like the last. I don't think about if I'm going to have a very difficult match, I'm going to lose or win. I don't think about this. I just think about try to go on court and try to fight every point and play point by point. Not thinking any more of the next point."

~Rafael Nadal, after winning 2010 Wimbledon

Darien

Shot at Darien today. Never been there before, its about 1-1/2 hours north by Lake Geneva. Real friendly and efficient club. Where else can you sit and watch the action on a bunch of old couches set on cinder blocks? I shot 25, 25, 25, 24 for a 99 at singles. That won A class, no 100s today. It was really, really windy. I've got a 96.2% average on my singles this year, closing in on AA. I shot four 23s for a 92 at handicap. That was a struggle but at least the rounds were consistent. The high score was a 95 then a couple of 92s. I spent the prize money on fireworks in Walworth on the way home.

Butterfingers

Shot this morning at St. Charles. Ran a round of wobble trap, shot a 24 at 23 yards and a 23 at 27 yards. I've shot 825 handicap targets in the last 2-1/2 weeks so getting comfortable beyond my current handicap yardage of 21 yards. For my big finale today, I dropped the forearm of my gun in the gravel parking lot while disassembling and dinged it end to end. Jackass.

Wobble League Started...

... last night. It was a great night to be out, crystal clear, 80 degrees, no wind. The late sun just lit up the targets. I shot a 24 and a 25. I checked my shooting diary, last year I was shooting 43s and 44s out of 50.

Wobble trap is fun. It seems like good practice for ATA shooting cause it forces you to focus on the target and you get to see different elevations. Interesting web site on bunker/wobble shooting here.

Rained out

The belt buckle shoot at McHenry was rained out. It cleared up and turned into a nice day so stopped at St. Charles on the way home and shot 4 rounds from 27 yard line. Shot between 19 and 23, 23 being my best score yet from 27 yards.

134th Illinois State Shoot

I was at the state shoot Friday thru Sunday. It was my first big shoot and attending was one of my goals this year. On Friday I shot a 92 in the handicap event, I was pretty wound up and shot a 21 on the first 25. Calmed down and shot a 71/75 on the final three rounds. Blazing hot day.

Saturday was 200 singles, 100 in the morning and 100 in the afternoon. In the first 100, I shot a 97, above my recent average so I was happy with that. In the second 100, I shot a 99 (missed one in the second 25). That is the best I have shot in singles. So a 196, A class was won with a 198 so I am right there.

Sunday was the handicap championship. I went in to it feeling pretty good. I shot three 24s in a row. As the final 25 got underway, I was thinking that a 97 was a winning score and I better not mess this up. Naturally, I dropped target #8 and started to think, "uh oh, miss one more and no yardage punch. The inevitable followed and I missed one more. Now I am angry with myself and miss one more to finish with a 94. A 96 won the yardage group.

So again, right there but I defeated myself. The mental game is still my weak spot. On the positive side, I am holding a singles average at my goal, I met my goal for the Spring Trap League and my handicap average is trending higher.

I thought the shoot was well run. It started on time everyday, the machines worked, the voice releases worked, results were up quickly, the food was good. I got to watch some of the top shots shoot, Mike Jordan, Mike Westjohn, Frank Bentley.

Missed the punch by a target (again)

I shot a 95 (singles) at Janesville Conservation Club in WI today, never really got into a groove. Things got better in the handicap where I shot 24, 24, 23, 24 for a 95. That won my yardage and paid back my entry fees. Also my best handicap round of the year so far. But an overall win or a 96 is necessary for a 1 yard punch. So one target short but I know it will come. Did not miss the last targets.

I met Ray Moser at the club. He's 83 and told me he would give me his 90T (with two diamonds inset on both sideplates, he said) if I ran 100 handicap targets. Came up short but had a chance to talk to him afterwards. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Trapshooting Hall of Fame in 2002. Most older trap shooters are deaf as posts but not Ray, even after 330K registered trap targets. He said he quit stuffing cotton balls in his ears back in the day and has worn ear muffs ever since. I watched him dirt ball 16 yard targets (he shot a 95 and won C class) for awhile and afterwards he talked to me about the mental game of trap shooting. What a great sport where you can find people still smashing away at targets into their 80s.

