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Hartmanns Hint #67 Practice

Practice

One recent morning I went to the Tulsa Gun Club to practice. The usual group of shooters were there, and we shot a couple of regular rounds and some doubles, with all of us shooting a few extras where we needed more practice. After we completed our basic practice, we decided to shoot regular rounds in preparation for a shoot that weekend.

One of the guys did something I had never before seen him do. He missed the first target on doubles at station 2 and proceeded to get angry with himself and then quit working at the other targets. He had given up after a single miss, and as a result, he missed several more.

One thing I tell students of mine is that even the greats in our sport miss occasionally and that a 99 or maybe less will sometimes win an event; that when you miss a target, don’t stop working the remaining targets as another miss could take you out of contention. Additionally, getting angry does nothing but hurt the mental part of your game.

Giving up in practice is as bad or maybe worse than doing so in a competition. Practice is where your mental game becomes ingrained. When you give up in practice, you’re not training to win.

The purpose of practice is to become proficient at whatever you’re trying to do, not to lose your temper and therefore your focus.

Stay safe,
Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

 

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Hartmann’s Hints: Off-Season Practice

Off-Season Practice

There is nothing short of improving your vision or your stamina that can help maintain or improve your skill level as well as practice. How you practice is also an important facet of the maintenance and/or improvement of your skill. Incorrect practice can be detrimental and may hurt your skill.

Normally we can get practice at the range during the spring, summer, and maybe during autumn, but for some of us, winter is a little too cold or wet to go to the range for practice. Then, we have to do things a little differently in order to keep or improve our skill level. When you live in areas where it gets too cold or too wet to be outside practicing, you have to devise methods that can at least maintain your skill.

One of the practice methods that I have given to the SCTP kids in the past is also good for some of you. Stand back about 10 feet from the wall, then practice swinging your shotgun back and forth from one corner to the other while keeping your shotgun level with the line created by the junction of the wall and
ceiling. After a while, place a piece of blue masking tape in the middle of the line, and as you pass the tape say, “Bang” or have snap caps in your chamber so you can actually pull the trigger as you pass the tape, while keeping your shotgun moving level on the line. This is a great way to train yourself to follow through.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE LIVE SHELLS IN YOUR SHOTGUN BEFORE USING THIS PRACTICE METHOD. DOUBLE CHECK!

Another method that you’ll often read about is mental imaging. This is where you picture in your mind the actions you take to shoot a particular target and in your mind see it turning to dust. I use this method frequently when I either can’t get to the range due to “honey-dos” or because of inclement weather. I’ll go through my pre-shot routine:

I picture myself stepping onto the station, placing my feet in their correct position, mounting my shotgun at my hold point, looking at look point, and then tell myself three things. First, “one target at a time.” Second, “It’ss like me to hit this target.” Third, “Look at the target.” I then imagine seeing the target released, being hit and turning to dust. I’ll do this mental practice on all the stations and repeat it on those stations where I feel I need extra help.

While mental imaging is not shooting, it can and will give you a method of maintaining, and maybe improving, your skill level.

Stay safe,

Barry Hartmann

Barry Hartmann is an NSSA Master Level and NRA Certified shotgun instructor who teaches American skeet and wingshooting. You can contact Barry at threeat8@aol.com or 918-803-2393.

 

 

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Ask the Instructor: Practicing for Nationals

Practicing for Nationals

 

I’m going to Nationals in October and would like to know how I should be preparing for it. Should I practice differently?

 

Most shooters think practice means shooting a round of sporting clays. I take a wee bit of exception to that notion. Shooting one last round at your local club before heading off to the National Shooting Complex is unlikely to improve or tighten up a specific part of your game. Practice, on the other hand, works on a specific part of your game in preparation for competition.

There are several practice areas I typically assign to my students as I encourage them to focus on one or two specific aspects of their game between lessons. A detailed explanation of all the various types of practice is best left for a magazine series, but examples include pre-shot routine, gun mount and movement, visual focus, commitment to break points, and pre-shot planning.

Additionally, you might want to focus on about a dozen different types of target presentations from time to time, based on your confidence level when engaging each: rabbits, teals, descending / transitioning targets, trap targets, crossing targets, quartering targets, rising targets, incoming targets, tower shots, below-the-chest, plunging targets, and more. The target presentation that you should prioritize in practice is the shot in which you have the least amount of confidence.

Ray Floyd, World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, former Ryder Cup Captain, and winner of multiple PGA Championships, is one of my students. During one of our lessons, I asked him, “What’s your favorite club, Ray?” He answered abruptly, “I don’t have one.” He went on to explain that if he ever had a favorite club, that would mean that some other aspect of his game had a weakness. Ray’s goal was to never have a favorite club or a weak shot.

Generally, shooting a round of sporting clays will not help you improve your game at the rate most of us desire. Dissect your game, identify the biggest areas of opportunity, and dedicate some practice time to each one. In an ideal world, we should be equally confident in all types of target presentations and in all aspects of our game. While few of us may ever fully realize this utopian level of preparedness, the confidence we need to win must be built through practice.

Don Currie is NSCA’s Chief Instructor, an Orvis Wingshooting School instructor, and Master Class competitor. To get free shooting tips and videos, sign up for his monthly newsletter.  You can also see more tips from Currie at www.doncurrie.com.