July 2024
Markham Park Gun Club
Youth Program Mondays 6-9
NSSA Skeet Saturday, July 6th
ATA Trap Sunday, July 28th
NSCA Sporting Clays July 13th
Trail Glades Trapshoot July 13th
Next General Meeting
ON REQUEST FROM SECRETARY
ClubNews
Lunch will be provided by CARRIBEAN DELICIOUS food truck for the Sporting Clays event this month. I still haven’t shot a registered event since I got my shoulders done last year and looks like I might be able to make this one. Looking forward to it.
Trap did well last month with 19 shooters attending and 2,700 targets thrown. The skeet shoot was still disappointing this month with only 2 shooters and 200 targets. Sporting Clays was down with 43 shooters in attendence.
Attendance on Mondays continues steady after school has gotten out. Most nights we have 10-12 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 them to email me so I can add them to the list. There are some nice Ruger shotguns for sale on page 12, also a Browning Citori. Check them out.
CLAY TARGET NATION – JUNE 2024
Craig Porter gives us an article on “Quiet Eye” that is well worth reading. The “Quiet Eye” process is a way of settling your eyes at the look point before you call for the target. If you’ve ever watched international trapshooters in competition you will immediately notice they all mount their gun then hold their mount for 3.5 seconds before calling for the target. They are letting their eyes settle into a visual mode that not only prepares their eyes for the target but also has the benefit of quieting their minds at the same time.
The two key components of “Quiet Eye” are a solid pre-shot routine followed by the quieting effect of settling your eyes into a true looking mode. Combining both correctly prepares your eyes and mind so that seeing the target is your sole focus in that moment after you call for the target. He suggests a four step exercise to practice “Quiet Eye” outside of the target range. First practice concentrating on an object close to you, say
across the room, for 10 seconds. Next move onto an object further out. My guess this would be 10 to 15 meters in distance in line with a normal look point. Go to 5 to 10 seconds holding your gaze then finally start doing it with a gun in your hands. Twenty reps is his suggestion at this stage. Google “Quiet Eye” and get more information on it. Joan Vickers wrote a textbook on the subject. The results of using it has been well documented and as I said earlier, the Olympic shooting community fully endorses it.
CLAY TARGET NATION – JUNE 2024
You can query 10 different instructors for 10 skeet axioms and you could get 5 axioms that are consistent among the instructors and 5 that will vary depending on how they coach. Some axioms will be explained in differently from Kent Lillie’s explanations but they all will be from their personal point of view. Kent’s 10 axioms certainly have merit. First, 1 and 8 of his axioms should be combined. Treat every target as an individual game and treat them all with the same level of respect. Low 7 is easy, if you know how you should shoot it, but if you don’t keep your move on it to a minimal, slight body lean into it you will be subject to some bad days or possibly weeks. Learn how to shoot each target with a repeatable uniformity and repeat that move every time you step onto the station. Axioms 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 could be combined into one axiom about your swing to the target. Make a smooth move with the target with as little gun movement as possible. If you are visually concentrating on the target your smooth, minimal swing should lead you to the correct sight picture followed by a smooth follow-through as you watch the target break.
I think the biggest issue I’ve seen teaching skeet recently is getting shooters to
swing with speed. There’s too much barrel “awareness” going on with shooters chasing the target rather than leading from the front as they should. If you are using sustained lead correctly you are looking back at the front of the target. You shouldn’t need to be told to visually concentrate on the front of the target. You should already be looking back at it. If you’re not, your barrel speed isn’t in synch with the target.
Bottom line, swing the barrels like you would a tennis racket, baseball bat, or golf club. Make the barrels swing with the target without looking at them like you would the aforementioned sporting equipment.
I will be the first to tell you, there is no right or wrong. Look at Stuart Brown’s mount. It breaks every rule I know about the Modern Stance, yet he is a World Champion. You don’t live in his world. For him it feels and works wonderfully.
That doesn’t mean you should copy him. Pick a way to shoot that works fundamentally, is comfortable for you, and be consistent with it. Finally, focus on the process until it’s time to focus on the target.
CLAY TARGET NATION – JUNE 2024
It’s rare to come across an article that is truly original, but Gebben Miles’ article is one of those. This month he explains his approach to hold points and how he manages his draw length from the low gun position. Draw length for those new to the term is how low and away from your shoulder pocket you position your stock when you are shooting low gun. He also talks about his insertion point on targets which is also quite refreshing to read. A very nebulous subject if you’ve ever tried to decipher the Churchill/Orvis method. The only writing on low gun position I’ve ever come across suggests the longer you wait for a target to reach your hold point, the lower you hold the gun. A
long incomer for example would suggest you start your low gun position as you would in FITASC. A close, fast target or a trap style target would best be approached with the gun premounted, something Gebben endorses. Then Gebben goes the extra mile and tells us which swing method he uses on various targets.
Truly an inciteful article.
First determine, where does the target become clear and in hard focus. This is where the target becomes clearly distinguished as a target and not a flash as it comes off the trap. Hold point is set halfway between the breakpoint and the point of hard focus. On slower and closer targets Gebben uses swingthrough or pull-away as his swing methods of choice. Less lead for these targets means the insertion point should be right on, close to, or past the target.