His wife of 55 years died last year and I found this quote from him in an article about a donation he made to a cancer center in her name, "Never underestimate your own abilities, as you are probably better than you thought you were.”

A nice day today.

No wins but better shooting

Bob Sommer's Memorial Shoot today at St. Charles. I shot a 98 at singles, best ever ATA round. Missed the last target. A 99 would have tied for the win in A class. Can't keep doing that. It got rainy, windy and cloudy for the handicap. I shot a 25 straight (first of the year), then a 20, followed by a 23 and a 24. The 92 was a few targets short of winning my yardage but it was best ATA handicap score of the year and something I could work with. So didn't win anything but am definently shooting better. I shot nothing but handicap targets for a week, and am ramping up my mental preparation, I think that helped. State shoot in 2-weeks.

Fisherman

Mom and Dad Here

Got lots of shooting in, shot some skeet. Dad ran his best trap score ever with the MX3. Mom took pictures and shot at some targets with a friend's Silver Seitz.

One target at a time

League shoot last night. Shot a 24/25 at singles. Was cruising thru the handicap, down just one target into last post. Broke three there, thinking to myself what a great score I had and then dropped the last two. Still happy with overall score, but for me, the difference between placing in the money or not has regularly been determined by one or two targets. Have to keep my head in the game.

It was a really nice night. Cal sat on the woodpile by the club's pond and carved a spear. Obviously not interested in having his picture taken.

Cursed Gun Buying Bug

I am well aware of the pitfalls of changing guns and how it can negatively affect your scores. I intend to continue shooting my Guerini but I wanted a backup gun to travel to shoots with and was curious on how I would shoot a low rib top single versus shooting the bottom barrel in my high rib Guerini.

So here it is. Perazzi MX3, completely redone by Giacomo and a custom MX-15 style stock. 34 inch barrel, fixed full choke.

Some Success

Second ATA shoot of the year today, at McHenry Sportman's Club. I shot a 97 (23, 25,24,25) in singles, which won B-class. With the 97, I will be back in A class now on my way to AA class. To win A class or higher, you pretty much have to break 100 and a shoot-off is likely.

In the handicap, I shot 23, 24, 21 and 23 for a 91. The high score for handicap that day was 92, I missed runner up on tie due to reverse score. Overall, won enough to pay back my entry fees.

I made up my trap league targets Saturday and broke 25 singles and 24 handicaps for a 49. Best league round I've shot.

Mike Westjohn (see below) said to celebrate in some way when you do well. Here we are at favorite Mexican restaurant.

Blinders

Kiner recommended wearing an eye patch over left eye for an hour a day and before shooting to help settle down eye dominance problems.



He also recommended a barrel blinder so the left eye can't see the bead. Trying that too.

Phil Kiner Clinic

Spent the day at a Phil Kiner clinic in Morris, Illinois. The whole day, 8AM to 6:30PM. It was the best money I have spent so far in trap shooting. There were ten of us but he answered every question, was a super nice guy and we all got personal attention.

Class handicap shoot ends the session. I got the Kiner dollar. Great day.

Doubles

Doubles league started Tuesday. Haven't shot them in a year. They are fun, I shot an 81/100. Need some practice and to learn some technique.

Mike Westjohn

I was introduced to Mike Westjohn by a friend at the Weikum shoot. He talked to us in the parking lot, after the shooting, for 30 minutes. He couldn't have been nicer. To paraphrase from Trap & Field magazine, Mike had always been an excellent shooter but has recently spent a lot of time on the mental aspects of the game. He shot 9 200 straights last year, won all three Illinois zone singles championships and then the state championship, ran 100 straight from 27 yards at the Autumn Grand and made the All-American team for the first time.

