2) Find one instructor you are comfortable with and confident in and stick solely with them. Too many times I have given a lesson with the advice to take one thing at a time and work on it till the student is routinely confident in it, only to have many well meaning shooting buddies fill their head so fully with multiple and incorrect suggestions that the student fails to focus on the original instruction and short term goals that were desired.

3) Join the NSSA, participate in registered shoots and begin the process of performing under pressure. I have seen many shooters smoke targets at their local club only to fall apart at shoots where there were onlookers, prizes on the line and more at stake than buying the next soda. With that said, keep in mind that skeet is intended to be fun at all levels. If a person so chooses to come out to the club a couple of times a year and is content in that approach, by all means help them, support them and do all you can to promote the sport and keep them coming back for more.

4) Tip of the day for high 2! I see an extraordinary amount of misses at high 2 due to one simple flaw: HOLDING THE GUN TOO HIGH! Bring that barrel down to a line running from the bottom of the window. Too many targets are under or behind that barrel when holding high and the panic when seeing it emerge past the gun only exaggerates the perceived speed of this target. By holding lower you have more time to see it, match gun speed and actually realize that there is no need to rush this shot.

5) When shooting doubles, many shooters tend to rush that first shot thinking they must do this in order to have a chance on the second target. This sets up the dreaded dead gun situation and you are left trying to pick off that second bird with a spot shot. I know that I have to actually tell myself to take the shot in the same spot as in singles or even a hair later so as to provide the right timing for the gun barrel to flow back for the second shot. The old adage of "shoot, look, shoot" is very accurate. Take care of that first bird, THEN look for the second. The gun will naturally follow where you are looking and provide the proper speed and sight picture to pull it off.

Extra bonus tip: I obtained this little tip a few years ago from Bob Myers and Larry Lucas. If you drop a shell while loading your gun on a station, do not bend over and pick it up. This small task may cause the slightest dizziness or out of balance condition because of the blood rushing to your head. Pull another shell from your pouch and smoke those targets! You don't want anything but a clear head when you're on the verge of running that 100!!!

- Randy Lindsay