If you want to build more consistency into your shooting, please listen up. What follows will help.
As a full-time instructor and coach, this comes directly from some of our students who inquire about Paragon instruction. They seek truly helpful answers to their good questions about why they are inconsistent. Thankfully and much appreciated, Paragon delivers those answers!
During the phone inquiry about instruction, our caller says he/she is inconsistent, lost, confused and doesn’t know why. Serious about wanting to advance their shooting skills, we’re told they’ve paid one or more instructors…often multiple times…to improve. And they aren’t.
They then say, station after station, hallelujah, they broke more targets than they ever thought they could in a short period. Their assumption at the end of the lesson? I must be getting better. Rather obvious, right?
And when they return home? No improvement anywhere. Once again, lost, inconsistent and again frustrated. Here’s why. During their lesson(s), he/she was entertained…not taught. Hold the gun here, shoot there. Finally…XOXOXXXXX. Happy? Yes. Improving? No. Truth is…the instructor (likely with good intentions) chose friendly targets. To get X’s. Thus creating the impression of improvement.
During the lesson, when the target was missed…was the student shown and taught WHY? Specifically? No. NOT where the miss went…but WHY? Again, no. Was the set-up and/or swing mistake behind the muzzle pointed out for correction? Teaching not what just caused the miss but why? No.
OK. How can anyone improve without knowing why and what to correct? How can anyone adjust their mistake(s)… right now and build an X swing with the very next shell? On their own? This knowledge… how to do this…is a non-negotiable basic. A requirement for skill advancement. Your instructor’s obligation to you.
X. Congratulations. Question. Why, please? A lucky break or a well-executed swing? Not sure? If unsure, how can the X swing be repeated consistently on purpose? It can’t. To create measurable improvement, a shooter must see what happened in the setup and swing, start to finish. So, THAT setup and swing can now either be adjusted or correctly repeated. Deliberately. XXXXXX…consistently. None of this will be learned when all that’s taking place in the shooting box is entertainment. With entertainment…X is the goal. Schooling? X is goal number Three. Learning WHY and HOW are goals number One and Two. That’s where improvement comes from.
I’ve done entertaining maybe a thousand times with corporate and family groups…truly a lot of fun and very rewarding. Today’s safety and entertainment goals were met. Guests, instructors, and course owners… are all happy, and rightfully so. Today, however, there was no teaching of the basics.
If you decide to contact an instructor about schooling…expect to learn specific fundamentals…HOW to improve your shooting. After safety, of course, your instructor’s number one goal is to make absolutely sure you are taught HOW to CONTINUE improving later, on your home course alone, when there is no instructor behind you. To accomplish that…during your lesson…rightfully expect to learn this from your instructor:
1) How to build your 4 “set up” steps correctly.
2) The correct “shooting method” for the target presentation you are facing.
3) Step-by-step, how to execute that method.
4) If you miss…WHY…what to correct?
5) If an X…why did it break? Adjust the swing or repeat the correct swing?
That you are considering contacting an instructor? Good on you. Before you pay to reserve your date and time…take a moment and make sure your instructor very clearly understands why you are coming. Is your goal entertainment or school? Make sure your instructor knows the difference. Ask good questions…listen carefully.
Thanks for spending time with us here. I look forward to sharing how to faithfully meet your shooting improvement goals in the next article.
Let us always remember and cherish the many blessings of this great land we love, the United States of America, as well as the camaraderie of the wingshooting and clay target sports that bring shooters together from around the world. May God bless us all and guide us as we continue to pray for peace—both in our world and in our hearts. Thank you for spending time with us. Cheryl and I look forward to the day we meet on the course and share moments together.
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Dan Schindler is one of only 60 worldwide members of the Guild of Shooting Instructors (UK) and is one of the most highly respected Sporting Clays and Wingshooting Instructors in the US. Dan is an NSCA Level III Instructor (since 1995) and founded the Paragon School of Sporting with one goal in mind. Whether it be for the advanced competitor or providing the basics to the entry-level shooter, Paragon provides the simplest, most practical and most effective Instruction, Coaching and Mental Training for the Sporting Clays & Wingshooting enthusiast. Dan Schindler helps shooters alleviate a lot of their frustration by taking the mystery out of breaking targets, calling their own misses, and make their own corrections. Lessons are fun, enlightening and our clients learn to shoot better in minutes!
"Recommended for shooters of all skill levels, Coaches, Instructors
and parents of youth shooters."
Schindler's books are written for shooters like you!
Take the mystery out of missing targets and feathers with Dan Schindler's simple, easy-to-understand books. They're your road map for consistently and dependably shooting higher scores.
Warning: Shooters from around the world tell us ...if you lend these 3 excellent books to your shooting buddies, you may never see the books again! Some say they'd give up their spouse before they give up these books.
Take Your Best Shot (Book I), 3rd Edition is THE Gold Standard Primer It's all about the fundamentals, a requirement for good shooting. This book is used by high school and college shooting teams, recreational and competitive shooters from around the world. Solid, valuable, concise information that has helped thousands of shooters shoot more consistently with higher scores.
To The Target (Book II) Builds on the steps outlined in Book I. Emphasises Gun Management skills when the trap fires, creating a consistent, reliable, trustworthy swing.
Beyond the Target (Book III) is for shooters of all levels. It is filled with valuable information and clay target truths. It is entertaining and a culmination of three decades of Dan's life's work as a teacher, competitor, published writer, and much more.
Here's what Shooters, Coaches and Clay Shooting USA saying...
THE TRUSTED PRIMER
A Quarter of a Century and Counting
"Take Your Best Shot is the best clay and wingshooting shooting primer on the market that I have ever seen. The brilliance of its simplicity aids in getting across the correct messages for successful shooting for ANY clay/wingshooting shooter, let alone a new shooter."
Jacksonville University Sporting, Skeet & Trap Team
(Founding & Head Coach)
SCTP & ACUI Event and Divisional National Champions
"Take Your Best Shot is the greatest publication ever written on how to increase X’s on a scorecard and put more game birds in a hunting vest. In plain language, Take Your Best Shot teaches the essential, non-negotiable basics for building shooting excellence. It should be a required text for every clay target shooter, Wingshooter, Coach, Instructor and parent of a youth shooter who is looking for a step-by-step shooting “system” that is easy to understand, repeatable and utterly dependable. Take Your Best Shot is not only the best but the only book that provides this knowledge. Seriously – Take Your Best Shot is a must-have for every shotgunner."
Jeff Allen, Head Coach Carolina Clays
Paragon School of Sporting Professional Instructor
NSCA Level II Instructor
NSSA Skeet Instructor
NC State Scholastic Clay Target Program Advisor & Coach
NC Scholastic Clay Target Program Trap Director
“Few authors have tried to take the shooter on from the novice stage to serious competitor. “To The Target” does just that and it is one of the most innovative and important books yet published on the art of shooting clay targets.”
Clay Shooting USA
"This third volume in the Paragon school trilogy is the second best thing to booking a lesson with Schindler himself. Dan writes the way he coaches in person: respectfully, provocatively, humorously, and, most of all, effectively. His new book informs the Sporting Clays arts not only with a clear and proven blueprint for breaking (many) more targets, but with great heart as well."
Contributor: Clay Target Nation