English Open - any news yet ?

[Jeremy Baker]

I was amazed how the targets changed throughout the day.
I shot at 9.00 then joined Lainy at 12 to caddie etc.
The over head pair on 2 were very different somehow.
The Sim pair on 4 were much much lower second time round. The fence post came into play for the shorter shooter.

 

[EdSolomons]

Light had a massive influence on it, could make the overheads gimmes or impossible within a space of 10 minutes!

 

[Jeremy Baker]

Light had a massive influence on it, could make the overheads gimmes or impossible within a space of 10 minutes!

We had cloud most of the day but I can imagine that pair being vile with the sun over head.

 

[EdSolomons]

Check out the video I put on fb! I recorded it as I knew no one would believe how bad it was if I told them!

 

[Shaun Hopkins]

Some of the targets were fine. Some were absolutely dire

So glad you said that Ed as I thought the same but as with limited experience compared to you no doubt i would have been lambasted by the usual suspects :haha:

 

[wylye]

Well, I think you're a lot of miserable whinging bastards. Just got home after shooting it today in 3 hours with no delays. Expecting crap targets, poor organisation, crap food after reading the reports on here and I had a lovely day in the sunshine with only average targets - they were not that difficult really were they? Organisation was OK, stand numbering was fairly unique and the food was OK. So whats' the big deal for goodness sake? Some people are only happy when they're miserable.

 

[K80 TCG]

I enjoyed the shoot today did not shoot my best but good targets out in the sunshine with good company, looks like we picked the right day.

 

[Shaun Hopkins]

Well, I think you're a lot of miserable whinging bastards. Just got home after shooting it today in 3 hours with no delays. Expecting crap targets, poor organisation, crap food after reading the reports on here and I had a lovely day in the sunshine with only average targets - they were not that difficult really were they? Organisation was OK, stand numbering was fairly unique and the food was OK. So whats' the big deal for goodness sake? Some people are only happy when they're miserable.

In all fairness Ian the organisation was fine we were around in just over two and a half hours and the food was good too but for me personally i hated half the targets because i shot so bad  anything below my feet i hate and the rabbits together were pointless could have been a little more imagination thats all still licking my wounds and sulking...

 

[EdSolomons]

Most of the ones I could see were ok...

 

[Stew]

It is a shame that one of our 'so called majors' in clay shooting was not run as professional as it should have been in my opinion.

I thought the targets today, on Sunday, were all killable, no problem with that. No trap breakdowns which was excellent.

The professionalism in the way it was run was in question.

Got to the shoot at 9am after leaving the Cotswolds at 6am. Good run. A good job the bloke in the car knew where the ground was as the signposting was sh*te for anyone who had not been to Southdown before.

Went to our first stand, number 6 at 10.30am. Waited then until 11.45am to start shooting due to backlog of 9am squads and some 11 o'clock squads being allowed through.

Most of the time when you were shooting the aliens in orange suits were revving the sh*t out of the quad bikes. Nice.

What made the day for me was when we went down the valley to stand 12. The scorer was asleep on his back laid next to the portable bog. Nice! He woke after we tooted the horn on the mule. Can you imagine Lee Westwood walking onto the 18th green in the English open golf and the green keeper is kipping in the bunker???

Some parts of the ground looked like a scrap yard, not a venue for a so called CPSA premier event.

I suggest the CPSA meet to review this event and address issues raised by it's members. You are slowly struggling to fill this event and it will get worse in my opinion.

Well done Mr Winser and all you shooters who shot well over the 3 days.

 

[Mark Jones]

Mark winser fantastic, targets quite good, organisation poor. For me hopping around from one end to the other made no sense, as mentioned signage for the ground was what I could see non existent etc,etc

Seems everyone has their own personal problems with this shoot....now for mine

Half way round and I'm getting ready to shoot next and a mobile phone goes off, ready to bollock one of my mates it turns out to be the refs!! After a polite suggestion he turns it off and I'm in. You can guess what happens just before my last pair, now I'm not so polite!

 

[tiptop]

Nice sunny day for it today,the only problem i had with the targets was i coudn't hit the buggers.

