Southdown FITASC

Decided to enter this months fitasc at Southdown in order to see what the shoot was like now Shaun Peckham has left, but also to get a little practice in before the GB selection at the end of March.

I can honestly say, I have never shot a course or shoot that was border line ridiculous, and it has been many years since I saw so many low scores across 14 squads of shooters. The atmosphere was terrible, large number of no birds and traps not operating properly meant for a long day, we started shooting at 9:30 and finished at 4:30!

There were plenty of excellent target presentations but due to the position of the hoops made these targets extreme and quite frankly ridiculous, one going away target launched from the top of a cherry picker was 70 yards by the time the gun was shouldered, the trap spring muct have been on its limit!!

Each layout was tough and there was no let up, when a shoot is won on 79 and the next highest score was 75 (A class), you have to seriously ask yourself whether the course might have been too tough, especially when you consider there was no wind and bright sunshine all day.

The saddest part of the day was a couple (who can shoot), overheard to say they won't be back or doing fitasc again! So Shaun Miller, if you do read this forum maybe you need to rethink who sets your courses, because unfortunately you do not have the skills or the experience to set them. And would it kill you to get someone in who knows how to repair traps?

I could take you through each target and layout but I don't want or need the mental scarring that only copious amounts of JD could remove, I will finish up by saying, if Southdown do not invite a recognised course setter to set up the GB Selection shoot at the end of March, I definitely will not be shooting that or any other shoot at Southdown.

Glad you enjoyed your day Matt

Looking forward to the English open now

Steve - you couldn't pay me enough to enter the English Open at Southdown and as for their ability to set a fitasc...

What you have written has saddened me but not surprised me. There is a real skill to setting a clay target course: I think most shooters underestimate what a fine balance it is between getting it right and getting it wrong.
I used to shoot Southdown when Dave set the targets and occasionally when he went away, Shaun (his son) set them. You could always tell when Dave was away because your score dropped by 10/15 because Shaun P couldn't get it quite right - he wanted every target to be a great target so it was always too hard. However Daddy Peckham moved on and Shaun found his own style and started setting great courses.
Unfortunately Shaun P has now left and Shaun Miller has been left deep in the smelly stuff because there is an art to course setting and I doubt he understands the basics let alone the subtleties of a challenging but fair course.
He needs to listen to feedback from shooters and learn fast or he won't keep the reputation that Southdown has earned in the past.

Mike you forgot z as well that's the key to it

Mike you forgot z as well that's the key to it

Iwas told once that all I do is drive to the furthest point tip off a trap and switch em on !!!!

Emmmmm don't think so somehow

Steve you even manage to get two good courses set in two different counties at the same time.

Had a great day today in the sunshine shooting Weston wood and Garlands.

Looking forward to Westfield next weekend for more of the same. Would be good to know what the mystery ingredient Z is!

I've never ventured across country to shoot Southdown so I was going to book the GB selection this week. Having read this I may have to re-think things though. I love a tough course (some shoots have gotten way too soft) but high gun being 79 is bordering on ridiculous!! They'll have to pick up their game to warrant me driving 5 hours to get there!

It is very rare for me to be critical of a ground, I appreciate it is not an easy thing to do week in week out and hats off to those who do it well, but when you are still making the same mistakes 2 months later then you are in trouble. I just hope they sort themselves out as they have some big events this year, GB Selection shoot, English Open, English Fitasc selection and GB compak selection, Shaun/Greg - you simply cannot mess these shoots up!!

Matt, This is why i  and my mates no longer go there, Good luck getting entries for the GB Selection shoot, English Open, English Fitasc selection and GB compak selection. It is such a shame this used to be a Premier ground. :fie: One of the worries is that shooters will have to pay for accommodation at some of these and at the moment would you want to?

Big up Matt for speaking out, it's no good waxing lyrical about every shoot you enjoy but keeping quiet when people get it massively wrong, shooters tend to keep their head low in case they get thought of as preferring easy targets!! I have always spoken my mind when it comes to cheap, ridiculous distance tricks or when you suffer brain fade and throw targets into the sun. 

On the plus side Southdown has incredible topography and ESP/Fitasc history, it really wouldn't take that much to train even the offender to understand what balance means. 

Would the CPSA know about the problems here? I have booked on the Open in May but nervous of what chaos might ensue...

Should I be ringing to express my concerns? Plenty of other shoots to spend my hard earned cash on...this year is already proving very expensive

I hope they get it right soon. If I could make a suggestion to Sean, don't be afraid to ask for some help on setting the targets, there must be a lot of people who could help, people who have shot at Southdown for years and would not like it to fail. it is a special skill setting good targets and may not be something you can just do with not a lot of experience.

Shaun sorry (I must have been talking about someone else)

Oh Bugger .........I've already book rip for the English !!

Up , even

I hope you guys are letting Southdown know of your concern. Not every shooting person reads our comments on here. May be an idea to speak personally to the owners?

I find people are afraid to speak openly about their concerns as they dont want to be tagged as a moan or be unpopular 

You'll find much of the feedback here was given directly to the ground mgmt yesterday AND there has been some responses. Once we have a bit more information, it'll be shared here as well.

Those that have me on FB will see some of the feedback & responses there, but I also had a 1:1 conversation at the ground yesterday.