ignorance is bliss

[ips]

I have a theory that too much knowledge of shooting matters can cloud the brain.

I say this based on the fact that I shot better and felt more confident and relaxed when I didn't really understand the in depth stuff and just shot the target. Too much knowledge means that the brain has to cope with many variables not neccasarily helpful imo.

Discuss

 

[teepee1234]

Agreed!

(sorry Grumpy, not really a "discussion"...)

 

[no.1topdog]

I have a theory that too much knowledge of shooting matters can cloud the brain.

I say this based on the fact that I shot better and felt more confident and relaxed when I didn't really understand the in depth stuff and just shot the target. Too much knowledge means that the brain has to cope with many variables not neccasarily helpful imo.

Discuss

The trick is to attain the next stage and be able to discard and ignore what you don't need to know and just concentrate on what matters.

Equate this to your fencing and I'll bet a lot of what you know became instinctive. If you had to think about it you were scored against.

I've had moments of Zen-like calm where everything was so obvious it made it look easy, rendering me almost unbeatable. Sadly these moments don't last too long and cannot be created at will as my results will prove. It's certainly this mental state that I strive for when I want to be serious.

As we all know, there is so much theory, uban myth and heresay associated with shooting technique that almost everybody does it differently somehow and you just have to weed out the rubbish to find what is best for you. Sadly, I don't think any coach can teach this?  :biggrin:

 

[Bramble]

Very valid point ips, On my first ever visit to the club with my new 525 I broke the first pair then the second, no probs. As I progressed round much missing took place. One of the senior members of the club, a good shot, came over and said I was thinking too much about my shooting as initially, I had just mounted the gun and shot hence the breaks. I try to forget about chokes, shot pattern etc. and just have fun now... :hunter:     

 

[jwpzx9r]

Ian to an extent so true!!! I started out at ABT never having shot it before and was all over the place so at that point ignorance was most definitely not bliss ! I progressed to by myself learning about foot position and gun holds and target acquisition and improved my score dramatically ! Then I started thinking about it more ....never a good idea !

 

[ips]

Seems I am not the only one who thinks this. I suppose ideally you want to be a shooter that knows everything but has the ability to forget everything as soon as you pick the gun up. This I suspect is were this magic art of sports psycology (spellin) comes into play but those people cost money and I suspect its just a key word or phrase that you are taught to use such as "don't be a clever arse just shoot the bloody target" or words to that effect.

PS if anyone now uses the above mantra that will be £150 thank you, you are welcome.

 

[no.1topdog]

Seems I am not the only one who thinks this. I suppose ideally you want to be a shooter that knows everything but has the ability to forget everything as soon as you pick the gun up.

Sound like you're describing 40up? There can't be much he doesn't know about trap shooting?  :biggrin:

 

[ips]

Your right TD I have inadvertently described our good friend 40UP

 

[nagantino]

I shoot mostly DTL and only rarely ABT but much the same applies....... Advice and learning are always in your head. In my own case I do listen when given advise and I read a lot but you must refine it down to a few basic rules as you walk on the line. Be Positve, See the Bird, Keep Your Head Down, these are all important. After a while, lots of what you have learnt becomes instinctive and requires no thought, you just do it. I always think of that Bob Hope movie Paleface when he gets into a gun fight with cowboy and everyone in the saloon gives him advice "If leans to left then you lean to the right", " If he shoots high then you shoot low"

 

[Wonko the Sane]

not much of a discussion

 

[ips]

Feel free to add to it mr wonko

 

[Les53]

OK Ian you already know my stance on this but I say it anyway! If the conscious mind takes over,in other words you start thinking about what you are doing, your natural instinct as governed by the unconscious mind, will be interrupted and the results are not usually good. I have to say that getting myself on auto pilot seems very difficult these days.

 

[ips]

Me too les, because I now have too much info to get rid of, hence my point.

 

[chippy]

I have a theory that too much knowledge of shooting matters can cloud the brain.

I say this based on the fact that I shot better and felt more confident and relaxed when I didn't really understand the in depth stuff and just shot the target. Too much knowledge means that the brain has to cope with many variables not neccasarily helpful imo.

Discuss

Very true I have shot some of my best scores when I was so hungover that I was just thinking of (i'am going to be sick any minute)

 

[Wonko the Sane]

Feel free to add to it mr wonko

Flawed premise extrapolated

Incompetent data analysis and application does not equal the superiority of no data

If you don't know the options you are stuck with whatever you have which could range from squat to godlike.

good luck on that draw

 

[ips]

I have interpreted that into the queens english as.

better to know buggur all and get on with what you do.

agreed

 

[Finners]

For sometime I have been missing fast driven birds. I found myself coming away from the stand muttering (inside voice) "You know how to hit these, why are you missing them!?!"

So, I applied an old lesson learnt at the shoot on Sunday and WHAMO!! I hit more than I missed. 

The lesson, oh yes.......... I stopped analysing and simply got my gun up to the clay and pulled the trigger without stopping the swing. 

 

[jake.keeling]

I feel that to reach full potential, you have to go through learning it all and come out the other side, effectively ending up where you started but with better gun fit and technique.


http://www.tirovesti.co.uk/

 

[** Pending Removal **]

Now you have done it......you mentioned gun fit.... :wink: