Markham Park Gun Club
Youth Program Mondays 6-9
NSSA Skeet Saturday, November 2nd
ATA Trap Sunday, October 27th
NSCA Sporting Clays October 20th
Trail Glades
Trapshoot November 16th
Skeet shoot October 19th
Next General Meeting
ON REQUEST FROM SECRETARY
ClubNews
Well, we survived two hurricanes without damage to the gun club. Again, another reminder that Markham is now renting golf carts for the sporting clays course! They are $25 for three hours.
Lunch will be provided by CUBAN
PRESS—Magic City
Cuisine food truck for the Sporting Clays event again this month. The last Sporting Clays Tournament saw 45 shooters in attendance. We also hosted a 5-Stand event. This month’s event will not have a 5-Stand event, but warm-up is still available.
vanced field and 4-6 on the beginner field. 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.
Trap did well again last month with 17 shooters attending and 2,000 targets thrown. The skeet shoot hosted 6 shooters, shooting 850 targets.
Attendance on Mondays continued to be affected by rain cancellations. We are still getting 5-8 on the ad-
See you at the club. Joe Loitz
CLAYTARGET-NATION – October 2024
Paul Giambrone III weighs in this month on stance. Paul has issues with the squatting stance many skeet shooters use for their game. There’s reasons why some shooters use this squatting stance. First, it puts you lower to the target than a more upright stance. This means you’re going to be shooting a target that’s showing more of the bottom of the target rather than one that it more of a side on shot. Obviously, more profile allows more chance an errant shot may still break the target. Second, it forces you to use your legs more as you rotate to the target. Both of these are positives, however, the squat puts a lot of strain on the shooter and over the course of a competition could a1ect the shooters performance.
Paul suggests using the Modern
Stance, feet shoulder length apart, slightly bent knees, and bow forward slightly forward. The bow forward is not more than over the quadricep muscle of your lead leg. Rotation is with your hips and full body. Paul is remiss on this point. An athletic rotation starts from the balls of the feet up which would include the ankles as well. May be a minor point of contention, but athletically most moves start from the balls of your feet and the rest
of your body follows. The swing in golf, tennis, and batting in baseball all start with the balls of your feet not your heels. So, a full body swing starts with the balls of your feet and travels upward as your rotate from your ankles, knees, and hips.
Paul doesn’t like how skeet shooters mount their gun at the break point then swivel back to the hold point before they call for the target. I’m sure this is blasphemy to the skeet faithful as many of them do this. I never understood it either. He believes shooters who do this create inconsistencies in their hold points and it interferes with their stance. Rather, he suggests soft mounting at the break point, then rotating back to the hold point before fully mounting the gun to your shoulder. This solves two issues: the hold point is more consistent because you head is still up allowing you to see where you are on the field and the rhythm of your mount to your shoulder before you call for the target isn’t interfered with.
the visual aspect of the mount. I feel it ties your eyes to the gun not the look point where your eyes should be. Just doesn’t seem like the dynamics of the mount are in sync with the rhythm of your vision. My opinion, try it for yourself and see if it makes a di1erence in your shooting.
There is a rhythm to the mount that coordinates your vision with the physical mounting of the gun. Mounting then moving back from the break point to the hold point interferes with this, especially
CLAYTARGET NATION – October 2024
Do you turn your head to follow a target to your hold point or do you keep your head still and follow it with your eyes? Clayton M. Rue has it right, you follow the target with your head. According to Joan Vickers of Quiet Eye fame, transitioning from moving your eyes versus following with your head loses about a tenth of a second as you refocus. Keep your eyes still, using your head to follow the target and no transition time is lost. Track the target with your nose, not just your eyes.
Trap & Field – September 2024
Too many shooters are under the belief that chokes and ammunition will get them better scores. They will to a degree, but not to the level most believe. IanDarroch’s article this month is about ammunition. Targets inside 35 yards can be broken e1iciently with 8’s and 7.5’s.
Beyond 35 yards, stick to 7.5’s. Same with the fps. In-
side 35 yards you can use 1145 fps and break any target. Beyond that, go to 1200 fps or more. Same is true with 1 oz. versus 1 1/8 oz., closer targets only require 1 oz. loads, beyond that, go to 1 1/8 oz.
When it comes to the quality of your load, antimony content in the shot is important. Quality ammunition will use 5-6% antimony in their shot, making it harder. Softer shot means the BB’s will deform as they travel down the barrel causing wider, more inconsistent patterning. With harder shot the BB’s remain round which means more uniform patterns. I do know that some ammo just doesn’t perform as well as a premium load. Always buy premium 28 or .410 ammo. Some .410 loads do not perform at the fps stated on the box.
