Consistency

[Iggy]

Fully concur with what's already been said.

All us mortals have ups and downs, the trick is not to let pull you down.

In my own experiance over the 3 years or so since I took this up, the more consistent I am with what I do before I step into the cage the more consistent the outcome, so a good, rythmic and consistent pre-shot routine is very important.

The other thing Ive learnt that 'I' need to do is completely shut out everything other than what I'm doing when I'm shooting. I try to do this on the way to a shoot and in simple terms it just means parking all the other 'stuff' that normally fills your head (work, family, got to cut the lawn etc, etc) so that when Im shooting I'm as 'in the moment' as I can be.

Sorry if this sounds a bit 'motivational speaker'....its not meant to be, but I find it works.

 

[maddmatt]

Consistency the holy grail of the clay shooter, it is consistency that has made George Digweed the absolute champion in the sport, he has the ability to do it year after year. What is the secret? In my opinion it comes in two stages, first stage is the skill to shoot ANY target presented and know you will hit it, once you get to this stage you 'know' how to shoot, second stage is the ability to focus 100% on the task at hand, ie, shoot each target presented, your state of mind, level of focus, technique must all be in tune in order to be at your peak.

Mark Winser is currently demonstrating these skills and is winning, how do us mere mortals achieve this, when I know the answer to that I will keep it to myself hahahahaha

 

[Nimbusgb]

Steps up to stand 1 on saturday, concentrate, plan, load, close, ready, pull! Repeat 10 times, straight stand 1.

Walk to stand 2 , repeat as above ......... straight stand 2!

Walk to stand 3, thinks to self, 'hmm doing ok, will be in with a chance if I keep this up'. Think about target, think about lead, swing, trigger action, gun mount, think about score ........

Drop 7 targets.

Consistency is the key.

 

[maddmatt]

Unfortunately what you experienced here is the concious mind sticking its oar in, the nano second you said "doing ok, in with a chance" it was curtains, key is to not allow those thought processes to interfer with the job at hand. It has only happen a handful of times in my shooting career, Saturday it happened and I managed 120/125 at the BGP Compak, every shot felt effortless and I wasn't aware of anything else while I was shooting, still trying to work out how to get in that mode every sunday!

 

[Shaun Hopkins]

My cosistency goes up and down more times then a whores knickers but i have realised its a concentration issue! shooting in a squad and its curtains so have started playing Billie no mates at local grond and my consistency and concentration have improved no end pushing my scores into 90+ 

Unfortunately this is not possible and larger comps and Fitasc is a big problem. in my eyes concentration is King! master that and you will be playing with the big boys. (not actually playing with them i hasten to add) :spiteful:

 

[Will Hewland]

I find I feel right, or less so, before I start the shoot. I can usually tell how it's going to go.. Concentration is not my issue, it's more if I am feeling confident or not. As with everybody else, wish I could control it.

 

[maddmatt]

Will, that is part of it, your thought process defines how you will finish up, feeling confident and you post a good score, feeling slightly negative and bang, your shooting suffers. The very top shooters are extremely self confident and don't allow self doubt to enter their minds, ever.

 

[Will Hewland]

Yep. Gotta bottle the stuff..

 

[Nimbusgb]

I find I feel right, or less so, before I start the shoot. I can usually tell how it's going to go.. Concentration is not my issue, it's more if I am feeling confident or not. As with everybody else, wish I could control it.

  

Will, that is part of it, your thought process defines how you will finish up, feeling confident and you post a good score, feeling slightly negative and bang, your shooting suffers. The very top shooters are extremely self confident and don't allow self doubt to enter their minds, ever.

In his day my dad was a damned good cyclist and set and held a good few time trial and road race records, some over distances as long as 100 miles. I remember him telling me about how, at some of the races he won, he was on the starting line wondering to himself why the other blokes had even turned up. It was certainly not arrogance but a complete belief in his own abilities and knowing that he was totally prepared and committed to winning rather than just taking part. Mental attitude is more important than gun fit, ammunition, barrel length or the makers name on your vest.

 

[Irishgunner]

Is it that the top shooters won't ever tell us how they get there head in the right place or they don't know how they get it there it just happens for them, like any instructional DVD they come out with has a system that will make you shoot better IMO a system that is used only to make good viewing and money, like most things I don't think we can learn much from how to do videos, apart from Chris batha early on I picked up a lot from his clips I love his no BS just telling it as it is, I have no pre-shot routine as such, I will pick a hold point ride the clay for as long as needed pull the trigger when everything looks right, anyone care to give me there pre-shot routine I don't care how silly it is will try anything, I do address my break point with stance but all this is done without thinking is there any thing I should do that will kick start the brain ?

 

[Jeremy Baker]

Is it that the top shooters won't ever tell us how they get there head in the right place or they don't know how they get it there it just happens for them, like any instructional DVD they come out with has a system that will make you shoot better IMO a system that is used only to make good viewing and money, like most things I don't think we can learn much from how to do videos, apart from Chris batha early on I picked up a lot from his clips I love his no BS just telling it as it is, I have no pre-shot routine as such, I will pick a hold point ride the clay for as long as needed pull the trigger when everything looks right, anyone care to give me there pre-shot routine I don't care how silly it is will try anything, I do address my break point with stance but all this is done without thinking is there any thing I should do that will kick start the brain ?

There is no secret.They use brain coaches.

Henry Hopking www.thebraintrainingcompany.com

Others available.

 

[Irishgunner]

Interesting no quick fix then

 

[Jeremy Baker]

Interesting no quick fix then

Initially a pre shot routine and in cage routine is the way to go.

 

[Bryn12]

IMO there is no one routine, trigger word etc., that will suit everyone as we and our brains are all different. I know from my rifle days how I want to feel and what works for me mentally and am slowly adapting it to clays. Unfortunately for now my mental game is waaay ahead of my ability to break clays. :banghead:

The one thing I would say applies to all is if you want to be consistent BE consistent (well as much as you can) from setting your stuff out before you leave the house (I do it the night before) until you've shot the last target.

 

[Irishgunner]

At least I know now it's my pea-brain that's holding me back.... But seriously I do believe the ability to focus is the key to consistency, not sure if I could ever master it very short attention span and easily distracted, you wouldn't believe some of the weird things that float around in my head

 

[Bryn12]

The mind is a funny thing, I too have a really poor attention span but I seem to have two mindsets that have worked in the past, TOTAL FOCUS and THE ZONE which is almost the polar opposite, first time I entered the zone it was weird, all I knew was I had WIlfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est' going through my mind and when I 'came back' I'd gone clear on a couple of postal comp cards, if I remember right every one was a carton. Not sure that sort of detachment works with clays though.

 

[EdSolomons]

You don't need to concentrate for more than a minute at a time!

 

[Irishgunner]

True Ed but when I do get my head to work like it should I can't turn it off and it will last for a few stands 30min max, then I'm back to dropping the silly ones, I think to much and I can't seem to stop it

 

[Irishgunner]

Ok I'm open to the idea that brain coaches are beneficial in clay shooting and I'd say a must for Olympic shooters, but I'm never going to set the world alight just looking for any tips on pre-shot routine that I could try

 

[no.1topdog]

One tip I will give you is don't let it become obsessive. I come from a game shooting background where the safety is pushed off each time before firing. On my clay shooting gun the safety is non automatic. It's always off, I know it's off but I get stuck in a loop pushing it forwards even though it is off!! I can't call for a target until in my mind that damn safety is off! It becomes very annoying at times.