Looking at the Target
By Bob Mastroianni
How important is looking at the target?
I've been asked this question a hundred times. Does it make a difference how I look at the target? The answer is YES it does.
I've asked students after they have just shot a target --can you tell me what you just saw? I have heard; I saw the sky, the clouds, my barrel, the space or gap between my barrel and the target, the trees, these are all the wrong answers. If you're seeing any of the things mention above you are not looking at the target the way you should be.
I use to tell my students make sure you "see the target". I've change my terminology from "see the target" to "let your brain see the target". There is a huge difference there. Your eyes are not going to lie to you so we must trust them and give your brain enough time to see what the target is doing so your subconscious will know what to do to break the target.
Your eyes are trained to go to the fastest moving thing in your sight picture. You do not want it to be your muzzle WHY because your eyes will be drawn to the muzzle and will interrupted the focus on the target.
Most targets leave the trap at about 50mph and are a blur for a certain distance. If targets are beating you and you're not seeing them you're not going to be consistent breaking them. That is why your visual pickup area is so important.
So if you're not seeing targets here are a couple of things to try; move your hold point out - which will open up your visual pickup area, identify your break points better, adjust your visual pickup area - where do you first see movement, and have what I call "quiet eyes". Quiet eyes are when you bring your eyes back to your visual pickup area you pause a few seconds and "quiet your eyes" before calling pull.
This is a visual sport and as soon as you start looking at the target the way you should you will be taking a huge step towards becoming a better shooter.
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