It's been about 2 years since the sporting-clays bug bit me. It clamped  down hard, and I've been pleasantly addicted ever since.

    I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, and as with everything I get involved with, I usually research it to exhaustion. Last year I had the opportunity to meet and become a student of John Woolley, the renowned sporting clays and wingshooting instructor from England who now resides in Florida.

   John's shooting accomplishments include winning the 1990 Beretta World Sporting Clays Championship and being chosen numerous times to represent Great Britain in international competition. Among his many students are two of the best shooters around – National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA) All-Americans Greg Wolf and Wendell Cherry.

Instant Improvement

My first lesson with John last year was amazing. I had been having trouble with blurred vision and not seeing the target clearly and, well, the list went on.

Very quickly, John was able to diagnose my problems, and then not just tell me what I needed to correct, but show me the proper way to go about it. He has a remarkable personality that not only puts you at ease, but adds to your understanding of the game and how to become much more proficient at it.

This past week, I again had the opportunity to meet up with him as he was teaching at a club about an hour from where I live. As soon as I found out he would be in town, I took the afternoon off of work to go see him.

I was greeted by John's always-smiling face, and we headed out to the course. Over the past year, I had been practicing what he taught me, and although my scores had been rising steadily, there was some inconsistency that I just hadn't been able to work out.

 

An Inauspicious Start

"Well Jim, let's see you shoot some targets and we'll see where you're at," John said. "Don't worry about breaking them
I just want to see you shoot."

I was glad he said not to worry about breaking them, because
I missed the first one. Within several shots (some of which acutally connected with the target), he said, "I can see that your focus on the target is much better, but we need to work on your stance and your gun mount."

John's six principles for shooting are: focus, stance, move, mount, shoot and gun fit. Although my focus had improved, my stance – for some reason that I was not aware of – had gotten out of whack. I'd started to lean way forward, with too much weight on my front foot, and my rear foot coming slightly off the ground.

John pointed out that this had led to my gun being mounted improperly, and thus resulted in the inconsistency I was experiencing. By the end of the lesson, he had me again standing straight up with my head staying level, and my gun coming up to my face like it should.

It's All in the Details

John also helped me improve my ability to read the target and to see it in more detail, which heightened my focus even more and got me back to the relaxed position I needed to be in to correctly mount my gun. As with the first lesson I took with him, this one left me in awe of his ability to see and correct a problem, wheter he's dealing with a beginner or a seasoned shooter.

One of the stations we worked on featured a high incomer from the left, over the treetops, that seemingly hung out there forever. On report, another target came at an extreme curve from the right at a much lower angle.

With John's coaching, my timing improved and I relaxed and focused on the first target, and it exploded. Then, as he'd taught me, my gun came back to the starting position as the extreme crosser came into view.

My stance was correct and my head still, which gave me complete focus on the fast-moving clay. I moved my gun toward the target, mounted while seeing it clearly, pulled the trigger, and it was dust.

John's lessons will make me a better shooter and hunter, and they'll no doubt make me even more passionate about this game I've become addicted to. Next week, when I'm again out on a sporting-clays course, I'll try to remember what he taught me: Focus on the target, then move, mount and shoot!

Notable

Jim Crowley is a freelance writer and an avid outdoorsman and traveler based in Bloomington, Ill. He can be reached through his web site, www.JimmyFish.net.