100 Times Better
April 2010 Sporting Clays Tip
by Dan Schindler
Last month we took a look at "the hard part." In that discussion, I mentioned the "1" change. Let's talk about that a bit further.
First, it's human nature to be in a hurry to get somewhere. I get that. Guilty myself. But in skill development, it just doesn't work that way. Ain't goin' to happen. Like it or not, learning a new language, a new software program, shooting skills, let's face it, some time and effort will have to be invested. So we head out to the range, fully determined to accomplish something good today. Here's how.
Many of us will decide to work on, let's say, 4 things. OK, those 4 things, we'll do them 25 times each. We'll ratchet up our focus and get down to some serious work on those 4 changes. That's 100 shells, 100 targets over an 80 minute period. Here's what we really did. We divided our 80 minutes of attention into fourths. We actually spent only 20 minutes and 25 shells on each change. Not bad, but could it be better?
I am a firm believer in building methodically, in smaller increments in order to build reliability and repeatability. Here are 2 other training choices. A) Reduce the number of changes to 2 instead of 4. That gives you more time (40 minutes) and 50 shells (instead of 25) on 1 change. Same goes for the 2nd change. 80 minutes. B) Spend your entire 80 minutes, undivided attention and 100 shells on 1 change.
I vote for B.
All of this of course assumes the change is the right one and executed with a best effort to do it properly. With those 2 assumptions in place, solidifying 1 change in your game firmly and consistently is a whole lot better than making 4 changes in your game,....sort of, sometimes.
In my experienced opinion, the value of 1 X 100 really does exceed 4 X 25 by a wide margin. And 100 times for 1 change is a starting point, not an ending. More about this in an upcoming article. Thanks for joining me here today.
March 2010 Tip
100 Times Better
When people ask what I do and I explain, their eyes light up and they say "Wow,"..... or "Cool,"..... or something to that affect. Understandably, this reaction overlooks the everyday challenges of being a Coach. Standing inside the clubhouse, 2,000 miles from home with my disgruntled students looking out the window as the snow piles up and the wind howls, is nobody's idea of a good time. Tomorrow's forecast is the same and day 3 is their flight home. This we can't control.
Fortunately, there are some things we can control..............
May 2010 Tip
Shifting Into Granny Gear
Excessive gun speed, swinging the gun too fast is all too common in my lessons. It's the opposite of gun control. Russ Vowell called it, "blazing barrels." There are a hundred reasons for this, mostly having to do with wanting to break the target-with a fierce determination. Going too fast though has a price
After the first 5 minutes of the lesson on the course, we've got 0000 and a well-intentioned swing out of control. To slow my student's swing down, drastically, I ask if he's ever driven a tractor. Ever heard of granny gear? He says yes. Granny gear speed is a crawl..............
