Will Hewland
Well-known member
First time at Northampton for me. I went with Clayclouter and mate Tony. Met Ed Solomons and formed big squad including Adam and Rachel, plus Jem.
Weird set up for shooting times here. I am familiar with either a manned stand shoot, or a squadded shoot where a book on is required with a stipulated start time. Northampton seems to have a vague system aimed nicely at those who want to spend a long and undetermined time period at the ground. You book on, get on a squad and they call you when ready to start on stand 1. We got there at 9.30 and got started on stand 1 at 11.10. Nice breakfast but 3 cups of tea is my limit.. This doesn't work for me, won't be doing that again. If I return I will need to see if they can assure me of some start time. Maybe I need to work their system better, but got the butt end of it today..
Anyway, once out on the ground, it was great to shoot somewhere new. A freezing wind made it very bitter and blew the targets around a good bit. Ed S felt the layout was not their hardest, but the wind made it very hard for most of us..
Stand 1 had a sensible crosser with a longish hanging midi, which caused most of us a lot of grief. I think we all overlead it. Three away for me straight away..
I thought it was a great mix of targets and it was enough to stop me straighting the first 12 stands before finally nailing 13! Mostly it was only 1 or 2 away, so I managed an 82, a shade above my average.
Ed put in a stonking 96, which must have won it. Only one 91 in below that when we left.
Not sure I will be a regular at Northampton due to the distance and the funny squadding, but I did enjoy it and there is nothing wrong with the ground. Good scorer looked after us well too.
Weird set up for shooting times here. I am familiar with either a manned stand shoot, or a squadded shoot where a book on is required with a stipulated start time. Northampton seems to have a vague system aimed nicely at those who want to spend a long and undetermined time period at the ground. You book on, get on a squad and they call you when ready to start on stand 1. We got there at 9.30 and got started on stand 1 at 11.10. Nice breakfast but 3 cups of tea is my limit.. This doesn't work for me, won't be doing that again. If I return I will need to see if they can assure me of some start time. Maybe I need to work their system better, but got the butt end of it today..
Anyway, once out on the ground, it was great to shoot somewhere new. A freezing wind made it very bitter and blew the targets around a good bit. Ed S felt the layout was not their hardest, but the wind made it very hard for most of us..
Stand 1 had a sensible crosser with a longish hanging midi, which caused most of us a lot of grief. I think we all overlead it. Three away for me straight away..
I thought it was a great mix of targets and it was enough to stop me straighting the first 12 stands before finally nailing 13! Mostly it was only 1 or 2 away, so I managed an 82, a shade above my average.
Ed put in a stonking 96, which must have won it. Only one 91 in below that when we left.
Not sure I will be a regular at Northampton due to the distance and the funny squadding, but I did enjoy it and there is nothing wrong with the ground. Good scorer looked after us well too.
