Here's another small step in our set-up that's often forgotten, then costs us a target. Or more.
Before the target leaves the trap, hopefully your muzzle is very still, motionless before you call for the bird. When the trap fires, your muzzle begins to move. It slowly accelerates, building speed to match the target's speed and possibly accelerating even further to create forward allowance. So it's fair to say as the muzzle picks up speed, the swing is building momentum coming into the breakpoint and the trigger pull. It is here where we really need that momentum to either maintain a lead, or build it, pulling away.
While we all know the arms and shoulders are creating the swing, what other parts of your body are contributing to that swing momentum? Your hips and legs are. Provided, of course, your feet are set properly. Set the feet improperly, as in too far back towards the trap, and the hips can lock up at that critical moment when the final lead is being developed. Said another way, when your hips lock up, and you can't rotate any further, your swing is decelerating and precisely at the wrong time!
While your friends are correctly telling you that you are missing behind, no one's noticed that your feet are set improperly causing your hips to lock up as your swing nears the break point. Book I, Take Your Best Shot, explains this nicely with a simple diagram.
Setting your feet properly allows your swing to be fluid, releasing your body (and muzzle) to move with the bird and past it. You will feel better when your legs and hips drive the swing, not just to the bird but through it to the X!