He is a student of Lanny Bassham who wrote With Winning in Mind. I read that book over the winter and have been using some of the techniques but not nearly as rigorously as Mike. He had his shooting diary with him and his daily affirmation written on a 3X5 card which he was more than willing to show us.

Really nice guy and it was good to see proof that mental training pays off.

Back on Track

First night of Spring Trap League was last Thursday. I shot a 45, a target below my goal but a good start from where I have been lately.

Saturday, I attended the Eric Weikum Memorial Shoot at Downer's Grove in Morris. I shot a 30 bird race of 15 16-yard targets and 15 25-yard targets. I ran all my 16-yard targets and 13 of the 15 25-yard targets. That was good enough for a third place.

The main event was 50 handicap targets at your ATA average. I shot 24/25 and then 21/25. I know what I did wrong on three of the four misses in the last set of 25 so they weren't as much of mystery as some of the other recent lost targets. That was good enough for a fourth place and the Calcutta paid back my entry fees twice over.

There were excellent shooters there (at least four members of the Illinois state team), it was a great event.

I shot some practice rounds today and ran a round of singles and shot two 24s from 22 yards.

Complete Failure of Plan

I shot my first registered targets of the year Sunday at McHenry Sportsmans Club. It was a disaster, I shot a 92 at singles, 24, 22, 21, 25. At least I rallied for the final 25. I've been shooting 95% at singles and ran the practice trap before the tournament started.

The wheels came off in the handicap. I shot a 79, I was disappointed last year when I shot an 88 and I was shooting 94s and 95s then. Worse, I don't know what I was doing wrong but I do know that I couldn't "see" the targets clearly. Somewhere, something has gone seriously wrong in my preparation.

I was so annoyed I stopped at St. Charles on the way home and shot another 125 targets, sowing further confusion as I used different hold points and shot better than I did earlier in the day.

So, to the drawing board. I'm taking a clinic from Phil Kiner May 1 and hoping that he will be able to diagnose what I am doing wrong.

Practice

Almost 65 degress today, great for mid-March. Shot 3 rounds of handicap, a round of singles, a low hold corner drill, a 16-yd/25-yd slider and a box of shells shooting hard rights and lefts standing to the left of post 1 and to the right of post 5 (i.e. harder angles). Shot ok, nice to be outside, getting more consistent handicap scores.

Nicer weather = better practice scores

Getting >40 degree, sunny, less windy days. Shot at 400 targets since last Thursday and am finally getting some decent handicap scores. First ATA shoot is 5-weeks away.

Getting some practice in

Shot Saturday and Sunday, it was around 28 to 30 degrees and a litte windy but the sun was out. I shot 2 yard sliders where you start at 16 and go back to 25 yards on each post. Shot post 1 and post 5 sliders, shot some handicap and singles. Shot corner drills.

Within all that, some good shooting and some bad shooting. Hoping that the bad shooting will work out as the weather warms up.

You can't hit what you can't see

The clay target shooting books that I read at the end of last year talked a lot about eye exercises, both to improve the ability to focus and refocus over the course of shooting at a tournament (endurance) and to be able to quickly focus on and track a moving target.

I've been watching a 20 minute DVD everyday for a month which exercises the two ways primates track objects of interest. The first is saccades which allows the eye to quickly pick up a moving object. The second is smooth pursuit which allows the eyes to track a moving object. Both obviously important for clay target shooting.

On the DVD, you follow a dot with your eyes which moves at different speeds and in different patterns. It also flashes dots and series of letters on the screen to teach you to focus quickly.

I found this iPhone app which breaks the eye exercises into four categoires: analysis, reactivity, memory, and attention.

Our Wii has a target shooting game that I think also develops eye-hand coordination, focus, concentration, timing, etc...

