Markham Skeet, Trap, and Sporting Clays
REGISTERED SHOOTING AND YOUTH PROGRAM ARE BACK!
Volume 11 Issue 10 October 2020 Markham Park Gun Club Youth Program Monday October 19th ATA Trap October 25th NSSA Skeet Saturday November 7th First Sporting Clays tournament will be in November
South Florida Shooting Club ATA Trap Saturday October 10th NSSA Skeet Saturday October 31st NSCA Sporting Clays October 17th
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS 2020
PAGE
OFFICERS
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CLUB NEWS STEVE NORRIS SHOOTING INSTR.
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PRESIDENT—Vacant
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VICE PRESIDENT—Vacant
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TREASURER—Vacant
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SECRETARY— Joe Loitz
CLAYTARGET NATION
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RECORDING SECRETARY—Vacant
ClayShoo"ngUSA/Shotgun Sports
DIRECTORS:
10-11
TRAP & FIELD
Greg Ritch Sporting Chair
12-15
TrapShootingUSA
6-15 MAGAZINE REVIEWS 6-8 9
16-17 COVID RULES FOR MARKHAM SHOOTS 18-19 REGISTERED SHOOTING/EVENTS IN S. FLORIDA 20-21 CLUB CALENDAR 23
SPORTING CLAYS CALENDAR
24-25 SPORTING CLAYS PROGRAM AND RESULTS 26-27 SKEET PROGRAM AND RESULTS 28
FSA SKEET CALENDAR
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TRAP PROGRAM
32-33 TRAP RESULTS 34
YOUTH PROGRAM
Contact info: Markham Skeet, Trap, and Sporting Clays 11873 NW 30th Street Coral Springs, FL 33065 954-857-5278 •
www.markhamsportingclays.org
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E-mail: jloit@bellsouth.net
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Newsletter: jloit@bellsouth.net
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Next General Meeting ON REQUEST FROM SECRETARY
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Club News Well, we’re back! Registered shooting and the Youth Program are back if we follow the restrictions on page 16-17. This shouldn’t be a problem. The Youth Program will start up on Monday the 19th at 6:00 PM. Trap will start up again on Sunday the 25th. Registration will start at 8:00 and shooting will start at 9:00. Skeet will open on Saturday November 7th. Registration starts at 8:00 with shooting beginning at 9:00. Sporting Clays will not start up until November. County personnel will be working on the course to get it ready for tournament shooting. It is hoped to have two registered events in November and the Bud Wolfe on December 26th. The Richard Merritt Memorial shoot will go off on Sunday November 1st as planned with another shoot either on the 21st or 28th. I have met with the manager for Trail Glades and am working with him and Robert Vazquez of the Trail Glades Skeet club to get Trapshooting going again in Miami. I will need some help. Volunteers will be welcomed with open arms. Will have more details after the state shoot.
Florida State Trapshoot is October 9th-11th. Florida State Skeet Shoot is November 13-15th at Imperial Polk County. Florida State Sporting Clays is December 1st-6th at Bradford’s Sportsmans Farm. Nothing new out of Palm Beach. Guess I will be back at Markham more now that we are back in business with the Youth Program and registered shooting. Looking forward to seeing more of our members and friends at the club. On a housekeeping note, since no one is attending the club meetings, I passed a resolution that meetings will only be held as requested by the membership through the Secretary. Since I was a quarum at the last meeting the resolution passed. 30 day notice is required, then the first Thursday of the following month will be set as a meeting date. See you at the club! Joe Loitz jloit@bellsouth.net 954-857-5278 4
STEVE NORRIS SHOTGUN SHOOTING LESSONS
With over 30 years of experience Steve Norris has established his reputation as one of the premier shotgun instructors in South Florida. Whether he is guiding a beginning shooter through their first shots or perfecting an advanced shooter’s game, Steve is the go to coach at Markham Park. He has worked with over 1,000 Youth shooters in
Markham’s Youth Program and has helped guide six of them to national championships. Steve is available for lessons in Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays. At $200 for three hours of instruction, targets included, Steve is by far the best shotgun instruction your money can buy! Call him at: 754-264-9584.
