Think he likes trapshooting?

Saw this 24 hour old tattoo today at St. Charles.

While on the subject, found this on the web

Kim Rhode Interview

Sports Afield had an interview with Kim Rhode. There were a couple of interesting things. One, she is a big believer in muscle memory and drills stations, 500 to 1,000 targets a day. "When I go to a competition, mentally I have no fears of hitting any target or any thought of having a hard or tough target to deal with. Mentally, I know I can hit them all. I attribute much of my success to this training technique. I also think its important to compete as much as you can, because it makes you calmer as you get more experience from head to head competition."

Bunker/Trench/International/Olympic Trap

I've been wanting to try Olympic trap for awhile and found Prince George's Trap & Skeet outside Washington DC. My dad and I drove over while I was on my vacation at the beach. One of the members showed us the set-up and explained how the game worked. We shot four rounds, its pretty challenging. The best round I shot was a 17/25. I was shooting my Dad's sporting clays gun which didn't fit me that well, I would like to go back with my MX2005. The targets come out faster, at varying heights, at harder angles (45 degress v. 17.5 for ATA), are thicker than ATA targets and tournaments call for about a 7/8 ounce load.

This is the front of the bunker. There are 15 traps. 3 traps per station. They are set to throw a left, a center and right hand target but the shooter doesn't know the order.

Inside the bunker

Stations 1,2 and 3. The line runs parallel to the bunker, not in a semi-circle.

1/2 Yard to 23

St. Charles had their shell shoot yesterday. It was hot and humid. I broke a 97 at singles, best singles score of the year. Felt pretty good about it, I know why I missed two of them. In the handicap, I went 24, 23, 24, 25 for a 96. A 27-yarder broke a 97 and there were three 96s. I won the shoot-off for runner up handicap champion. I haven't won anything at St. Charles since 2009. I've been practicing more off-hours when the club is closed, shooting hard angles and post 1 & 5. It seems to be paying off. Plus, I practice a yard back from my handicap. Trying to think less too, just get my eyes out in the field, wait a second, call, get a good look at the target and then make a smooth move to it.

Darien

Shot Saturday at Darien, broke a 96 in singles and a 94 in handicap. Not the best scores but better than I have been shooting. Handicap was consistent with 24, 23, 23, 24. Cal and I drove over to Lake Geneva afterwards and went swimming and bought fireworks. A nice weekend here.

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.