Illinois State Shoot Recap

I shot sub-par the three days I was there, below my average for singles and handicaps. I never got in the groove and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I had planned on shooting thru Saturday and Sunday but I wasn't having fun anymore and wasn't shooting well so I left Saturday morning. That was the right choice, I would have likely just kept plowing along repeating the same mistake which I think I have identified.

There were a couple of highlights. I got squadded with Harlan Campbell for singles on my first day. He broke 100 straight, couldn't have been any nicer of a guy. I broke 49 of my first 50 handicap targets in one event, went to the next trap to shoot the next 50 and broke an 18 and a 24. The 18 was the result of broken concentration and I left the trap stunned at the depth of my stupidity. I was happy to go back and break the 24. My handicap scores had 9s in front of them. I shot with a bunch of nice people and saw a lot of my friends from the local clubs in Northern Illinois. Some of them won events.

Sunday, I went over to St Charles to shoot my makeup for the Spring League and broke a 22 from the 16-yard line in a practice round. Still having problems. Signed up to shoot my makeup and told myself to wait that extra second or so after mounting the gun and before calling for the target. Ran the singles and broke a 24 from 23 yards. Best league score this year. Ran another round of singles and broke another 24 from 23 yards. Right back in the groove again. I have to slow down and let my eyes settle out in the field. I can shoot all the practice I want, but it doesn't mean anything if I don't slowdown in competition.

So a disappointment but that's sports and I learned something. Rory McIlroy had a complete meltdown at the Masters two months ago and then destroyed the US open this weekend.

The picture below is from St Charles' Paralyzed Veterans of America shoot this weekend.

NYT article today on avoiding the Choke

Link to an interesting article on choking in golf (shooting) and how to avoid.

Kim Rhode

Olympian Kim Rhode is on twitter and posts shooting tips.

Perazzi DB81

A friend of mine at the club asked me to take some pictures of the Perazzi DB81 that he is planning on selling. Its a sharp gun. The DB stand for Dan Bonillas whom Perazzi designed the gun for and 81 for the year, 1981. Here is a link to an article about a shooter who used a DB81 to shoot bunker.

Bob Sommers shoot

St. Charles had their Bob Sommers Memorial Shoot Sunday, very nice day and they had a monster turnout. I shot a 91 at singles which was atrocious. I crushed the first 25 and then the wheels came off. I've won my class at two singles events so far this year under terrible conditions and then broke a 91 yesterday when the weather was perfect.

Moving on, the handicap event started late in the day. I went 22, 25, 23 24 for a 94, my best handicap score in a while. I was happy, I was having an off day and was able to get it together for a decent score. Not good enough to win but it felt good and my average continues to improve.

I did own half of the winner (97s from 27 and 20 yards) in the Calcutta so that was nice. My 94 was also good for a few bucks but I would have traded it for two more broken targets in a heart beat. Made my reservations today for the Illinois State Shoot.

Great Lakes Grand Weather

This is a picture of a friend's trailer after tornado hit Great Lakes Grand.