Improving technique
SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 75
on pigeons, is better than jumping
straight in. The benefi t of honing
your skills with a professional
instructor is something that can’t be
overstated. A clay-shooting ground
is a sanctuary for many Guns in the
close season and a saviour to others
when they aren’t performing well
i n t h e fi e l d.
Tuition prices vary greatly,
with the top instructor at Holland
& Holland’s shooting ground
costing £200 an hour, while
the local enterprises such
as Grimsthorpe Shooting
Ground in Lincolnshire
is a mere £50 per hour.
But a good piece of
advice is to look at
the instructors
your gun — but the latter might be
more useful in the long-term.
However, a clay trap doesn’t need
to cost the earth if you’re canny.
When I was a boy I used to drag my
grandfather’s old clay trap into a
fi eld and annoy one of my parents
long enough so they would fi re some
clays. I thought I’d do some cursory
googling to fi nd out how much one
of those old spring clay traps costs.Second-hand traps
I found a number of people who
restore old clay traps and sell them
on for a few hundred quid. This
would leave £800 for lessons from
a top instructor — perhaps the best
of both worlds. At the other end of the
spectrum are traps from the likes of
PromaticandBowman.ClareSmith
fromPromatictoldmetheSuper
Hawkwouldcostjustover£900.
Withthislittlebitofknowledge
I cameupwitha plan.I wouldspend
myhypothetical£1,000onfour
lessonsandseeif I couldjoin
a syndicatethatalsohada bitof
pigeonshooting,outofseason.
ThenI’dreturntoCheltenham,
haveanotherflutter,winanother
£1,000,andbuya fancyPromatic
togetmyeyein.Whatcouldpossibly
gowrong?themselves rather than simply going
with a fancy ground. Steve Wood,
theresident coach at Grimsthorpe,
believes that “understanding
theclient and developing the
relationship between the instructor
andthe shooter is paramount”.
Ultimately, you know who will
work best with you and, as long as
you feel comfortable with your
instructor, your shooting should
improve with every lesson.
I phoned Mark Heath, head
instructor at West London
Shooting School, and asked what
his strategy would be if he’d won
£1,000. He’s a direct chap and his
response was very simple. “Have
three lessons to get any faults
analysed and assessed. Then
fromthat,youcanunderstand
whereyoushouldallocatethe
restofyourmoney.”
Inessenceit seemed
thatsomeonewhowants
togetbettershouldn’t
prioritisefunover
tuition.A syndicate
mightbemoreofa
laughthangetting
a toughtalking-
toat theclay
groundfor
overmountingExpert tuition
is a must if you
really wantto
improve your
technique
Owning your
own Promatic
Super Hawk
would be a
great way to
get in some
regular practice