Grand American Handicap, 1926

Look at this group of snappy dressers from 1958

Making plans to go to the Grand American Handicap this summer

Making plans to go to the Grand American this summer for the first time, have the RV rented, Dad and Cal are going. Mr F. E. Rogers of St. Louis MO won the Grand American Handicap with an LC Smith in 1906, the year this poster came out. He broke a 94 out of 100 in a "gale force" wind. That was just a few years after 1902 which was the last year they used live birds. 1900 was the last time live birds were shot at the Olympics. The first ATA Grand American was held in 1893. The Kentucky Derby has been around since 1853.

The Importance Of A Shooting Diary

I really struggled through my first 300 trap targets this year, really struggled. Shooting 20s from the 16 yard line kind of struggle. I was questioning my gun choice, the eye exercises I've been doing, whether I needed new glasses, if I jarred the rib or comb setting on my gun, etc...

I found some old notes yesterday I had kept from last year and I saw multiple times, "hold the gun high over the house, look down below the barrel for the target." What have I been doing? Holding high over the trap house and looking even higher. Targets were getting a huge jump on me and I was chasing after them, never getting a good look, constantly being surprised.

Went back out today and shot a 24 and a 23 from 16 yards.

Without those notes from last year when I was shooting well, how long would I have struggled? Needless to say, I am keeping an even better diary now. So simple and so easy to fix. Now I can go back to the more important work of trying to pick up that extra one or two targets, with confidence in my overall approach.

E A Hicken Sr.

Elwood Hicken, my grandmother's brother was a trap shooter. According to the ATA's website, he shot his first registered targets in 1953. He shot 750 singles that year for an average of 76.27%. He only shot 50 handicap targets that year and broke 76% of those. He shot pretty consistently for the next 40 years, shooting his last registered targets in 1993 at the age of 81 (I think). His high singles average was 94% in 1963. He ended his ATA career at 21.5 yards but I am not sure how far back he made it in his prime. All together, he shot 76,325 singles targets and 23,150 handicap targets. Thats a nice long career, I hope I am that lucky.

I mentioned his name on another website and found some people that knew him. He shot at Delaware County Sportsmen's Association in Media, PA, a club founded in 1915. Apparently he has been still calling the clubhouse from Florida every other week or so to touch base.

A few years back, he came up from Florida and insisted my parents take him to see the gun club. My parents remember going to see him shoot at Shawnee on the Delaware (a Pocono Mountains resort) in the early 1960s while they were in college.

Another poster related that Elwood was a past High Chief of the Atlantic Indians and while he didn't know much about his shooting career, he remembered him as a real gentleman. Indians are an informal social trapshooting club, in Illinois, we have the Illini Indians.

He's still paying his ATA membership dues, 98 years old now. Maybe he is a life member.

Hand trap

Found this in our basement. My Dad bought it years ago and it found its way into our basement. You can still buy hand throwers but they are made of cheap plastic now. White Flyer targets are still the dominant target you see being thrown at trap clubs. Not rare at all, there are a million of them for sale on the internet.

Wall Chart Up

I hung up my wall chart last weekend and started my dry firing practice. I got 25 empties, cut them short so they fit in a shell box, and shoot 4 rounds of trap. I wear my shooting glasses to try and make it as realistic as possible. Dry firing at the wall chart teaches muscle memory and a consistent gun mount, I try to follow the same pre-shot routine and focus on the leading edge of the target.

I'm trying to do it everyday, 100 mounts. Everything that I have read, for every clay shooting discipline, suggests dry firing. I also include eye exercises and visualization (more on that later).

X-Mas Sporting Clays

Dad (pictured) and I got some shooting in over the break but the weather was poor. We shot at Pintail Point in Maryland, first we shot wobble trap and then we shot a round of 100. Dad beat me by 5 targets, we shot for a $ a target. We shot 5-Stand and a round of 100 at Owens Station in Delaware. We were tied after that and I won the shoot off from the 22 yard trap line in sudden death. Weather was poor overall, cold, rainy and windy but we got some targets in.