Welcome. Nice to see you here again.

This article humbly offers you some lessons I’ve learned and some Truths. These Truths have come to me out of decades of intense study, serious competition, and teaching experience. Hard-earned experiences, learned first-hand, in the shooting box, on the trigger with teachers and scorekeepers behind me and behind my students whom I’ve had the privilege of working with over the last three decades.

“The truth is like a lion;

you don’t have to defend it.

Let is loose:

it will defend itself.”

- Augustine of Hippo 

From those experiences, my students are shown what works and what doesn’t. Specifically. Just as important, if not more so, is why it does or doesn’t. With up-to-date methodologies that are keeping pace with today’s target presentations. A rock-solid, dependable shooting system.

Next, for your consideration, let’s look at a common myth...

While it’s hats-off to every shooter who seeks to improve his/her shooting…sorry…NO instructor, anywhere, can “make” you a better shooter. Not possible and not gonna happen. Anyone who promises you otherwise is offering you the magic beans. What a competent (emphasis on that word competent), ethical instructor can do is show you, teach you, specifically, step-by-step, HOW to improve your shooting. A very specific pre-shot setup on the target and your swing management steps. After that, measurably advancing the skill level is entirely up to the student. Thoughtfully assembling and executing the required basics…the dedicated practice of those basics…is simply required for each and every one of us who is serious about improving.

With that in mind, let’s clarify two very different types of instruction an instructor can provide. Listen ‘up, please.

Before a lesson is booked, consider the difference between two very different lessons. Formal Instruction and Gentleman’s Coaching. If you are serious about an instructor helping you improve your shooting, then you want Formal Instruction. Here, the instructor will emphasize your education…teaching you the basics of the shooting system I spoke of. Paying for that lesson, you have every right to expect to learn specifically what’s not working in your shooting and why. To be followed by step-by-step adjustments and shooting methods that are 100% dependable on this Station and the next Station. It should be understood up front…you have signed up for…are coming to school NOT just to break targets but to learn how and why…specifically, step-by-step. Here, priority one is your being taught the individual techniques, what it will take for you to “consistently” shoot better than you are now. Not just on this Station…every Station.

This brings us right to Gentleman’s Coaching, which is entirely different. It is for those folks who are seeking fun and entertainment in the shooting box. Nothing more. Learning about shooting methods and techniques is for another day. Today…with some of the folks having never touched a firearm…safety and breaking many, many targets are the shooter’s only expectations. That’s all. Here, the instructor correctly takes the shooters to what I call soft, friendly “can’t miss” targets. Hang time on each target…2 minutes. Point the gun and pull the trigger…X. If the target is missed, the instructor will FIX the sight picture to break THIS target. As he or she should in Gentleman’s Coaching.

For those of us seeking improvement, the all-important question is: will all the “fixing” on this Station work on the next Station with different targets?  The answer is no. Because fixing is not teaching. Nor should it be in Gentleman’s Coaching. The instructor’s goal is to make sure the shooters have fun and break all the targets…not learning. With corporate and family groups, I’ve done Gentleman’s Coaching a thousand times at River Bend Sportsmans Resort in Inman, SC, and everyone leaves happy and cheering.

Here's why I’ve outlined the differences between these two lessons. Unfortunately, and all too often in the U.S., many who sign up for Formal Instruction receive Gentleman’s Coaching. Again, this is where the instructor merely “fixes” every miss on “this” Station. It is not hard for the instructor and student to do. Then, on the next Station, a different target, the instructor starts the fixing all over again. All of this achieving X after X, understandably building the student’s belief that “I must be getting better.” Regrettably, this is false, soon to be realized at home after the lesson (?).

At home, in the shooting box, now lost and confused after every miss…not knowing why…not knowing what to correct…where will the improvement come from? It won’t, and it can’t because there was no teaching…no specific step-by-step education of the basics was provided. No information on how to correct a miss with “one” shell…to meet the instructor’s obligations…to create the desired improvement…to intentionally put more Xs on a scorecard. Our Formal Lesson student was never presented with the pre-shot setup steps and swing steps, so the shooter has a plan and can follow that plan. An outline of a very specific shooting “system.”