No strange decissions about glasses,kitemarks,hats or the like,no no-birds or breakdowns

Had a bit of a delayed start due to 9am squads still shooting and one of our squad not turning up,11.05 ref calls for our squad to shoot.still first shooter not there so told we would wait see if he turns up.i though the rule was call three times no show and you're out?? 11 o'clock squad behind us go on before us as we are still waiting for the 6th member of our squad to turn up. So ended up with a 5 man squad starting 3/4 of an hour late.Ran smooth enough after that took about 2 1/2 hours to get round

Maybe not the best organised major,and as a few have said about the sequence of the numbers on the stands a bit strange.

Qualified refs for a major.... hmmm not so sure about that,ground owners grease monkies in orange boilersuits maybe, people keep banging on about the image of shooting in this country,and the dress code for shooters haha. CPSA should really stand back and take a look at this one.

 

[Jaykaysea]

I quite enjoyed it.....I am with Mr Wylye...was expecting chaos...not impressed with the stand numbering or the general appearance of the ground....cardboard boxes everywhere....but I think we had ONE no bird....so it wasn't all that bad.

 

[sarachambers]

I don't think it worked well to have effectively 2 courses but with stands shot "in order". I had to go up to the valley twice and that added significant delay. It took me just under 4 hours to shoot.

The targets were fine - some were genuinely good, others fine, more long stuff would have been good as nothing outside of 40 yards.

After the selection shoot last month I will never eat there again... I cannot comment on this weekends offerings.

Overall, (1) think 2 hour rotations is too optimistic regardless of ground. (2) I wasn't convinced by the two course thing - would be better if shot one side then other not consecutive stands. (3) "bigger" targets would have been good.

But, it wasn't a bad shoot. Had I not got absolutely drenched on my first stand, I would have enjoyed it more.... but Southdown and the CPSA are not responsible for the weather, nor are they responsible for my lazy mediocre shooting.

 

[Salopian]

People WE need to get a grip of OUR sport.

I said a couple of years ago that the Americans are coming and will dominate English Sporting if we do not up our game, and sure enough it is happening on every front, shooters ability , event organisation, dress code etc. etc. CPSA apparently do not have the inclination or ability to improve things so come on folks DIY. 

 

[Clynt]

just a thought, and I know the British weather gives us 3 seasons in one day but ! would all you jolly people who shot in the sun yesterday have the same views if due to the farce of the rotation times, had left you stood out in the valley area  with no shelter,p*ssing down, with 25+mph winds , and on top of that pale orange (looked like very old) clays being thrown into backgrounds making them impossible to see >>>>>>>>>>>>would you honestly have arrived at your current conclusion's ? 

you can only say as you find but I do think it a little profane to suggest that any complaints  on the first day were un-justified !!

with out walking between stands some one , whoever?? time wise, allowed a squad of 6 to shoot 15 stands in 2 hrs must be in a world of fantasy, that equates to 8mins !! plus a little extra to put the scores onto the master sheet "after" !! the whole squad had finished shooting ?? now one could ask, has it become a numbers game ? for profit ? or is it simply not achievable to give  members a special experience at our major shoots ?  

 

[sscottsmith1234]

Didn't really find the chaos and problems people were describing,but I was careful to go with an open mind. However did feel that the targets were a little poorly thaught out in places and felt that a handful of the stands didn't really belong on 'The English open'.

 

[Jaykaysea]

Weather did play a big part I am sure....but that is the name of the game with an outdoor sport....I seem to think the last time Southdown had the selection shoot the Friday was the good day and the Sunday I shot it was vile and windy so perhaps it was karma.....

Maybe the CPSA and ground could do some sort of survey for feedback....or maybe we could organise it through here and pass on our suggestions...I didn't think it would have taken much to make it a great shoot and it would be nice if we could all help shape the future of our blue ribbon events....

 

[Shaun Hopkins]

Maybe the CPSA and ground could do some sort of survey for feedback....or maybe we could organise it through here and pass on our suggestions...I didn't think it would have taken much to make it a great shoot and it would be nice if we could all help shape the future of our blue ribbon events....

And maybe we could pick the winning lottery numbers at the same time :spiteful:  

 

[Jaykaysea]

Sorry Shaun...I do like you (you are my favourite knitter) but that is exactly the sort of attitude that means we will be having this same discussion in 5 years time....

Would have been easy to say disguise the traps, clear away cardboard, give the refs a uniform, renumber the stands....and that all seems quite obvious with hindsight....I along with others I am sure am responsible for organising large events in my day job and attention to detail and all the little things are what makes the difference

From little acorns grow big oak trees.....