Markham Park Gun Club
Youth Program Mondays 6-9
NSSA Skeet Saturday, September 7th
ATA Trap Sunday, August 25th
NSCA Sporting Clays August 10th
August 2024
Trail Glades
Trapshoot August 17th
Next General Meeting
ON REQUEST FROM SECRETARY
ClubNews
Lunch will be provided by FLAVOR HOUSE GRILL food truck for the Sporting Clays event this month. The last Sporting Clays Tournament saw 40 shooters in attendance.
Trap did well again last month with 17 shooters attending and 2,700 targets thrown. The skeet shoot was still disappointing this month with only 2 shooters and 200 targets.
them to email me so I can add them to the list.
The Sporting Clays course has been treated frequently this summer with pellets to kill mosquito larvae. It seems to be working, I haven’t been swarmed since they started the treatments.
Hope to see you at the club.
Attendance on Mondays has been affected by so many rain cancellations. We are still getting 5-7 on the advanced field, but the beginner field has been slow with 1-4 shooters. If you are interested in Youth coaching or just getting experience as a coach, come and see us on a Monday night and get the paperwork started.
If you know someone who would like the newsletter, forward them a copy and tell
CLAY TARGET NATION – JULY 2024
You step into the box and have a shot plan in mind for the pair. You shoot and miss one or both of them. What now? Anthony Matarese,Jr. suggests starting by evaluating your process. Look to the shot plan and adjust. Was your hold point too close or too far out, did your stance interfere with your movement, or did you check your barrel? Some things feel obvious after a miss, but going through your original shot plan may trigger what needs to be fixed.
whiff on a target or both on the next. Repeat the shot plan and this wouldn’t happen. Most times I see the shooter change their hold point or they carry one of the targets to a later break point. Why they changed the plan is beyond me, but it’s obvious to the observer.
If it isn’t obvious, stick with the old standby and focus more on the target. If you broke the first pair and miss on the second, your problem probably stems from not following the original shot plan. Consistency is key to scoring well. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched shooters crush the first pair then
Reevaluation should also include, did you read the pair correctly? Review the whole plan and adjust. Anthony says right off the bat, being told you are behind a target or over the top are useless phrases on their
own. This usually leads to experimenting with the lead and ruins any hope of shooting in rhythm with the target. Focus on the target is lost to focusing on the barrel and the lead. Concentrate on fixing the process and stop trying to think while you shoot.
DonCurrie’s article is a good complement to Anthony’s, reminding us, pre-shot planning comes outside the box and the pre-shot routine is what we do once we’re in the box. He keeps it simple. There are three things to his preshot routine: deep breathing, mental rehearsal, and visual cue. Take a deep breath, Don suggests two or three. He doesn’t mention this, but releasing your breath slowly is part of the deep breath ritual. The U.S. ArmySniperManual discusses breathing as part of the snipers pre -shot ritual. It advises releasing your breath and as you get to the bottom of your breath, pull the trigger. Per the manual, the sniper has about eight seconds after all the breath is released before lactic acid starts to build up and muscles will start to involuntarily twitch. The deep breaths do oxygenate the body, but it is the exhale that’s key. Releasing your breath slowly is calming and near the trough is the best time to call for a target.
Watched an International Bunker video one time, put out by the Italian team. In it they suggest taking a deep breath before calling for the target “to oxygenate the body”. Ever try calling for a target after you’ve taken a deep breath without releasing any of the air first? It is very disconcerting, at least to me. Release your breath slowly, it’s calming, and call for the target as you reach the trough. Mental rehearsal is visualizing the shot in your head before calling for the target. Don again suggests two iterations. DonandVickiAsh
always tell us to add as much detail to the visualization as possible. Remember Jack Nicklaus, “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without have a very in sharp focus of it in my head.” Jack won 18 majors and was runner-Up 19 times. Maybe we should listen to him.
Finally, a visual cue is used as a mental prompt to look at the target. Don suggests “front edge” or “dome” as cues. When hunting, I always look for the head of the bird. It truly helps focus your attention on what you’re trying to do, hit the target.
