Interesting...
I shoot benchrest. Not a very physical game, but it requires your gun handling to be pretty good. The game I shoot is called UBR. It's score shooting, and the goal is to hit a little dot for a score of 11. That corresponds to an X, and of coarse there are 10, 9, 8 rings as well. Wind reading in this, is the MOST critical of any other shooting sports you'll play. Components have gotten more, and more expensive, and so I don't practice at the range anymore. I sometimes have a morning commute of an hour and it's all interstate, early in the morning, and so I shoot a match in my mind as I drive. I've shot so many matches I have all the little nuances in my memory, and so I drive and shoot. I see the wind flags, I've got a 2-2.5 MPH wind coming from the 10:00 zone and holding steady. My rifle's in tune, and perfectly zeroed so I hold a little shallow in the 9 ring and touch the 1.5 OZ. trigger. I see the cross hairs move up in recoil, feel the butt stock touch my shoulder, then I grasp the trigger guard and slide the rifle forward to inspect my perfect eleven. I work the bolt, insert a fresh round and close on it, then settle the rifle in the rest in preparation for the next target.
This all started after I read a story about an Airforce pilot who was shot down and captured, then put in a small cage. To keep his mind from going to mush, he played 18 holes of golf every day... in his head. After he was released, and went back to civilian life, he played his first game of golf since his capture... the best game he had played to that point. His best game... made so from all the practice he had did during his incarceration.
I'm convinced it works. I normally shoot at least 2 matches a month during the season and have been in the top 3 or 4 where ever I shoot. I'm curently ranked 3rd in modified class for shooter of the year and 5th in unlimited class. Please feel free to look that up on the Ultimate Benchrest site.
In closing, please understand it's not my intention to brag, just qualifying my point. The surface has just been scratched, and there's potential for much more as we delve into the mental game.
Try it, it can be a game-changer if approached with an open mind.
Wayne
I shoot benchrest. Not a very physical game, but it requires your gun handling to be pretty good. The game I shoot is called UBR. It's score shooting, and the goal is to hit a little dot for a score of 11. That corresponds to an X, and of coarse there are 10, 9, 8 rings as well. Wind reading in this, is the MOST critical of any other shooting sports you'll play. Components have gotten more, and more expensive, and so I don't practice at the range anymore. I sometimes have a morning commute of an hour and it's all interstate, early in the morning, and so I shoot a match in my mind as I drive. I've shot so many matches I have all the little nuances in my memory, and so I drive and shoot. I see the wind flags, I've got a 2-2.5 MPH wind coming from the 10:00 zone and holding steady. My rifle's in tune, and perfectly zeroed so I hold a little shallow in the 9 ring and touch the 1.5 OZ. trigger. I see the cross hairs move up in recoil, feel the butt stock touch my shoulder, then I grasp the trigger guard and slide the rifle forward to inspect my perfect eleven. I work the bolt, insert a fresh round and close on it, then settle the rifle in the rest in preparation for the next target.
This all started after I read a story about an Airforce pilot who was shot down and captured, then put in a small cage. To keep his mind from going to mush, he played 18 holes of golf every day... in his head. After he was released, and went back to civilian life, he played his first game of golf since his capture... the best game he had played to that point. His best game... made so from all the practice he had did during his incarceration.
I'm convinced it works. I normally shoot at least 2 matches a month during the season and have been in the top 3 or 4 where ever I shoot. I'm curently ranked 3rd in modified class for shooter of the year and 5th in unlimited class. Please feel free to look that up on the Ultimate Benchrest site.
In closing, please understand it's not my intention to brag, just qualifying my point. The surface has just been scratched, and there's potential for much more as we delve into the mental game.
Try it, it can be a game-changer if approached with an open mind.
Wayne