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Magazine Review CLAY TARGET NATION – September 2020 Foot position is critical to every shotgunning sport and even more so in skeet. Paul Giambrone III reminds us this month of its importance. Paul correctly notes how foot position determines your ability to swing to the break point and beyond as you follow-through. What he doesn’t note is how it can affect your peripheral vision. If I learned anything from coaching with my friend and skeet camp coaching partner Russ Naples, I noted how peripheral vision is either aided or diminished by your foot positioning. Paul’s advice corrects both a limited swing radius problem and the peripheral vision problem. Paul wants us to look at our break point and set our natural aim point at this spot. What’s a natural aim point? Set your feet as you naturally would when shooting, regardless of hold points, break points, or the trap machine. Close your gun, unloaded of course, and bring the barrels up to your eye level with the butt stock under your elbow or at your hip. The standard ready position. You should find your barrels are at about a 40o angle to your body/ back, at least mine are. You may find the barrels are less or more angled to your body/back than mine are. Doesn’t matter, everyone is different.
It’s a comfort position. The important thing to note is a lack of tension in any part of your body. This is your Natural Point of Aim (NPA - Paul calls it natural aim point). I’m no artist. But this may illustrate the point. If your shoulders are at a 45o angle to the back of the station ( the A line), your feet will be positioned as the green lines are, and your gun (the yellow line) will be at about a 40o angle to your shoulders. This is your Natural Point of Aim. Wikipedia defines as “Natural point of aim, (NPOA, or NPA), also known as "Natural Aiming Area", (NAA), as a position where the shooter minimizes the effects of body movement on the firearm's impact point. Once again, this is relative to each shooter’s comfort but should be reasonable to this illustration. Getting back to Paul’s point, set your NPA to the break point. Setting your NPA to the break point is the point in your swing where you can most easily swing from your hold point to the break point and follow-through. Your NPA is the center of your swing and could be called the “sweet spot” in the total arc of your swing. Once your NPA is set Paul reminds us where we should be setting our break points. Break the outgoing targets 21 feet from the center stake and the incomers at the center stake. This is to accommodate shooting pairs on 6 these stations. Not everyone can do this, but that’s the theory.
Gun fit isn’t an easy “One-And-Done” is the message from Gil and Vicki Ash this month. Since 98% of the shooters I instruct are beginners, I can truly empathize with their message. Students are reluctant or simply too inexperienced to place their cheek correctly (under traditional theory) on a stock. They invariably start out with their cheek on the back half of a stock and slowly move forward as their shooting becomes more successful. Nothing moves a student’s face forward more effectively than breaking targets. It never ceases to amaze me how after half a box of shells the student is suddenly mounting their face to the front half of the stock. With new shooters everything is in constant evolution. Gil and Vicki state that a shooter may go through three gun fittings on their way to their first 10,000 targets. Until then a shooter’s stance, posture, and mount are evolving. An ever developing and consistent mount and the strength required to support a shotgun are the main reasons for this. As a shooter’s overall shooting posture changes, its impact will affect gun fit. The message here is don’t believe your gun fit
is static. It is a dynamic, influenced by experience, weight gain or loss, weight distribution, low-gun mount or partial low-gun, and a dozen other subtle aspects. One interesting note, Gil and Vicki take a shot across Paul Giambrone III’s bow, stating no gun has been made that fits a shooter
that shoots off his heels. Paul advocates shooting off your heels. The Ash’s recommend keeping your weight forward on your lead foot. They go so far as saying this range is from 90/10 to 70/30 as to weight distribution on the front leg versus the back leg. Hard to shoot off your heels with those distribution numbers. 7
Magazine Review Bill Elliot wants to assure us this month there is no shame in coming up short on tournament day. Focus on the present and the process and don’t pressure yourself with score. Acknowledge your nerves on game day and don’t count targets. Once you’re down a few targets, let it go and pull yourself back together. Don’t dwell on the mistakes after an event, think about the positives. Document what you learned and prepare for the next event based on that.
sustained-lead adherent. Would love to meet him and prove my theories about his abilities on a trap field. Getting back to beginners getting off the 60’s plateau, besides consistency of move and mount the next issue for Gil and Vicki is the gun fit. They talk about doing a “novice” or provisional gun fit for beginning shooters. Length of pull, drop, and pitch are the main gun fit issues you can fix for a beginner. Their discussion then slips back into learning the sight pictures of left-
_____________________ How do you get past the beginners’ plateau of scores in the 60’s. Gil and Vicki Ash think the answer is consistency of move and mount. Probably right, but no amount of consistency there will fix a bad swing to the target. The article starts out with Gil answering a question for a shooter who wrote in asking why he can’t shoot trap targets and why his scores in sporting are stuck in the 60’s. Gil directs the gentleman to a video on the NSSF website (it’s not there!). I went to YouTube and found the video. Two things I learned from the video, Gil shouldn’t give advice on trapshooting and I don’t believe Gil can shoot swingthrough on left-to-right targets. With his cross dominant vision this target is beyond his abilities. That’s why he is such a rabid
to-right and right-to-left targets using their Three Bullet Drill. From there all they talk about is how consistency will come with 8 time in the cage, shooting targets.