Clayton M. Rue is a fervent believer in maintained-lead. He teaches lead by telling shooters to let the target “push” the barrels. Mentally focus on the target and the visual focus is sure to follow is his belief. Let the target push the barrels and the target will always be in front of the target. Well, that’s nice, but the naivety of this article is almost intolerable. He insists that the barrels always be inserted in front of the target. I always understood that the insertion point is dependent on the speed of the target, at least per the Orvis/Churchill method of move-mount-shoot.
Another of Clayton’s assertions is that swing-through shooting causes a shooters to spoil the line every time. Guess he never heard of floating the target over the barrels. George Digweed is a swing-through shooter. He probably didn’t read this article and to be honest I wish I hadn’t. It isn’t even a good explanation of maintained-lead shooting. Gil and Vicki Ash explain it in better terms. “Slump? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hitting.” Yogi Berra said it best, but every sport is vulnerable to slumps in perfor-
mance. Most times it’s a break in the fundamentals that’s crept in to an athlete’s routine. John Shima discusses slumps’ mental pitfalls this month and how to work your way out.
Slumps cause self-doubt to take over our thinking, leading to a loss in confi-
dence. This is an irrational reaction to a real problem. Only rational and logical thinking will you get out of a slump.
Evaluation of your pre-shot planning and routine sometimes reveals the real cause of the slump. Bad habits sneak into your form and may be unrecognizable from your viewpoint. Personally, I suggest having a coach observe your shooting, but John has a list of suggestions to help you out mentally.
Stop struggling and beating yourself up over the issue. Quit trying to break targets for score and get back into the process of watching the target break. Concentrate on the target, stop thinking, clear your mind
of your emotional baggage, and work the process. Stop putting an emotional tag on breaking the target and just enjoy the experience of shooting. Slow down and concentrate on your shot-plan and pre-shot routine.
Use visualization, rehearsing successful shots, and do slow repetitions of your movements to the target. John believes correctly, this increases your concentration, consistency, and performance, just as sports researchers have proven. Use slow repetitions along with visualization to clean out your bad habits.
Might want to try David Radulovich’s suggestion where he shoots a round of skeet with no shell in the gun, concentrating on smoothly moving the gun, pulling the trigger, and following through.
Tennis, golf, and archery are excellent cross training for shotgunning. Many of my favorite sports books come from these disciplines. Ian Darroch leans on golf this month to talk about his shooting beliefs. He starts by suggesting a smooth swing. While he’s correct, most successful golfers have a smooth swing, this doesn’t necessarily equate to shotgunning. A choppy swing in shooting is a product of poor visual acquisition of the target. If there are hitches in a shotgun swing, it’s typically a byproduct of poor visual lock on the target. See the target, swing to the target, and follow through.
Ian has a strong belief in gripping the gun tightly. While I agree with his advice on getting a firm gun seating in the shooting triangle of the cheek, shoulder, and the trigger hand, I’m not a believer in gripping the forearm tightly. Tightly gripping the forearm encourages the forearm hand to take over the swing. The swing should originate from the shoulder, not be lead by the forearm hand. Advocates
of the Churchill Method would vehemently disagree with that, but the forearm hand is there simply for support, not for pointing the gun. The eye locks on the target and moving the shoulder gets the gun aligned with the eye. Using the forearm hand pulls or pushes the shooting triangle out of position and correct alignment is lost. So how tight should we hold the shotgun?
Taking a cue from golf, hold the club/ forearm with enough pressure that it doesn't move during your swing or just enough pressure that it doesn’t impact the swing.
As to stance, Ian describes a version of the Modern Stance: feet shoulder length apart, back leg straight, front leg used for pivoting. These are most of the components of Modern Stance, but more information is needed to get the correct idea. The back leg should relaxed not straight and the front foot should be pointed at 12:00 to 1:30, the back foot pointed at between 2:00 and 3:00. This is assuming you are lining up with the break point.
Yes, you pivot o> the front foot, but the swing should be front the ankles up, not just pivoting o> the front foot. He is correct about swings from the back leg, your swing will naturally cause the barrels to rise and spoil the line, over the target. As to head lifting, I am going to ignore what he said. Most head lifting is a visual disfunction and poor hold points. Let’s leave it at that.
