My first trip up to High Lodge - stayed in a decent little B&B up the road so that I could enjoy the two days...
There was a registered FSP and the UK Championship Compak - you could shoot either one, either day - or for the brave, two in one day. We (Bob_P, Woo_P and myself) opted to do the FSP yesterday, and the Compak today.
FSP
This was set over three parcours (33, 33, 34) - in the main sporting areas at High Lodge - loads of space, with sporting practice stands still running for the regular shooters there. We started on the Auto Sporter layout, set over 4 hoops with 6 or 7 targets - including a high crosser off the tower, a quick dropping incomer and a couple of tasty crossers. Second layout was bankside - at the far end of the ground, and using a high bank to create some interesting topology, again 4 hoops with 7 traps - including a fairly testy battue and a couple of high edgy crossers, and a quick bird that was first shot as a low crosser (or even driven) and then later on was a fast left to right below your feet off the bank. Great use of targets/hoops to make the layouts interesting. Final parcours for us was Eley - with a high crossing mini, an enormous crow and a fierce teal that got progressively harder as the hoops went on.
I thought this was a great set of layouts - with the hoops getting harder and harder through each layout - a couple of times you'd find you were straight or one away after two hoops, and then the angles and distances would shift has you hit hoop 3 and 4 and you'd start dropping progressively more shots.
I scored 24, 22, 22 for a 68 on the day - which I thought could have been better - still had a very enjoyable day. After the shoot I even managed to squeeze fish and chips in by the sea, and an ice cream in the sunshine!
Compak
After a great nights sleep, and an excellent fry-up at the B&B, we arrived at the ground for the Compak - 4 layouts of 25 set up on the skeet layouts. All four layouts had excellent targets, and really showed how Compak should be done. Some great tests including a high crosser off the tower on layout one. I really enjoyed the fast right to left white crosser on layout three which I missed three times before doubling up and smashing in a tricky sim pair with a right to left skeet bird. The last layout did for me, with a tricky left to right midi which I misread consistently and still don't know where I should have been shooting! Coupled with a diving right to left bird off the bank which I struggled with, as well as a slow driven which was the size of a Frisbee over my head - again missed in front! A real tester.
We had a great squad for the Compak - with an England Shot, and an experienced Compak shooter with us - I shot 18, 20, 15, 13 - happy with the first two, a bit light on the second two - but enjoyed the test and happy to have a better score than the Hepworth Hall shoot.
Understand that Henry Arnold won it with a 95 - which was some cracking shooting round there.
Great weekend all up - and High Lodge is clearly a lovely ground.
There was a registered FSP and the UK Championship Compak - you could shoot either one, either day - or for the brave, two in one day. We (Bob_P, Woo_P and myself) opted to do the FSP yesterday, and the Compak today.
FSP
This was set over three parcours (33, 33, 34) - in the main sporting areas at High Lodge - loads of space, with sporting practice stands still running for the regular shooters there. We started on the Auto Sporter layout, set over 4 hoops with 6 or 7 targets - including a high crosser off the tower, a quick dropping incomer and a couple of tasty crossers. Second layout was bankside - at the far end of the ground, and using a high bank to create some interesting topology, again 4 hoops with 7 traps - including a fairly testy battue and a couple of high edgy crossers, and a quick bird that was first shot as a low crosser (or even driven) and then later on was a fast left to right below your feet off the bank. Great use of targets/hoops to make the layouts interesting. Final parcours for us was Eley - with a high crossing mini, an enormous crow and a fierce teal that got progressively harder as the hoops went on.
I thought this was a great set of layouts - with the hoops getting harder and harder through each layout - a couple of times you'd find you were straight or one away after two hoops, and then the angles and distances would shift has you hit hoop 3 and 4 and you'd start dropping progressively more shots.
I scored 24, 22, 22 for a 68 on the day - which I thought could have been better - still had a very enjoyable day. After the shoot I even managed to squeeze fish and chips in by the sea, and an ice cream in the sunshine!
Compak
After a great nights sleep, and an excellent fry-up at the B&B, we arrived at the ground for the Compak - 4 layouts of 25 set up on the skeet layouts. All four layouts had excellent targets, and really showed how Compak should be done. Some great tests including a high crosser off the tower on layout one. I really enjoyed the fast right to left white crosser on layout three which I missed three times before doubling up and smashing in a tricky sim pair with a right to left skeet bird. The last layout did for me, with a tricky left to right midi which I misread consistently and still don't know where I should have been shooting! Coupled with a diving right to left bird off the bank which I struggled with, as well as a slow driven which was the size of a Frisbee over my head - again missed in front! A real tester.
We had a great squad for the Compak - with an England Shot, and an experienced Compak shooter with us - I shot 18, 20, 15, 13 - happy with the first two, a bit light on the second two - but enjoyed the test and happy to have a better score than the Hepworth Hall shoot.
Understand that Henry Arnold won it with a 95 - which was some cracking shooting round there.
Great weekend all up - and High Lodge is clearly a lovely ground.