Payment to an instructor firmly establishes this instructor’s obligation to provide the correct instruction…to meet the shooter’s stated goal...be it a Formal Lesson or Gentleman’s Coaching. Shooters seeking improvement…who are unaware of the lesson differences and later discover their lesson time was spent in Gentleman’s Coaching…ultimately suffer the consequences. How do I know that? Regularly, once Gentleman’s Coaching has been discussed, some of the good folks who call here tell us that’s what happened to them. They paid for learning, not just Xs.

I hope this helps with any future plans you might be considering.

Next time…please join me to look at the real importance of gun fit, chokes, loads, and more. Thanks for visiting. Always appreciated.

Take the mystery out of missing targets and feathers with Dan Schindler's 3 excellent books: Take Your Best Shot, To The Target and Beyond The Target. These simple, easy-to-understand books are your road map to consistently and dependably shooting higher scores for decades to come. This invaluable resource is tailored for shooters of all skill levels and cherished by enthusiasts spanning 24 countries across the globe. Many shooters tell us they read Dan's books 3, 4 or 5 times and refer back to them when things go awry in their shooting. More information on the Paragon School of Sporting website and dozens of blog posts. 

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About Dan Schindler

Dan Schindler is one of only 60 worldwide members of the Guild of Shooting Instructors (UK) and is one of the most highly respected Sporting Clays and Wingshooting Instructors in the US. Dan is an NSCA Level III Instructor (since 1995) and founded the Paragon School of Sporting with one goal in mind. Whether it be for the advanced competitor or providing the basics to the entry-level shooter, Paragon provides the simplest, most practical and most effective Instruction, Coaching and Mental Training for the Sporting Clays, Skeet, Trap & Wingshooting enthusiast. Dan Schindler helps shooters alleviate a lot of their frustration by taking the mystery out of breaking targets, calling their own misses, and making their own corrections. Lessons are fun, enlightening and our clients learn to shoot better in minutes!  

Tired of being frustrated over missing targets or birds?

Ready to move your shooting forward and shoot consistently higher scores?

"Folks fly from around the world to take lessons with Schindler at River Bend Sportsman’s Resort, his home course in Inman, South Carolina. Clients have included Bush staffers to NASCAR drivers to the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. The approachable teacher has spent 25 years on “gentleman’s coaching” (with social and corporate shooters) and formal instruction (with individuals, groups, and competitors). Schindler has even certified more than 230 instructors using his handcrafted curriculum—a system that signaled his qualification as the first American admitted to the British Guild of Shooting Instructors... “Shooting, like golf, or anything like that, is a mental sport, and he has the mental game down so well.” To find out how he calibrated mind with metal, we head to Japan."

Dan Schindler's Books

"Recommended for shooters of all skill levels, Coaches, Instructors

and parents of youth shooters."

Take Your Best Shot (Book I), 3rd Edition is THE Gold Standard Primer It's all about the fundamentals, a requirement for good shooting. This book is used by high school and college shooting teams, recreational and competitive shooters from around the world. Solid, valuable, concise information that has helped thousands of shooters shoot more consistently with higher scores.

To The Target (Book II) Builds on the steps outlined in Book I. Emphasises Gun Management skills when the trap fires, creating a consistent, reliable, trustworthy swing.

Beyond the Target (Book III) is for shooters of all levels, filled with valuable information, clay target truths. Entertaining and a culmination of 3 decades of Dan's life's work as a teacher, competitor, published writer, and much more.

Here's what Shooters, Coaches and Clay Shooting USA saying...

Take Your Best Shot (Book I), 3rd Edition

THE TRUSTED PRIMER

To The Target (Book II)

Beyond The Target (Book III)