This allows you to establish a rhythm with the target’s speed, moving at the same speed with it as you match up with it. Wonderfully explained to the reader.
Farther and faster targets, the halfway point between the hold-point and breakpoint will be closer together. Use either sustainedlead or pull-away as a swing technique. More angle will also cause Gebben to change insertion point. Less angle the closer he will let the target get to the gun and in some instances will even let the target pass the barrels. Obviously, this means pull-away with the gun on the target and swing-through if the target passes the barrels. The greater the angle and he increases the distance in front of the target as he inserts the barrels using pull-away or sustained-lead.
As stated earlier, the more time it takes for the target to approach the break point the longer his draw length will be. Building a rhythm with the target is essential for every shot and increasing the draw length on targets like this builds a natural
rhythm with the target. These are targets that take 2 or more seconds to arrive after the call. On targets that approach in one second, he shortens the draw length and close and trap style targets, he pre-mounts. Excellent article and clear explanations of what to do.
CLAY TARGET NATION – JUNE 2024
John Shima’s article this month is full of wonderful explanations of how memory processes work. If this is an area of interest for you, it is a nice read.
Bottom line however is really what we want and John gives good advice on how to manage our various memory processes. Deactivate your desire to achieve a score and concentrate on the process of shooting one target. “Watch the target break.”
as you flush a bird. Hopefully, you concentrate on their bill or beak, nothing else. See that clearly in your hard focus and everything else will take care of itself.
I like to tell my students, at least those that are hunters, to recall the concentration they have when a shooting a dove, duck, or some other game bird. You will never have more rapt attention on a target than you will as you follow a game bird coming into you decoy set, blind, or
Sadly, unless you are in South America, you can’t count on an endless stream of birds to shoot at. Clay targets are usually shot over a course of 100 birds. It is more difficult to give your full attention to each target of a 100-bird program than it is to shoot a 6 to 8 bird limit over the course of a morning. Give each target your full attention and scores will take care of themselves.
Shotgun Sports – July 2024
David Radulovich discusses plateauing this month but the real take-away is improvement by correct practice. Like many pundits he goes into biochemical detail on how our memory stores what we do, but the bottom line is, how can we improve our game through correct practice? First, in practice the goal is to improve your technique, not breaking targets. Yes, breaking targets is important, but if we aren’t perfecting our technique while breaking them, what are we really doing? David emphasizes that placing our concern on broken targets, regardless of good or bad technique, grooves into our memory only the technique we used to break the target, regardless, if the technique is good or not. Grooving in bad technique makes it more likely you will use it in the future. Bad technique may work 60-70% of the time, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to groove a technique that works 90-100% of the time.
mind and muscle memory. David breaks down learning a new skill/ technique into three components. The first two are about awareness of the change, both visually and physically. Whether it’s seeing the target better with less attention on the barrel or ro-
tating from the ankles up as you swing, we want to be aware of what we’re doing to make our shot better. This means seeing the change in the sight picture and feeling the change physically. The third component is practicing the new technique until it becomes your natural response. This takes time and repetition, just like a golf swing or the swing of a tennis racket.
This means we’ll miss targets until we get the new technique grooved into our
David mentions proprioception which is your body’s unconscious awareness of its movement. An example is closing your eyes and touching your nose. Go ahead, do it. You have need no awareness of where your finger and nose are, but you just do it. Same with swinging a shotgun, golf club, or tennis racket. Most of those moves are unconscious muscle memory, however, there is a subtle conscious component that guides your shotgun to the perfect sight picture or your golf club or
tennis racket to the center of the club face or center of the racket.
Several years ago, I read an article by David about his practice regimen where he said he shoots skeet rounds with no shells in the gun. When he has a student that can’t seem to get the feel for a new swing or technique, he has them dry fire the target. The student will execute the new technique perfectly while dry firing. By removing the fear of the result, the student performs the move as envisioned. There’s no emotional attachment to the result, allowing them to concentrate on their body’s execution of the new move. Now I understand the underlying reasoning why David dry fires skeet rounds.
I’ve always told my students, if you’re not missing during practice, you’re not doing it right. Expect to miss when you learn something new.
Don’t revel in it, but expect misses as you learn and improve, otherwise all you’re doing is grooving in the old technique which is what you set out fix.
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,July6th Signupstarts8:00 ShootingStartsat9:00
50targets12gauge
50targets20gauge
50targets28gauge
50targets.410gauge
50targetsDoubles
$22each50targets
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Cancelled
Tourney Program Night Night Clays
Registered Shooting and Events in South Florida
Gun Shows
Miramar National Guard Armory July 27-28th
Skeet
Markham July 14th
Trail Glades July 27th
Trap
PBS Complex July 13th
Trail Glades July 13th
Markham July 28th
South Florida July 14th
Markham July 13nd
OK Corral July 20th
Quail Creek July 27th
Vero Beach July28th
Sporting Clays and be willing to accept
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
SATURDAY JULY 13TH
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
Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative.
Steve Prefontaine
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!
JUNERESULTS
Doubles
