Just had to use that title, Tishminga is such a great name. Hope she does not mind but yesterday was such a great illustration for those who want to be competitive. I had the privilege of hand judging Tishminga for four matches in a row at the Camp Bounty shoot.
In the first match she was high left, then low right, then high left and then low right, all by a wide margin. It was obvious to me that she was thinking during her draw and shooting right where she was thinking. So I counseled her to stop thinking.
In the second match I told her just to draw and shoot and not worry where she was going to hit, I would line her up on the target. She did not need to think about hitting, I would take care of that. I have used this technique before, it especially works well with a new shooter with a good stance and a stable draw. You can normally sight them just like you would a gun. If you can get them to not think about where they are going to hit, then it is just an alignment issue and it is normally easy to walk them right onto the target.
We continued on into the third and fourth match with Tishminga either on the target or just a little off, no wide swings. I did notice that she was hesitating a bit to aim her gun. Generally, the aimed shots were a misses whereas when she just drew and shot she would be right where I had aligned her. We do not aim!!!!!!! We draw and fire wherever we are aligned.
You need to make your alignment adjustment before the set command. Then forget about it. Never worry about where you are going to hit. Thinking about where you are going to hit only causes you to miss and to be slow. No thinking after the set command.
Tishminga got more accurate and quicker as the shoot when on. After four rounds, I was on the line at the same time, but did note she handily sent her opponent to boot hill.
Don't think!
Don't aim!
Just draw and fire!
You will hit because you are aligned on the target!
