Top tips for a clay shooting beginner

Budding clay shooters look no further! Here you’ll find useful advice and top tips to help you out when beginning your clay shooting career…

• Make sure to attend a have-a-go day and do not underestimate the importance of what will be learnt from it.

• Gun safety is the most important thing you will learn, so ensure you understand and can practice all safety procedures taught to protect yourself and others around you.

• Think of the first lesson as a foundation for the rest of your clay shooting career.

• Try to stay calm and listen carefully when learning to shoot; it can be very exciting when you have caught the clay shooting bug.

• Perfect the basics before pushing yourself into hitting harder targets.

• If you’re reasonably serious about shooting try to get a gun that fits you right from the start, for a pleasant and successful shooting experience.

• Before altering your gun ensure that your position is correct by seeking professional advice from an instructor, just in case the problem isn’t the gun but is the shooter’s technique.

• Don’t rush yourself when focusing on the first clay of a pair.

• If the first pair goes well, try to keep everything the same – you’re not shooting one pair, you’re shooting five.

• Have realistic goals to work towards and monitor progress with.

• Once confident in your lessons, begin to work towards small competitions to help with practice.

• Know that in your first competitions you are not there to win, but to gain experience.

• If you miss a target, don’t panic! Think about what went wrong and then change one thing at a time.

• Stay patient! It takes a lot of practice and dedication to shoot successfully.