Pre Shot Routine

[Tangram]

I my corner of the world winter is the time of the great wet not the great snow. However, the snow came, even if it was not in my plans and has been strewn about for a few days. This is not a plea for sympathy from those that actually see lots of the stuff. It is an introduction to how I ended up standing in my living room with imaginary shotgun doing the four step.

I've wanted to refine my pre shot routine. ...and practice it enough that when its my turn to shoot sporting clays I use it. My four step plan goes like this.

1) Plan my shot(s)-see where the clay comes from, where I'm going to look for it, where I'm going to point my gun, break point and how I'm going to setup for the second target. And where my toes point for both targets if the two step is involved.

2) Quick visualization of the focus move mount and shot

3) Quiet Eye routine on my pick up point

4) Focus on front edge of the clay (then pull the trigger when it's right)

Quiet Eye is a term coined by Dr. Vickers, University of Calgary. Basically it is focusing on a point (object) holding it for about 3seconds before making a move. For shotgun shooting this translates into focusing on the point where the target is picked up. The focus is both soft but unwavering on a point on the expected line of the target. For more info www.pbs.org/saf/1206/segments/1206-1.htm links to videos from that page. There are no shooting examples, however.

I wrote Vickers a year or two ago and ask if she knew of any work with shotgun shooting. She gave a negative reply. Since I found this article Les Greevy www.gatorskeetandtrap.com/documents/QuietEye001.pdf about trap shooting. I lifted some of my pre shot routine from here too.

Comments on pre shot routines and/or quiet eye concept appreciated.

[ranger]

The key to my pre-shot routine is getting my body and feet oriented to where I will break the biard and still have plenty of "room" for my torso to follow through. I see a lot of shooters oriented on where they first "see" the target and not where they plan to "break" the target - that leads to poor body mechanics and a tendency to stop the follow through and therefore miss behind the bird.

I am a simple southern boy, I just key on focusing on the target and not aiming. Problem is, if I shoot a lot of pistol, I get focused on seeing the sights not the target - if I shoot a lot of clays, I focus on the target and not the sights. I seem to get confused switching back and forth (or at least that is my excuse!).

[AlamoShooter]

I called that eye part as "putting your Eye out ware the target will be"

[Tangram]

ranger,

The problem I have with the pre shot routine is I keep getting fancy. Example above. What I end up using most of the time is getting my body oriented. Do my little mantra "look look look" and call for the target. Oops, I try to figure out where I will pick up the second bird of the pair. The addition of "quiet eye or putting my eyes out there" step is to formalize getting on the bird and staying on it. Many of my misses are because I really don't look. If I just really look at the bird and leave out side conversations running through my mind I break the target. Frequently I shoot true pairs well because I stay on the job at hand. Long targets with lots of time offer opportunities for me to engage in barrel dancing.

Long winded way of saying I think you have a point.

[JD45]

The Quiet Eyes idea was the subject of an article in Trap & Field magazine a while back. I now believe that not only does it work, it is mandatory for good shooting.

As long as your eyes are focused at the depth of the target or farther, and remain still, things seem to work better. Focusing at a distance closer than the target line seems to cause problems.

Through my own practice I have discovered that I don't need to be thinking about any of this during competition. I just practice the routine until it becomes a habit in competition. I cannot tell you how many targets I have dropped after telling myself to "focus here and look at the bird hard". It has to be subconcious or I am bound to miss.

Your ideas about a pre-shot routine are perfect though. One of the famous Olympic coaches wrote on a website about how small details always (like a consistant pre-shot routine) seperated champions from the rest of the pack.

Edited December 27, 2008 by JD45

[Tangram]

Often I think or reinforce learning by talking or writing. This is a warning of a longish circuitous road. Also I want to write a thank you to ranger, AlamoShooter, and JD45. Your thoughts help me look sharper at the ideas I'm messing with.

The Quiet Eyes idea was the subject of an article in Trap & Field magazine a while back. I now believe that not only does it work, it is mandatory for good shooting.

As long as your eyes are focused at the depth of the target or farther, and remain still, things seem to work better. Focusing at a distance closer than the target line seems to cause problems.

Through my own practice I have discovered that I don't need to be thinking about any of this during competition. I just practice the routine until it becomes a habit in competition. I cannot tell you how many targets I have dropped after telling myself to "focus here and look at the bird hard". It has to be subconcious or I am bound to miss.

Your ideas about a pre-shot routine are perfect though. One of the famous Olympic coaches wrote on a website about how small details always (like a consistant pre-shot routine) seperated champions from the rest of the pack.

JD45 You touch on several important points.

I believe this may be the article you are referring to. It cites several sources Dr. Joan Vickers and other key researchers. These researchers work on the role of focus, visualization, and balancing left and right brain activity. Being academic researchers they understand control groups and come bearing something more than opinion. Even if they are correct I suspect there are other paths to mastery.

When I first stumbled across Vickers' work I had a hard time translating the golf experiments to clay target shooting. It was only recently that I understood what you wrote, "

As long as your eyes are focused at the depth of the target or farther, and remain still,...." I wrote a brag recently on the forum about a 25/25 on a five-stand setup. I really was most excited about a I think I understand experience of why I broke that 25 more than breaking of the 25 targets. (This is not the first time I though I had a great insight to watch in fade away in testing in the real world.) However, I think this recent glimmer of understanding is flaring into flame. My shooting will be the proof.

I went shooting yesterday and worked on my four step plan; 1. plan, 2. visualize, 3. quiet eye focus, 4. focus on the front edge of the target and shoot when it feels right. Given the difficulty of seeing the targets (background of a frozen lake and green targets) I am satisfied that I am on the right track. Often I unintentionally skipped, dropped the visualization step, but steps one and three were strong and four was attempted with each target.

What is helping me most is sitting or standing in my front room, looking out the window, and rehearsing my four step dance. I've done this regularly for the last twenty days and with some more practice I think it will be ingrained enough. It will feel natural. With 60 years of stubbornness to draw on I need the practice sessions to plant the process deep.

[Irishlad]

Very good article and "all true" IMHO.

Particularly critical in Olympic trap where you don't know where the target is going before you call...in so far as field of vision, where to look, etc. Angles are wide, targets are fast so little time to "correct" if you "lose" the bird.