The Miss You're Not Seeing

“How can you trust what you don’t see?”

You missed? Here’s the good news. Every missed target leaves evidence in the shooting box. Primarily random gun movement (RGM). A sudden swing stop. Eyes glancing back to the barrel. A mount that starts incorrectly. A shooting method chosen out of habit instead of matching the target just launched. The clues are there but all too often unseen. 

This is why a shooter practices hard, shoots often, and remains trapped in the same cycle of OXXOOX. It's not a lack of determination or, for darn sure, not a lack of talent. It's what's not being seen.

There was a time when I didn't see it either.

The Book I’d Forgotten to Check

At that time, my missing was not the troubling part. Every shooter misses. What troubled me was that I wasn’t seeing why. So I went to see Wendy Crabtree, previously a highly regarded sporting clays instructor at the prestigious West London Shooting School in England. When someone with that background speaks, you pay attention.

I called for a few targets. Missed one. Broke one. Missed another. Wendy didn't say a word.

“Anything?” I asked.

“Keep going,” she said. 

Next shell, same miss, same mystery.

“Okay,” I said, lowering the gun. “What am I not doing?”

Wendy stood behind me for a while longer, quietly taking it all in. Then she smiled.

“Dan,” she said, “I know a great book you ought to read.”

“What book?”

She grinned.

“Beyond The Target.”

“You're joking.”

“I'm not.”

We both laughed. I knew the book well.

“So you're telling me I wrote the answer and forgot,” I said.

“Looks that way.”

The truth settled in. Nothing mysterious had happened to my shooting. I had simply become less disciplined about seeing over the muzzle what made good shooting possible in the first place, intently watching the moves that put precision into a swing.

“So I’m not seeing what I should?” I asked her.

“Yes. Go back and watch,” she said. “Watch harder.” 

Learning

For a very long time, when I stand behind a new student, I ask a version of that same question. “What did you see that time?”

Almost always, the answer is something like “I’m not sure.”

“That's alright,” I tell them. “Most people don't, at first. Rest assured, that's not a talent problem.”

Over many thousands of times, every student I've ever worked with has had the potential to improve—to shoot well. Every single one. The #1 reason for their inconsistent performances? A simple lack of understanding. Not knowing what to see behind the muzzle. Once seen, the very next shell, improvement shows up.

“I know you saw it that time. What was different?”

They'll usually pause. Think back. And then, slowly, they'll describe it—their set-up, the swing, the bird / barrel relationships. Once seen, they can describe it, then repeat a good swing.

Advice on equipment, gun fit, eye dominance, ammunition, gun mount, shooting methods—all the competent instruction in the world won't help a shooter who isn't seeing and evaluating what is taking place before and during their swing.

Which means the shooter must first learn what to see and how to build an X swing. A pre-shot setup that will minimize swing errors—Book One—Take Your Best Shot—chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7. A proper gun mount to minimize RGM—Book Two—To The Target. A focused attention on correctly executing the chosen shooting method—Book Three—Beyond The Target. These 3 Excellent Books provide shooters with a solid foundation for building consistency and shooting better, while The Mental Game audio provides additional training that builds on that foundation.

 Groundwork laid, shell in the chamber, this preparation creates success very quickly. The 4 pre-shot setup steps are all in place. The swing and shooting method fit the target presentation. On purpose, X. X. X. X. X. X.

Why Am I Practicing Sporting Clays but Not Improving?

When Practice Makes Our Mistakes Permanent...

“I've been shooting three times a week,” a shooter told me not long ago. “Why am I not getting better?”

“Tell me what you're working on,” I said.

“Well...my shooting. Getting my reps in.”

“Reps of what, though?”

He didn't have an answer. There's the problem.

Shooters are often told to practice more. Hard to argue that. However, too often practice doesn't yield progress. Why? Because flawed swing repetition only strengthens habits by repeating mistakes. When the setup and swing movements are sound, practice builds consistency. When the setup and/or swing movements are flawed, practice only reinforces the inconsistent errors, making problems down the road harder to correct.

“So more practice isn't the answer?” he asked.

“More practice of the right thing is,” I said. “More practice of the wrong thing just makes the wrong thing a habit that will be hard to break.”

This is how shooters get trapped. They work hard. They shoot more. They try harder. Yet targets continue to expose their inconsistencies, week after week, repeating the same mistakes without recognizing them. Remember the definition of insanity?

The all-important question is, can a shooter correct what is not being seen?

To be able to properly build the next swing, a shooter must accurately analyze this target presentation and watch / see how the swing and shooting method were (or were not) executed. Both are required to gain measurable improvement—X consistency—in the clay target sports. 

Most importantly, a shooter who sees / interprets the evidence becomes far more capable of self-correction. Isn’t that the real improvement goal? On your own, to be able to correct a miss with the very next shell and repeat an X swing on purpose?

Every Shot Tells a Story

I still think about that day with Wendy.

“So that's it?” I asked her, half-joking, after we'd finished laughing. “I just need to watch what my swing is doing."

“That's most of it,"she said. “So, you can work with what you see."

Every miss—every X—leaves evidence.

The question is not whether we are making mistakes. 

Everyone does.

The question is whether or not we are seeing what takes place in our swing so we can build an X swing. Not sometimes—but on purpose—consistently. 

Be safe. Shoot well. And thank you sincerely for spending time with us.

XXXX

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Many shooters start their Paragon journey with Dan Schindler's books and audio programs before working with Dan personally. These trusted resources have helped shooters in more than 30 countries better understand their shooting, solve problems, and build greater consistency.