Shotgun Sports – October 2024
Breaking through a plateau has three components according to Michael J. Keyes, M.D. The first is fundamentals. Shooters may have a coach or mentor in the beginning of their shooting journey who teach them the best in fundamentals. They master these, then use their own knowledge to solve the more di1icult aspects of the game. Other shoot-
Knowledge of the sport and the knowledge of how to practice correctly are the two best ways to break through a plateau. This is the unknown-unknown and where a good coach can help. Adding to your knowledge base by hearing an expert talk about things you never thought about is always a good idea. The second half of this is learning how to practice.
ers have a natural talent to break targets and the ability to “stay within the boundaries of the shot pattern better” than other shooters without the same eyehand coordination. Finally, the most likely reason people plateau is a lack of skill building and knowledge of the game. This is where most shooters fail.
Deep practice or deliberate practice are designed to be relevant to improving performance, take cognitive e1ort, and have no immediate reward. Going out and shooting round after round, station after station is not deliberate practice.
Practice needs reason and intent. Going out to work only on right to left chandelle targets is deliberate practice. Start on the beginner course, work through the intermediate course, and finish on the advanced course at a club that has those features. Maybe the next session features only teal or rabbits. Fix on one type of target and master it. Analyze each shot and learn how to master each presentation.
If you are a skeet or trapshooter, master one station or post at a time if you can get a field to yourself. I always tell my Doubles trapshooters to master one post first, post 2 for right-handers or 4 for left-handers. Master that post and the others will come much faster because the principles are the same. The same is true for skeet. Master one station’s doubles and move on to the next. Master one at a time, not all of them at one session. One last thing, you’re supposed to miss when you practice. If you aren’t, you aren’t challenging yourself to improve.
Setting up for a second target is something that must be learned through practice on the field. I started hunting at 13 and learned transitioning toa second shot out in the fields and sloughs of Illinois before I ever needed it on a trap or skeet field and decades before the invention of sporting clays. Sadly, most people never had that experience. AnthonyMatarese,Jr. has written a very thorough article on the subject in this issue.
I’m just going to go through some simple highlights from this article. On whether or not to shoot twice at the first target if you miss on the first shot, Anthony says it’s okay if the first is a considerably easier target than the second one. Don’t do it unless you’re absolutely sure the first shot is a total miss. There’s always the possibility you chipped the first target. Then it’s a wasted shot
I think one of the best take-aways from this article is Anthony’s advice on second targets where the second target is in a di1erent field of view. In other words, where your eyes move out of the plane of the first target, like a rabbit followed by a target high in the sky. Get your eyes on the second target and let the barrels follow your eyes. Swinging wildly in the direction of the second target means you lose control of the barrels and lose awareness of where the barrels are. Every swing of the gun must be done on purpose and it can’t be done purposefully if you don’t have your eyes already
on the target.
Next is the ghost barrel concept. Here you look under barrels and to the left if the target is coming from the left or under the barrels and to the right if the target is approaching from the right. Keep your eyes in soft focus at your look points o1 to the right or left of the barrels. Correctly done and the barrels disappear in your visual field. Trapshooters use this technique on posts 1, 2, 4, and 5.
For sporting clays shooters this works especially well on trap-style targets, going away from the shooter. Start moving your body and the gun as the target rises to your barrels. Done correctly you feel the target merge with your gun and you should feel totally in control of the target. Also, as a sporting clays shooter, you pre-mount on trap-style targets to prevent spot-shooting or spoiling the line over the target line.
On crossing shots Anthony advises establishing lead with the gun mount rather than mounting to the target and running with it. If speeding up your first shot gives you a better chance of succeeding on all the second shots, switch out of your normal tempo to assure second shot success. Finally, remember to switch back to soft focus between shots to pick up the second target.
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,November2nd
Signupstarts8:00 ShootingStartsat9:00
50targets12gauge
50targets20gauge
50targets28gauge
50targets.410gauge
50targetsDoubles
$22each50targets
Registered Shooting and Events in South Florida
Gun Shows
Miramar National Guard Armory October 19-20th
Skeet
Trail Glades October 19th
Markham November 2nd
Trap
Markham October 27th
Palm Beach November 2th
Trail Glades November 9th
Sporting Clays
South Florida October 19th
Markham October 20th
Vero Beach November 2nd
Quail Creek Novemer 23rd
cess. If you love what
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
SUNDAY OCTOBER 20TH
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.
and eye protection on the course.
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
It is not a dreamlike state, but the somehow insulated state, that a great musician achieves in a great performance. He's aware of where he is and what he's doing, but his mind is on the playing of the instrument with an internal sense of rightness.
Arnold Palmer
Trap Program Trap Program:
Trap Tournaments are usually the fourth Sunday of the month.
SCHEDULE 2024-25
October27th
November24th
December22nd
January26th
February23rd
March9th
April27th
May25th
June22nd
July27th
August24th SPECIALNOTICE
100 target 16 Yd, Hdcp and Doubles events.
First 100 targets.
$44.00
(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!
Handicap
