The shooting season is up and running and with the English Open soon to start, it was time for some practice. My trusted coach Scott Barnett was called into action over a few Friday afternoons to get me back into the swing of things. Needless to say, I had a few rusty areas after not shooting properly since last September.
Garlands were going to provide the location for the Classic soon after the English open at Hodnet and it was a great place to get back into shooting some competition discipline. Steve Lovatt of the Clay Shooting Company never fails to provide big targets so it was a fitting test.
Breakfast was shared with Rob Claybrook a friend who shoots a more gun up style, over a cup of tea at Garlands and the typical Eye dominance discussions it became apparent that Rob occasionally suffers from a left eye that comes into play causing him to see double barrels in his peripheral vision. Rob stressed to add this was not always but from time to time late in a shoot, I took him through the SP and how it would help in this situation and suggested a trial on the shoot which he readily agreed to.
Well after a tight shoot we managed to draw both feeling fairly pleased with ourselves after shooting a pair of 96s ex 100 and securing 2nd place overall. It was after the shoot I had the discussion with Rob to see if it had changed anything. He said over the shoot it had been discreetly in his peripheral vision and it was difficult to say if it was doing much that was until he had to shoot a target from the left when he almost instantly had 2 barrels appear as his left eye got involved, but he also said that the SP did come in to its own allowing him to carry on shooting as if there was no issue and straighten the stand.
The trouble with eye dominance it may become a problem when you least expect it, if you don’t have control of it then it has control of you. The SP gives you a 100% reliable answer to this problem. If it is on your gun, and in your peripheral vision then it has to be helping your eye.
The English Open followed, the notorious stand 15 being the talk of the week, The event sold out early and WMSG and Hodnet never fail to put a great shoot on. The shoots are tough but rewarding with an excellent facility and ground. The round was a little edgy to start as the time off shooting piled the pressure on, but a solid run back to the clubhouse bar stand 15 left me with a 103 ex 120 and a top 100 finish ex 1200 plus shooters (85th) so not a bad day.
Hodnet is a great test for the SP with lots of different angles, stands and shooting positions and I never felt my eyes hindered my shooting. Across the day a number of discussions over the SP came up and I often showed how my eye dominance was central but the addition of the SP moved me across to my right eye.
The Classic followed soon after, A windy day met us on the last day of the FITASC competition and this was again no friend to a rusty shooter who’s craft on the day missed a few pointers and I got punished by the wind lifting clays away from me as I pulled the trigger. This aside I was happy with an 82 ex 100 with 5th in class and 19th overall. The main event some days later saw a number of SP shooters go well, unfortunately, it was a shoot too far for me and my tiredness and poor judgement saw me over leading targets in short windows and never really getting going on either course.
The British Fitasc Grand prix follows at Garlands this weekend before the Eley Grand prix at Mickley Hall where you can get the chance to win 500 Eley cartridges if you are shooting an SP in the event .
Shop news sees Garlands in Tamworth now selling SPs and some interesting opportunities unfolding abroad. A number of shops and coaches are currently testing the SP and we will list them as they come online with us.
