Sometimes having your head examined is a good thing

Most of the time I breeze through life not letting things get in my head or under my skin.  Even the unavoidable glitches that life throws my way seldom bother me much.

Here's the catch...I just went through a strange bout of missing left angles at trap post 1. 50 years of shooting and I, for some reason, can't run post 1 on a trap field.  Something was amiss and for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. I tried shifting my look point and my hold point...no improvement. I changed my stance (the wrong way...) not a thing different. I even changed guns, of course we know its " seldom the arrow and most often the Indian"..... Nada.

Well, I guess I better practice what I preach...I need to find a good coach and have him/her take a look and see what on earth I am doing (or not doing) to cause such a disaster on post 1.

Enter 20+ time All_American, Pete McCall. While at the Missouri State Shoot, my vending spot is a couple down from Pete's trailer, so I walked over and asked him for some coaching help. We talked for a bit and since I was shooting right in front of his vendor spot, he said he'd watch me on the next 100 of the 200 target event...

He did. After the first 25 he asked me why I was turned so much to the left on post one? I don't know...just got that way I guess. "Point your left foot at the spot you will break a left angle" he said. Ok. I can do that.

Back out for the next 25 I ran post 4 and 5, then over to one. OK, point the foot at the spot where I break the left angle...whoa! How did I get so out of position? It took only a few seconds to realize that I had inadvertently turned myself about 35 degrees to the left...and never knew it! The fix is in! Well, at least for the time being I have some re-training to do. (I did not miss any more from post one during the event!)

Even after 50+ years of shooting one can make simple errors and fall into a slump. Getting a good coach to look over your shooting once in a while can make a huge difference in your overall game. Frankly, my head was more out of line than my shooting...when you start missing targets and don't understand why it can make you a little nuts.  So have your shooting and your head examined by a competant coach once in a while!

Shoot well and often,

Bob