A Few Thoughts on Taking Clay Target Instruction and From Whom…

Can Tiger Woods give you multiple tips to improve your golf game? Can 2018 Olympic Gold winner Shaun White give you multiple tips to improve your snowboarding? Can tennis star Serena Williams give you multiple tips to improve your tennis game? Can professional basketball star LeBron James give you multiple tips to improve your dunking skills?

Of course, the answer to all the questions above is, yes, they can give you “tips.” A better question might be, can those superstars 1) correctly evaluate and weigh your goals, personal skills, and shortcomings, before recommending anything…2) actually see, specifically, what you are, and are not doing correctly…and then, 3) step-by-patient step, teach you…personally… exactly how to execute their recommended “tips?”  Not “show you” how it’s done…but teach YOU how to do it…so you can actually do it…reliably and consistently.

There are very good shooters who can…and those who can’t…do 1, 2 and 3 above. And there are Instructors who can…and those who can’t…do 1, 2 and 3 above. While a good shooter and/or Instructor can demonstrate that he/she can shoot well, that demonstration is a very, very long way from their explaining to you, teaching you, specifically, what YOU must learn to do the same thing…on your own.

You might think that when I am working with a AA or Master class shooter, that would be an easier lesson than working with an intermediate shooter or possibly a novice? Logic might say so but the reality is this. A newer shooter is a blank slate with fewer habits to change. In go the basics with fewer changes. Plug and play.

Then there’s the advanced shooter who can and is breaking targets repetitiously. But he’s missing too. Why? That’s a very good question that deserves a very careful assessment before any recommendation is made, and the right answer. So, what needs changing? And will the recommended change have any negative effect(s) on what this shooter is already doing very well? Any and every change recommended should be very carefully evaluated and balanced with what is already working. Making the wrong change(s) can quickly put this shooter’s shooting in the tank.

More than once, I’ve witnessed a shooter’s outstanding potential nearly destroyed because their “Instructor” overlooked or simply didn’t recognize that potential and how to nurture it. Basically, being a good shooter or not, the Instructor insisted, “my way or the highway,” which might have been OK for someone else…but, in this case, not this shooter…something which the competent Instructor would have recognized early on.

After working through all the trial and error…competency in an Instructor is revealed when the interaction between Instructor and student is genuinely effective. Where actual student learning takes place. Improvement shows real traction. X% is up. I say that because, while the Instructor’s shooting skills and teaching skills do run parallel…they are not the same thing. They are definitely related but are not the same skill set. One skill set puts X’s on a scorecard. The other skill set teaches YOU, specifically, how to put your “own” X’s on a scorecard…not randomly…but dependably and consistently.

There are good shooters and there are good Instructors. Some…are both. Some…are not. So let’s not confuse the skill sets. The objectives of each skill set are different. For those seeking to advance their performances and scores, choose the Instructor who can best teach YOU where, why and how to do precisely that.

Thanks for stopping by. Be safe and I hope to see you out on the course!