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 Here is a Pre-Shot video worth watching 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJJg8M-6nps 

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One thing that drives me crazy on any clays course is the inconsistency of my shooting. I never know how I am going to shoot until I begin shooting. I practice as much as I can afford, but I can’t seem to break the cycle or whatever you would call it.

We all have our great days and our not-so-great days. With that said, inconsistency in performance is often tied to inconsistency in process. 

Misses typically fall into one of three categories: technical misses, planning misses and mental misses. 

A technical miss occurs when a target is beyond your technical ability to break. The solution here is simply to master this target presentation in practice so that it is within your technical ability at the next tournament. 

Then there is the planning miss. You had the wrong plan as you stepped into the shooting stand, sometimes caused by a failure to recognize what the target is doing at the break point. 

Then there is the mental miss, which is always tied to process, otherwise known as your pre-shot routine. If, after you finish a tournament, you can look back and say that your planning was flawless and all targets were within your technical ability to break, that only leaves your pre-shot routine as the cause of your inconsistency.

The three elements of a good pre-shot routine are: visualization, deep breathing and a visual cue. 

As you step into the shooting stand, visualize what it will look like, and imagine what it will feel like, to execute the shot pair. As you run through your visualization, load the gun and inhale/exhale at least twice. Close your gun and, as you assume a good ready position and move your shotgun to the hold point, remind yourself to focus on the specific focal points on each target. For example, “dome and 4 o’clock.” “PULL!” 

Running through this pre-shot routine on each and every pair will ensure a few things: 

1) your conscious mind will be filled with constructive thoughts just prior to execution,

2) your body will be well oxygenated, with a lower heart rate, and 3) you will have reminded yourself of your most important job after calling for the targets: FOCUS.

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 Great Video to see about mounting your gun: https://youtu.be/GQf5HtvBgNs  

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  How Bad Is It ...
...not to follow a routine?
In any form of competitive shotgun shooting, scores are largely the result of the routine that a shooter establishes and maintains. Shooters who don’t adhere to a routine will see misses pile up while they’re left wondering why. Routines promote a shooter’s ability to visualize the target, and they provide a safeguard in that they prevent a shooter from speeding up under pressure or slowing down when conditions aren’t so intense. Routines make shooting feel almost effortless and lead to consistent results. By replacing thinking with repetitiveness, shooters will boost their consistency.  

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Expectations should be about the time that you put in and being honest with yourself. Being honest with yourself is what it's all about. When you're at the line, it's just you and the target.   These are some questions you can ask yourself:  “Are you good enough to win? Have you put in your time? Are you able to get in the stand and not think? Are you confident enough in your routine to where if it doesn't work, you change it?”  As far as correction routine, we can't tell you how many times one of us stands behind somebody and they shoot four birds in a row and do the exact same thing and expect something different to happen. Confidence is key. Keep your head up and your chest out.   Stay in the present. And again, all of this comes from just doing your routine over and over. When you load the gun the same and you call "pull" at the same time, the brain knows exactly when it's supposed to act.   In the beginning, it's all about variables. It's all about breakpoint, it's all about hold point, focal point. And as you get more advanced, it's about eliminating the variables. Because once you've done them enough, you don't have to pay them so much attention.

You got this...but... YOU have to want it and put in the time. 

Spring Season is around the corner - How much have you practiced? 

This article by OSP Shooting School - Thank you Gil Ash

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 Not enough people practice with prediction. It’s one of the most wasted parts of practice.         In competition, people also don't use the post-shot routine enough. When they break the first pair, they feel relieved and they want to hurry up  and get out of the stand before they forget what they never planned to see. They get in there and end up speeding up and throwing their shells  after missing the fourth pair. They sped up and they outrun their angels.         So, routine is very important. But making a good strong visual prediction of exactly where and how you want to shot to come together is critical.         We have talked about how the working memory sees the pair. The long-term memory prepares the circuit and hands it off to the working memory and the working memory has to take the shot. The working memory can be aware of and orchestrate seven things at one time. And based on your piddling nature, it likes to piddle with things as they're happening.         Your practice has to be so deliberate with exactly where and how you want  that shot to come together.       Even though you shoot it and the working memory piddles with the shot and you hit it, you have to not give him credit for doing it. You have to treat him like a general would treat a private: "Dammit,       I want it done this way, and I want it done right there. And don't you       get involved in it."        The stronger you are with the prediction and the commitment to execute the prediction to see if the prediction was correct, the quicker the private knows not to get involved in what the general told him to do.         The working memory likes to piddle with things. It likes to see if it can adjust something while it's happening. And you've got to rob it of that ability to interrupt and piddle. The only way you do that, even if he gets involved, is to say “No, that's not what I want. I want it done this way.”         You've got to train it to shut up and do what you want to do and where you want it done for you to be successful. The working memory wants to get involved in this, but it can't do it. It cannot perform what you're trying to perform. It's impossible. But it has to be used to it to actually take the shot.  

Team OSP - Gil, Vicki and Brian Ash

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Attached is a link to a shot cam video by World Champion David Radulovich. David is a great guy and teaches all over the country. The entire purpose of the video is “same gun mount every time”. You don’t NEED the Shotkam to perform this video. Take a choke you don’t use often and put a laser light in the middle of it. You can wrap the laser in tape or anything until it fits snug in the choke. You can do the same exact drill going from one to another by moving your position and keeping the mount the same.  Also practice starting with your gun lower and bringing it up “on the same line” that you were on until its mounted. You can follow a ceiling line in your basement or another object but maintaining the mount. 

https://youtu.be/AQBKb55Nm0k

CLICK VIDEO TO WATCH !