The difference between class and form
Graham Brown of the Purbeck Shooting School explains to Paul Quagliana the difference between shooters who have class and those who have form
During the lockdown Graham Brown has had time not only to improve his shooting ground but also to think about the shooters who use it and others. He identified two groups and how one of those groups in particular could improve their skills. Graham says: “Some footballers always have a good game; those are players with class. Other players may occasionally have a good game; those are players with form. The latter have had a good game not necessarily because they are class performers but because that particular game suited their abilities.
“The same thing can be found on the clay shooting circuit. Class is permanent, form is temporary; you can lose form but not class. You get class by solid foundations and by understanding techniques. Once you have learned to ride a bicycle you can get back on it at any time, but did you learn to ride it well in the first place? If you have class on a bicycle you can ride it without thinking, smoothly with no hands. In the same way on the clay circuit you ‘feel’ your shots instinctively rather than mentally trying to control them. We learn consciously and we learn a reflex reaction to that learning when it has to be put into practice.
“You need to have a plan before you can implement your reflex. Over time you develop a thought-based plan and switch seamlessly to an instinctive implementation of the plan,” he continues. “Shooters who can do this consistently will become class shooters. I suppose it is where the expression ‘on form’ comes from and suggests that form is only occasional. A class shooter will always be on form, not just occasionally, and be capable of tackling any target”.
Yardstick
Graham said that most people come into shooting through a friend and probably in the discipline of Sporting. At this point there is no yardstick by which to measure themselves against.
“Most people don’t judge themselves by their peers but by their scores. In reality, they need to gauge themselves on what
their colleagues’ average scores are; this is perhaps the only thing you have in a diverse discipline such as Sporting. However, due to the variability of Sporting layouts it can be very hard to quantify your results.
“A discipline like Skeet, where the targets are the same every time, it can be easier to see if there is an improvement. If you were averaging 18 out of 25 last year but have progressed to an average of 20 to 21 per 25 this year, there has been an obvious improvement. This is harder to see with Sporting. I recall shooting a Skeet layout in very bad weather where, at the end of four rounds, the best Shots were 10 clays down on their normal scores. They hadn’t shot badly; they had shot well in difficult conditions. But an obvious pattern had emerged.
“Measure yourself against what your peers are shooting and look to equal them or, preferably, better them. By developing your knowledge of target trajectories in Skeet, you can transfer this to Sporting. That is how you start to develop class. Most of the top shooters are good at Skeet. You can have flashes of form but not always the consistency that comes with class.”
Move forward
He cited a game shooter as a typical example of a form shooter, many of whom are brought up with the swing-through technique.
Graham says: “This works, but not for everything. These shooters will pick the gun up at the start of the season, maybe shoot through to December and then put their guns away. They do nothing to improve their skills out of season and, as such, never get
“Shooting is a progressive sport where successive building blocks are added”
any better. It is two steps forwards and two steps back, and this can have been going on for years. In some ways, it is the equivalent of the lockdown, when few shooters have been able to get out and practice. However, in the case of some game shooters, they are in a semi-permanent state of lockdown that lasts about eight months each year,” he adds.
“Shooting is a progressive sport where successive building blocks are added. It isn’t necessarily the quantity of the practice, it is the quality and it is here that good instruction, and on a fairly regular basis, will build those foundations that will make you a class shooter — a shooter who knows instinctively how to adapt techniques to smash any target.”
He says he has two pupils who are both shooting well. He describes one as a thinker, the other is a naturally good shot.
“Overthinking can cause problems, as can a lack of it. They almost need to acquire a bit of each other’s personality, the ability to mentally understand what to do, but to switch instinctively to taking the shot at the crucial moment. Managing that development as an instructor is crucial,” Graham emphasises.
“Ultimately, it depends on what kind of a shooter you wish to be. If you are a game shooter who simply enjoys the camaraderie of a day with old friends and new, pulling off a good shot now and again is perhaps all you need to keep you happy, regardless of how much you spend on your shooting.”
He says other shooters may struggle to improve through a lack of access to quarry, a shortage of time or financial constraints. As such, these people’s opportunities to practise or pay for lessons may be limited and they simply have to make the best of their situation.
Graham adds: “It perhaps boils down to whether you want to be a happy hobbyist who occasionally shines or whether you want to be a winner, and have the natural and financial abilities to be one. Being a winner takes dedication and a particular mindset.”