Shooting Instruction

[SmithShady]

I've received several flyers over the past year from one of the local sporting clays courses, offering some formal instruction from a Level III NSCA instructor named Rick Smith. Rick was offering an all day (9-4) shooting academy for no more than 5 students, which included lunch and all targets for $300. With the cost of instruction being around $125 an hour plus targets for individual lessons, I decided to take a chance and sign up. I procrastinated a bit too much in calling, but got lucky in that Rick had someone back out at the last minute for his Saturday class. I talked to him on the phone when I called to sign up, and he asked me a lot of questions about my shooting, competing, and my goals. At the end of the conversation, Rick said that he felt confident he could help me and would see me at 9:00 on Saturday morning.

He started out by talking us through his approach, and stated right up front that his goal was not to change us to shoot like him, or to shoot some specific method, but rather to improve on the foundation we already have. I was the only side by side shooter in the bunch, and Rick and I discussed gun fitment and the variety of guns and gauges that I might shoot at a given event, and the vast difference in stock dimensions on each gun. We discussed raising the comb on my 12ga Fox (PB) with a gel pad, which I have since done this past week. We started out on the five stand shooting, with Rick observing each of us. What I didn't realize at the time, was that the Saturday course was Rick's beginner class, and Sunday was set aside for the advanced shooter. Having had the chance to sign up for either, my ego probably wouldn't have let me sign up for the beginner session, but it turns out that's exactly what I needed. I've never had any formal instruction when it comes to shooting sporting clays. I've always considered myself a good shot based on my hunting successes, and I'd reached a point where I was consistently shooting in the 60-70% range on the clays course. My problem is that I wasn't getting any better, no matter how much I shot. Working with Rick throughout the day on different target presentations, and simple fundamentals like break point, muzzle hold, and getting my head off the gun have made a world of difference already. For the first time, I now feel like I not only know why I miss when I do, but how to correct it as well. I went out this past weekend and tried to put my new found knowledge to the test. I shot three rounds on Saturday at Drake Landing, and it took a round for me to get used to the new pad on the comb, but my second round was 75% and my third round I broke 84% of the targets. Towards the end of the round I was cleaning stations and breaking 7 out of 8 on others. Bottom line, I feel like it's the best $300 I could have spent, and I plan to sign up for Rick's advanced course next time he's up this way.

Mike

[CJB964]

thanks for the tip, will check him out.

did you gopro any of it?!

-CB

[eightbore]

Mike, where does Rick teach his course? Is his information available on any website?

[Mike of the Mountain]

All the issues you said that were addressed in your lesson are basic (nothing wrong with that) and are necessary to shorten your learning curve and begin breaking more birds. The most common mistake made by an instructor of any level is forcing you to change your entire shooting style. Unless your shooting is truly abyssmal (yours is not), then it's not neccessary to change the whole system. Stick around Grasshopper!!