Posted by Peter Merriman on
URL: http://oldforum.flyshooter.com.au/Match-Practice-tp5707071p5707076.html

Hi Peter

While i completely agree that there is no substitute fr experience or better place to learn then at the range competing in the FLY I also believe that if I had to wait for each FLY shoot until I was able to ask experienced shooters about the sport I would not have learned enough to have improved between FLY Shoots.
Reading of other shooters experiences and getting more of an understanding about the psychology and theory of shooting has been a good foundation from which to learn.
To be able to turn up at the range and understand a bit about what it is  I am looking at and not just a field of pretty green and orange tape has help my confidence no end.
There is one thing i ave learned from the books and theory is that i should stop worrying about what the conditions might be at my next shoot and as long as i have a basic understanding of what to look for at the range I will be ok.

Theory will never beat experience but as I have not had the experience of the shooters filling the top places at the FLY shoots reading about the sport and asking questions in between FLY shoots it's what I have to work with.

Reading about what a projectile should do when shot at 2900 feet per second over a distance of 500 meters and then going to the range and seeing that in fact what should have happend didn't as driven me to want to understand more about how the wind works and in particular how a 60 degree wind shift over 500 will effect my next shot.

Experience is king but theory has its place.

Peter