Don Currie has printed the gun fit chapter of his book in this issue. Nothing insightful here if you know all the gun fit lingo. If you don’t it is an excellent read. Don is good on explanations for all the key points in the gun fitting process. If you have gun fit issues, give this a thorough read. _________________________________ ClayShootingUSA – September/ October 2020 Dana Farrell gives advice this month on shooting true pairs in sporting clays. Even
if you have a short window for the first target, don’t rush the shot. Decide where you want to break each target in the pair then make a plan how to shoot the pair. Commit 100% to each target, don’t divide your
attention. Shot one target at a time and transfer your attention to the second target along with your eyes after shooting the first bird. _________________________________ Shotgun Sports – October 2020 Your Pre-shot routine can determine your success on any given target. Mark H. Taylor breaks the Pre-shot routine into two parts, physical and mental. For the physical part, setup so your body can move freely, then ensure your mount is effortless, efficient, and consistent. Finally, your visual setup is the final part of the physical Pre -shot routine. Set your eyes at your focal point and go into soft focus. The mental component starts with positive selftalk, “see the target, hit the target”. Next, Mark reminds us to leave targets we already shot at in the past. Focus on the present and the next target we are going to shoot. Don’t analyze targets when you are shooting in an event. Only analyze when practicing. In an event try to relax and stick to the process. Leave the analysis for later. 9
Magazine Review TRAP & FIELD – September 2020 I’ve watched a lot of practice rounds in my 50 years of shotgunning. Not many of them could called “deliberate” or “deep” practice. Yes, there’s different kinds of practice. Most people just shoot rote practice as you would reciting some litany you’re trying to memorize. Very few people know enough about shooting to perform deliberate practice. Deliberate practice steps outside what you typically do and is designed to expand your ability or knowledge base. Pete Hendrick does some deliberate practice at South Florida Shooting Club. He spends hours on the skeet field perfecting his sporting clays game. Jim Blevins thinks trapshooters should do more practicing. Regular practice rounds should be aimed at perfecting your routine until it’s automatic. Also work on problem areas such as moving before the target comes out
of the house. Try different hold and look points. Try a different POI. Jim calls practice work. I don’t see it that way. If you really know your fundamentals all practice is fun no matter how many targets you miss. There’s another thing, you’re supposed to miss in practice! If you aren’t then you better be working on your routine otherwise missing is the best way to learn. Jim brings up a good point at the end of his article. It’s not how many targets you break in a practice round it’s how many targets you can honestly say you broke perfectly and on purpose. Lucky shots don’t count and are especially important because they highlight problem areas in your game. See the target, move, and break the target. Simple phrase for a simple game. We’re the10 ones who make it complicated.
Bob Palmer has little to say this month other than you should project positive thoughts for your own benefit and the benefit of your squadmates. Be a good leader, set an example of positive attitude, and your ability to lead your squad into the zone will be enhanced. 11
Magazine Review TrapShootingUSA – September/October 2020 Matthew Gay gives us a short talk on sports psychology this month. Once you’ve gotten to the Intermediate level of clay target shooting, it’s either about your consistency, your technique or both. Sports psychology is about your consistent approach to the game. Hitting all the correct setup points during your Pre-shot routine then applying the Quiet Eye at the correct focal point combined with the correct hold point. This is all worthless if you don’t also quiet your mind and focus on seeing the target. Matthew reminds us to quiet every thought except our plan once ywe step onto the Post or Station.
