Shoot a stage cold

[Doc Shapiro]

Make a weakness a strength.  That's the goal of practice.

Is the first stage of the match a weakness for you?  Do you shoot that first stage poorly and then settle down and shoot the rest of the match well?

If so, start shooting a stage first thing when you set up for a practice session.  Make the stage the very first thing you do.  Change the scenario for each practice session.  Make it complicated, make it simple, but keep changing it.  Soon you won't mind shooting that first stage at a match.

Doc

[Matthew Duncan]

Usually the first stage and second stages are my best.  Then I start thinking (yes I know) and try to improve and the next stages go down hill…

[Four-Eyed Buck]

I know my wife usually has her most problems on the first stage. My self, if I get past the first one, usually I can clean the match. Hitting my rhythem helps........Buck

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[Marshal Will Wingam]

If I'm going to screw up, it's on the first stage. I like going first in the pack, and look forward to the first stage, but as you pointed out, we need to be able to perform cold. Thanks.

[Micheal Fortune]

Great advice Doc,

And that's just what I been doing all along, glad to hear that it's a good thing.

My mind is a lot clearer the first 2 or 3 stages and I do pretty good.  Then as the day wears on the middle stages get a little fuzzy.  By fuzzy I mean I have trouble getting the order right and so on, the stages after lunch I seem to do pretty well on too.

[Sergeant Smokepole]

That works great if you have the luxury of having more than a single day off. I usually work weekends and have to finagle a day off for a match. Don't even ask for a second day off..............

I envy those that have every weekend off and can go to matches and practice regularly. I also envy those that are able to drive less than 50 mile to get to a shoot. If I go to my home range with my club, The Bristol Plains Pistoleros, It's a 54 mile drive to the match. If I go anywhere else, the distance goes up significantly.
Yhis is through traffic congestion around Chicago where we only have 2 seasons: Winter and Road Repair.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Gee, Sarge, I thought road repair was all year! Drove through your area in August and it took longer to get through the Chicago area than it did to get across the state of Indiana! .......Buck

[Irish Red O'Toole]

Doc recommend that I start doing this a month or so ago.  I have done it at every practice session I have.  Sunday, we'll see how well it pays off.

[Doc Shapiro]

Red, don't do anything any different than you do in practice.

Doc