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.