Good Lessons
Apr 19, 2025 | By: Daniel Schindler, Master Sporting Clays, Skeet, Trap and Wingshooting Instructor
Inconsistent scores, up one day, down the next on the same targets? Lesson paid for, shake hands with your instructor.
Chambers loaded, gun up, targets are breaking station after station. You’re asked to hold the gun here, see this over the barrel. With your instructor correcting each miss, you understandably feel a sense of accomplishment with each X that follows. A sense reinforced many times throughout the lesson. Walking back to your truck, no doubt, you improved today. Look at all the targets you broke.
Back in the shooting box at your home club, OXOOXOOO. Lost and confused, what’s this all about? What do you correct to stop the missing? Good question with no answers. Unfortunately, there are no answers because your instructor “fixed” everything for you on every target and didn’t teach you how to do this on your own. Instead, your instructor gave you what I call a Gentlemen’s Coaching session.
Gentlemen’s Coaching is what we instructors do when we work with corporate groups, families or a collection of friends. Their only goal today being “entertainment.” Break all the targets and have FUN! One very friendly target after another, the instructor says point the gun “right there.” XXXX. Next station, same advice, more cheering. Guests, course owner and instructor are all happy and rightfully so.
However, when a student comes to an instructor to improve – to learn the basics (what, where, when and how) – and Gentlemen’s Coaching is substituted for teaching – there will be no learning today.
With a clearly stated goal to improve your shooting, after safety of course, your instructor has three compelling obligations.
First and foremost is to prepare you to continue improving AFTER the lesson(s), on your home course, with no instructor behind you. Please read that again. The # 1 priority here being your learning, step-by-step “how to do what.”
Second obligation to meet the first: your learning how to “self-correct” a miss. Not where the miss went but why. What was the set-up and/or swing error? Seeing that error and learning how to correct it without the instructor’s help allows you to adjust your mistake, on your own with the very next shell. OXXX. If you’re not taught how to do this, instructor absent, how will you be able to improve at home after the lesson(s)?
Third obligation: to help you see and understand exactly why that target just broke. Was the X a lucky break or the result of a good swing? Not sure? If there was a pre-shot set up and/or swing error, will repeating that mistake break your next target? We must know what our gun is doing so we can repeat what went right or correct what didn’t. Competent instruction can teach you the methods, how to make the next X happen, not just sometimes, consistently.
Be a bit careful when booking lessons and make your goals clear. If it’s real, measurable improvement you’re seeking, steer clear of Gentlemen’s Coaching.
That’s all for today folks. Thanks for spending time with us. Be safe and have a great day.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Are you tired of being lost, confused and frustrated? If you want to move your shooting to the next level quickly, contact Dan Schindler at Paragon School of Sporting or give him a call at (828) 693-6600 to discuss the best path for you to quickly move your shooting to the next level and take the frustration and mystery out of missing targets.
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About Dan Schindler
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!
Dan Schindler's Books
"Recommended for shooters of all skill levels, Coaches, Instructors
and parents of youth shooters."
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.
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