view with Ray Stafford. Give it a read. Change produces stress and anxiety. Our brains like routine and the familiar. The routine and familiar comforts our minds, reducing anxiety and stress. Harlan Campbell, Jr. gives his opinion on how being
Don’t let negative self-talk ruin your day. Eliminate all negative thoughts and talk once you get to the club. Think positively and execute your shooting plan. Finally, set goals. Short-term, perfect one aspect of your game, mid-term, shoot 400 targets a week, longterm win the state championship. Pretty optimistic but not out of the question. ——————————————Larry Grenevicki provides us with another glimpse of the past in the “COLLECTOR’S CORNER” section of the magazine. Always interesting stuff! I also like Al Hague’s inter-
comfortable allows you to focus on the job of shooting a target. There are clubs I’ve always liked shooting at and one’s I hated. 12
Harlan suggests we determine why we shoot better at one club over another. Compare the clubs head to head as to background, predominant wind direction, the architecture of the traphouses, and anything else you like or dislike. Now find ways to elimi-
professional shooter and approaches each round to take advantage of his strengths and so should you. If you are a morning shooter get an early squad to shoot in. If you are an afternoon shooter get in a late squad. Find squadmates who have the same characteristics and eliminate those that don’t agree with your shooting philosophies. Check your shooting gear and have backup equipment ready if needed. Like Bob Palmer always advises, get to the trap early, check out the targets being thrown, change your lens color if needed, relax, and visualize broken targets and good sight pictures. Finally, after you finish a round, make notes. What worked, what didn’t, and how you can fix a problem that was encountered. Were the targets easy to see? Did one target presentation give you a problem? Did you get distracted? Maybe you needed to prepare
nate the weaknesses you have at the clubs you dislike. Determine how you can use your strengths to overcome your problems at the clubs you dislike. Be prepared when you go out to shoot and set things up to your advantage. Harlan is a
more thoroughly for the event. What would you do to fix your poor planning? Look for patterns or ruts in your behavior when noting what went wrong so you can fix the issue before it becomes a habit. Ask yourself “WHY” did things happen as they did? Then fix the stumbling blocks you uncover. 13
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Skeet/Trap/Sporting Clays Rental Reopening Plan 9-23-20 To reopen Skeet/Trap/Sporting Clays club events and follow CDC Guidelines and applicable Emergency Orders, they will operate as follows: Activities still not permitted: Use of Buildings/Shotgun Hall.
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Registrations should be done online when feasible, if on-site registration is required, the club is responsible for ensuring the registration is done outside of the building and registration should be done in a manner that prevents congregating.
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Payments to the county will be made by credit card only.
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Sporting Clays Squad size will be limited to 5.
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Skeet/Trap will be limited to 5 shooters plus 1 puller/score keeper on any given field.
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Unless actively shooting, facial coverings will be worn at all times. Members will be encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer.
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Members will not handle/touch other member’s personal items except for safety concerns.
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No water coolers on the fields/stations. Shooters are advised to bring their own beverages.
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Shooters will be advised to bring their own hand sanitizer.
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Shooting station and field controls will be periodically disinfected.
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Shotgun Hall restrooms will be available for use but only 2 people will enter the restroom at any given time.
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All members will sign an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RISKS AND RELEASE/WAIVER OF LIABILITY RELATED TO COVID-19 upon their first visit. Club designee is responsible for ensuring all members sign the waiver and will submit the completed waivers to a Range Officer prior to the start of their event.
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10704 Wiles Road, Coral Springs, FL 33076 954-846-2336
I get in that zone, even if I'm relaxing or whatever, where I just zone out. I don't even hear anybody. You could ask me a question five times, and I don't even hear it. Brooks Koepka
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Registered Shooting and Events in South Florida Gun Shows WPB South Florida Fairgrounds October 10-11th
Skeet Markham November 3rd So. Florida October 31st Port Malabar November 20-22nd
Trap South Florida Markham
October 10th November 24th
Sporting Clays Quail Creek Vero Beach Markham South Florida
November 18th October 10th October 11th October 17th
OK Corral October 24th Gulf Coast Clays October 31st There were probably about five games in my career where everything was moving in slow motion and you could be out there all day, totally in the zone, and you don't even know where you are on the field, everything is just totally blocked out. Lawrence Taylor
