October 2, 2019

Missing has always just
been a part of life for a clay shooter. A part of life that has been, frankly,
infuriating. How many times have we stood there, after we’ve pulled the
trigger, watching an intact clay spinning into the horizon, scratching our
head, asking “How on earth did I miss that?” Or worse yet, having one or two
misses, going on tilt, and ultimately crumbling on the line as zeros start
adding up.

We’ve all been
there. No shooter is immune, because every shooter — novice to expert — will
eventually miss.  

So we go back to
the range and start shooting … and shooting … and shooting. We spend countless
hours and shells trying to figure out what’s going on when we miss. Many times,
the most we can figure out is our wallets are a little lighter and our shooting
isn’t much better, if at all.

And historically that’s
always been the accepted cost of trapshooting; if you want to limit your misses,
you need to keep shooting until you figure it out. Unfortunately, between the
shells, clays and rounds, shooting expenses add up quickly. 

Not anymore.

The Garmin Xero S1 Trapshooting Trainer has quickly become the best tool for fewer missed shots and faster progression. The revolutionary piece of technology is helping people take the mystery out of missing by providing a never-before-seen look at your shot for both hits, and more importantly, misses – to the inch. It’s taken the mystery out of missing.

Any coach will tell you: Knowing that you missed isn’t as important as understanding why you missed. Once you understand that, you can use the information to correct your approach.

To get a sense of how Xero S1 can help
coaches and students with their shooting performance, we spoke with Randy
Knight, who was a first adopter of the Xero S1 technology. He and his wife
Teresa coach Clemson University’s trap team.

Over the past two months, Knight has used
Xero S1 with professional shooters, novices and upland enthusiasts.

…

Garmin: What has surprised you the most about your own shooting when using Xero S1?

Randy Knight: In the time that I
have used it, the ability of Xero S1 to show me how solid my breaks were has
surprised me the most. I’ve begun to have more centered breaks by using the S1
system. The immediate feedback that Xero S1 provides may be one of my favorite
features. It gives me another reason to practice and challenges me to make more
solid hits.

G: In your experience, what is the most common reason people miss in trap at beginning, intermediate and expert levels?

RK: At all levels of
experience, most targets are missed because shooters are not focusing on the
target or checking their barrel. The Xero S1 trainer can provide multiple areas
of feedback, acquisition time, break distance, hit tendencies, etc., to help shooters
narrow down then reasons for missing targets.

G: How has Xero S1 made it easier for people to understand a miss and improve upon it?

RK: Xero S1 allows the shooter to see where and how far off the miss was from the target. Before Xero S1, we only knew we missed and had to estimate how much we needed to adjust our shot.Shooters had to rely on the accuracy of the person standing behind them to call the miss correctly. This process was as accurate as the person over their shoulder. It takes thousands of rounds for someone to stand behind you and be able to tell where you are shooting, and if they feed you the wrong information, it can put you completely behind.

G: Spending time with coaches like you offers one of the best ways for people to improve their shooting and limit misses. Would you recommend a coach who is managing several students to use Xero S1?

RK: Yes. A coach with
multiple students can improve their coaching with the use of Xero S1 because
the system provides visual reinforcement to their verbal coaching. Over the
course of my career, I’ve noticed students tend to respond positively to visual
input, which S1 provides. Students using Xero S1 will have accurate feedback on
their shooting, providing a tremendous advantage in competitive shooting. Seeing
and knowing where they are actually shooting will allow them to improve their
shooting skills. In competition, the knowledge they gain will allow them to
adjust their shooting if they miss because they will know what their picture of
the shot should be.

G: The free Xero app houses the historical data over hundreds of rounds. How important is it for students to understand their performance over 10, 20, 30 rounds in order to make corrections with their shooting?   

RK: Xero S1 trend information provides the shooter
with evidence of areas of weakness and strength.  Shooters may use the information to keenly
focus on repeating areas of weakness and pinpoint their training there for
improvement. Essentially, shooters can now xero (pun intended) in on hits to work
towards every shot being a “smash.”

G: As people use Xero S1, they are surprised at how a…