Minimize the thought process 

Posted On: 09-25-2023

When I work with youth shooters, I often notice they cannot explain what is supposed to be happening prior to calling pull and then executing the shot. For many they are just trying to resolve after they shoot why they missed. Of course, this only conflicts with the next shot and they are not moving forward.  

Instead, I offer three pieces, each of them to process prior to the shot. 

1. Hold point – What is a hold point is often the response and that is followed by a complete misunderstanding of what hold points are intended to be while shooting. These points are arbitrary and by that, I mean they are nothing but initial points for setting your gun into motion. Many take hold points too seriously and indeed “hold” on these points. Instead hold points are a starting point that can be adjusted as needed. Some need to be higher, some lower, some right and some left of those initial points.  

2. Soft focus. Your eyes must relax, and to do this they must move into the distance and remain there until you call pull. Your eye muscles tend to be tight and when you look at the gun bead you are contracting your eyes and thus not allowing them to be drawn to the target. The process is to look out into the distance to relax your eyes and allow them to naturally contract to a moving target. 

3. Lead – If there was any one point to provide to all shooters is they must understand the lead. Too often targets are broken, and the shooter is satisfied that their shot stream broke the target albeit from behind the target instead of ahead of the target. Somehow, a shooter must see ahead of the target and not look directly at it. All shooters learn to “see” the target first then the lead, and often never transition to the visual of a true lead. It does occur, but percentages show most break targets from behind. Did I mention they only have seven tenths of a second to find the lead? That is enough to really make the final piece most difficult.  

The effort here is to try and get as little in the mind of a shooter as possible and establish a routine that works. So often I work with youth, and they easily absorb this three-step process, but once they start shooting again, they revert right back to their old style. It takes a constant reminding of these steps to ensure it eventually is retained.