Shotgun Sports – August 2024
Matt and Foster Bartholow give advice on a variety of topics this month. They start with Trap Doubles. Don’t be afraid to adjust your usual hold point on the first target if they aren’t where you usually expect them. If possible, you should practice shooting high and low doubles targets if you can get access to a practice trap. If you have a problem target, adjust your footwork, and if that doesn’t fix it consider altering your hold point. If the light conditions change, change the lenses on your glasses to accommodate the change. Finally, remember to followthrough on the second target on 1 and 2, 4 and 5. For Handicap targets, the fur-
ther back you go, the lower your hold point should be, compared to your Singles hold point. Too high and you may end up poking at targets rather than giving them a smooth swing. Also, move your hold points in to help create a longer smoother swing. A longer, smoother swing is easier reproduce and creates more consistency.
“I am on old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Mark Twain. Match stress is exacerbated by worrying about an unknown outcome rather than the shooting process. Michael J. Keyes, M.D. suggests setting goals designed around future improvement not score results. Try out new skills, expose yourself to new venues, or work on improving your pre-planning and routine. Work the process while you’re competing, keeping it as the only goal during a competition. Let the score take care of itself.
ROYAL SPORTING ARMS
located in Davie, FL right on I-595 and 5 Minutes From Markham Park Trap Skeet and Sporting Clays Club. We are open year round to serve you at our FL Location.
Here at Royal Sporting Arms we are excited to help you with your next gun purchase.
We
Saturday,September7th
Signupstarts8:00 ShootingStartsat9:00
50targets12gauge
50targets20gauge
50targets28gauge
50targets.410gauge
50targetsDoubles
$22each50targets
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Cancelled
Night Night Clays
Tourney Program
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Registered Shooting and Events in South Florida
Gun Shows
Miramar National Guard Armory August 24-25th
Skeet
Trail Glades August 31st
Markham September 7th
Trap
Trail Glades August 17th
Markham August 25th
Sporting Clays
Markham August 10th
OK Corral August 11th
Vero Beach August 18th
Quail Creek September 7th
South Florida September 15th
2024 Schedule NSCA
Sporting Clay Tournaments
Date Tournament
Saturday Jan. 27th Snow Bird Open
February No Shoot in February
Saturday Mar. 30th St. Patrick’s Day Open
Sunday April 14th Gerry Stumm Memorial
Sunday May 19th Memorial Day Open
Saturday June 22nd 23rd Annual Sunshine State Classic
Saturday July 13th Super Sizzle Open
Saturday Aug. 10th Summers End Open
Saturday Sept. 14th Markham Fall Fest Open
Sunday Oct. 20th Pumpkin Blast
Sunday Nov. 3rd Richard Merritt Memorial
Sunday - Dec 22nd Bud Wolfe Classic
Registration: Opens 8:30 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: $80
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. Tiebreaker station rankings will be posted during registration.
Lunch will be served.
COURSERULES:Allshootersandspectatorsarerequiredtowearear andeyeprotectiononthecourse.
Price per 50 targets includes $5/100 NSSA/FSA Fee
.410 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
28 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
20 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
12 gauge 50 Targets $22.00
Doubles 50 Targets $22.00
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
Skeet Results
Markham Skeet, Trap, & Sporting Clays
Mentally, I have to get my body and mind in the right place before I start the routine, but once into the zone, it's like I turn on a switch. I envision myself doing the same thing for the Olympic Games.
SimoneBiles
Trap Program Trap Program:
SPECIALNOTICE
Trap Tournaments are usually the fourth Sunday of the month.
100 target 16 Yd, Hdcp and Doubles events.
First 100 targets.
SCHEDULE 2024
January28th
February25th
March17th
April28th
May26th
June23rd
July28th
August25th
September22nd
October27th
November24th
December22nd
$42.00
(Includes ATA and FTA daily fees)
Additional 100 target events. $36.00
See Joe Loitz for details: 954-857-5278
WEDNESDAY NIGHT SHOOTING IS STILL POPULAR WITH THE SHOOTERS. SIGN UP WITH THE REST OF THE REGULARS AND TRY YOUR SKILL AND LUCK AT ALL THE GAMES.
Come out and join the fun!
MarkhamSkeet,Trap, andSportingClays
Handicap