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Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1 2 Sporting Clays
3
4
5
6 Skeet Night
7 Trap Night
8 9 Sporting Clays
10
11
12
13 Skeet Night
14 Trap Night
15 16 Sporting Clays
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18
19 Youth Night
20 Skeet Night
21 Trap Night
22 23 Sporting Clays
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25 26 Trap Youth Tourney Night
27 Skeet Night
28 Trap Night
29 30 Sporting Clays
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NOVEMBER Sun
Tue
Wed
Thu
1 2 Sporting Youth Tourney Night
3 Skeet Night
4 Trap Night
5 6 Sporting Clays
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9 Youth Night
10 Skeet Night
11 Trap Night
12 13 Sporting Clays
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15
16 Youth Night
17 Skeet Night
18 Trap Night
19 20 Sporting Clays
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22
23 Youth Night
24 Skeet Night
25 Trap Night
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28
Trap Tourney
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Mon
Fri
27
Sat 7 Skeet Tourney
CLOSED THANKSGIVING
30 Youth Night
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PALM BEACH TRAP/SKEET PRO SHOP FIREARMS ALL NEW FIREARMS WHOLESALE PLUS 10% TRADES INS ACCEPTED
AMMUNITION AMMUNITION WHOLESALE COST PLUS $2.00 PER CASE WITH 10 CASE ORDER $4.00 LESS THAN 10 DELIVERIES TO Ft Lauderdale/Miami CONFIRMED WITH ORDERS
CALL FOR CURRENT PRICES ON FIREARMS/AMMUNITION
561-793-8787 THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS JOE FORDHAM 22
2020 Schedule of NSCA Sporting Clay Tournaments Date
Tournament
Saturday - Jan 18
Snow Bird Open
Sunday - Feb 2
Honest Abe's Birthday Bash
Sunday - Mar 15
St. Patrick's Day Open
Saturday - Apr 25
CANCELLED
Sunday - May 17
Memorial Day Open
Saturday - Jun 20
20th Annual Sunshine State Classic
Saturday - Jul 11
Super Sizzle Open
Saturday - Aug 8
Summers End Open
Saturday - Sept. 12 Markham Fall Fest Shoot Sunday—Oct. 11
Pumpkin Blast
Sunday - Nov. 1
Richard Merritt Memorial
Saturday—Dec. 26 Bud Wolfe Classic 23
SPORTING CLAYS PROGRAM
Markham Skeet, Trap & Sporting Clays Club
RICHARD MERRITT MEMORIAL 100 Targets Shot over 14 Stations
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1ST Registration: Opens 8:00 a.m. and will close at 10:00 a.m. All scorecards must be turned in by 1:00 p.m. in order to be posted.
Entry Fee: $60 N.S.C.A., $60 Hunter, $40.00 SubJunior, Junior No Scorers or Trappers will be provided. Shooters will be asked to squad themselves into groups of at least 3 and designate a field judge to verify scores for the squad.
Lunch will not be served. COURSE RULES: All shooters and spectators are required to wear ear and eye protection on the course. MAXIMUM LOADS PERMITTED: 12GA, 3 DR EQ, 1 1/8 oz. Shot 7 1/2.
For additional information contact: Greg Ritch (561) 271-5319 email: gregsritch@gmail.com
Please Preregister using: scoringpro.com
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SPORTING CLAYS RESULTS No results September shoot was cancelled
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MONTHLY SKEET PROGRAM Price per 50 targets includes $5/100 NSSA/FSA Fee
.410 gauge 28 gauge 20 gauge 12 gauge Doubles
50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets 50 Targets
$20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00
Shoots usually held the first Saturday of every month. Gauges may be shot out of sequence with the permission of management. More than one 50 target program may be shot in the same gauge as a preliminary event.
AWARDS Break a 50, 75, or 100 Straight and get one of these guaranteed awards! 50 Straight Kennedy Half Dollar 75 Straight Eisenhower Dollar 100 Straight Morgan Silver Dollar 50 Straight Doubles Liberty Silver Half 26
Skeet Results
October Shoot Cancelled
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Trap Program Trap Program: SPECIAL NOTICE
Trap Tournaments are usually the fourth Sunday of the month.
100 target 16 Yd, Hdcp and Doubles events. First 100 targets. $40.00 (Includes ATA and FTA daily fees)
ATA SHOOT SCHEDULE 2020-2021
Additional 100 target events.
October 25th
$32.00
November 22th December 27th January 17th
See Joe Loitz for details: 954-857-5278
February 28th March 14th April 25th May 23th June 27th July 25th August 22nd
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WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOOTING IS STILL POPULAR WITH THE SHOOTERS. SIGN UP WITH STEVE NORRIS AND THE REST OF THE REGULARS AND TRY YOUR SKILL AND LUCK AT ALL THE GAMES.
Come out and join the fun!
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TRAP RESULTS
16 Yards
Trapshooting Tournaments will return to Markham on Sunday, October 25th!
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Handicap
Doubles
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Youth Program
Our Youth Program will resume Monday, October 19th! Obviously there will be some accommodations to the COVID rules as far as signup and number of shooters on a field. We will have to adhere to the five shooters on a field on the beginner’s field. Ramiro and I will open two traps to support that rule. The main thing is we are back running our program. Shooting starts at 6:00. Hope to see you there! 34
SPONSORS Professional and Industry Vendors
We are going to update this section of the newsletter on a continuing basis as requests come in. If you would like to sponsor our newsletter: contact me at: jloit@bellsouth.net Joe Loitz at 954-857-5278
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