A few months ago, I wrote a post entitled “What Does Your Mental Game Look Like?” You can link back to that thread HERE if you missed it. Around that same time, I was enjoying some text thread banter with fellow shooters and friends Doug Parsons and Chuck Laughridge in which I told Chuck he should share his story about his progression to B class. I thought readers might enjoy hearing how another fellow shooter had used mental skills to aid in his march up through the ranks. Fortunately, Chuck obliged with a series of very insightful texts detailing his goals that he set, as well as some background as to how he got there!
Note that Chuck was on a mission to punch into B class in 2022 – a target that was achieved in April by winning C class in the “Spring Fling” event at Rose Hill with a blistering score of 88. He has since earned his first punch in B class with another win at Hunter’s Pointe. More on that later. All told, since November of 2021 until the present, he has achieved punches at all of the venues he has shot (Hunter’s Pointe, Deep River, Kidd’s Place and Rose Hill)! Most impressive since he has achieved only 2 punches in 2021 and none in 2019 and 2020. What changed? Stay tuned for more details later in the post!
First, let’s take a peek into Chuck’s goals.
In the spirit of Lanny Bassham, Chuck starts out his goals by listing what his self-image statement is – quite simply, it is “I AM AN AA CLASS SHOOTER”. That self-image is supported by attention to the following major tenants (all the following in Chuck’s words of course):
1. Have fun shooting and continue to get to 100% PROCESS not OUTCOME
2. Practice smarter. Start and finish a session running confidence targets and in the middle challenge the “big boys” one bird at a time, preferably with a mentor. (side note – Chuck also mentioned the following about his practice: My practice has changed radically. To some it seems as if I don’t want to shoot with them, but most have realized that I’m practicing to learn a skill and imprint it positively. Some are even noticing my shooting and asking questions, so I know I’m doing what is right for me.)
3. Obsess on things you can control, when you arrive you need to shoot, not wonder where “stuff” is.
4. Step on the stand/peg with confidence and change nothing, if at all possible. Trust your skill set. Leave the stand/peg either having hit all targets or having hit them in your mind.
5. Be mentally and physically competitive in B Class and A Class (these are the people you’ll be competing with 11 punches from now). Your focus must be on shooting your targets – – – the only real competitor you have IS YOURSELF.
Now, the back story…
Most of what follows is in Chuck’s words with a few minor edits:
I’ll be 69 in August and have “piddled” with Sporting Clays for 5 years or so, but taking shooting seriously really came when my life began again July 3rd 2020. On that day, I couldn’t finish a round at Hunters Pointe while shooting with Lee Dixon. Shortness of breath and fatigue wouldn’t let me continue, so I sat in the cart at stand 5 and pulled targets for Lee. No chest pain, heart rate was 75/90, just TIRED.
I Left Hunter’s Pointe and drove home, dropped Lee off in Havelock and called my doctor. He suggested I go to Carteret General ER. I think I told him I’d rather (expletive) die than go to that hospital on the 4th of July and went home to Harkers Island. My wife and daughter worried me. Honestly, I was a bit worried too. On Monday cardio tests were run in Greenville. Tuesday, I was admitted to Vidant Hospital in Greenville in the midst of Covid19 lockdowns.
Long story a wee bit shorter, I had multiple small clots in both lungs and got to know both the cardio & pulmonary teams intimately. After going over options (treatment or surgery with treatments) I asked the top pulmonary guy, if things went well, what could I do, and he asked what I wanted to do. My reply was to hold my granddaughter in my lap (she was 5 months at the time), hug my family, toss bumpers for my dogs (old Lab and young Field Bred Cocker) shoot sporting clays and fly fish. Fly fishing struck a nerve with the pulmonologist and he asked if I waded in swift currents and I told him with a grin I only wade-fished when my flats skiff couldn’t go any more shallow. He laughed almost immediately and said “you’re that guy that did the television shows with Flip Pallot on ESPN and with Joe Albea on Carolina Outdoor Journal. I did my best Ron White and said, you got me doc, you’ve caught the Big Possum.
Eight days in the hospital, the cardio team refused to do surgery to remove clots until blood thinners and clot busters were tried, and they worked. Still don’t know where the clots came from, but they left. I’ll be on Eliquis the rest of my life. I held my granddaughter the day I left the hospital, tossed bumpers for the dogs the next morning. Two months later, I was up to speed for fishing, and by mid-September, was shooting clays.
The story would end here with happily ever after, but I shot terrible and was constantly cleaning my glasses, but the glasses weren’t the problem. I had cataract surgery on left eye Oct 10. Shot 20ga tubes on Oct 21, and with surgery, my left eye became dominant. So, on Oct 23, my Optometrist convinced my ophthalmologist to do cataract surgery on my right eye. Once he found out I was a shooter, he took even better care of me as he shot skeet at Long Island Gun Club with his grandfather.
So, with a new lease on life and new peepers, Chuck resumed shooting with a new outlook – he continues the story:
I Shot the Larry Corbett FITASC and ENC Open at Hunters Pointe that November and got a couple of punches in C class. This was followed by a punch at the East Coast Warmup. By the East Coast Championship I went to see Mike Sherman to tweak my Summit Ltd and he refused to work on it and grinned at me, then asked how much weight I’d lost. From the time entered Vidant until my checkup before the ECC, I had dropped 67 lbs. Mike S told me to get back with him when I stopped shrinking.
Shortly there-after, I got a fitting at Caesar Guerini USA in Cambridge and it helped a bit. Then, I purchased Doug Koenig’s CG Invictus III with the adjustable comb. I’d shot it before when he first got it and never missed a target with it. The first competition with it was at Hunter’s Pointe when I jammed something up on the Invictus in the middle of 4 report pairs on stand 11. I finally grabbed Doug Parsons gun and finished out the stand “out with 8” and got the Invictus working before I got to stand 12 and ended up with a punch.
That was, for me, as much of an “eye opener” for me as anything in my shooting career. Other shooters have seen some poor behavior on my part in the past. I had tried, perhaps too hard, to get it under control, but that day and that stand dealing with something that would have ruined my round and impacted others became a pivotal part of my shooting.
Chuck went on to explain other significant impacts to his shooting improvement. To paraphrase Proverbs 2:5-10, the victor makes war with a multitude of counselors. Chuck noted that many individuals have left an impression on his mental and technical game including Doug Parson, Lanny Bassham, David Gurkin, David Sanders, Milton Hollowell, the Oliver family and even yours truly among others. He also noted that he will doing a 3-hour session along with Dave Sanders and David Gurkin, with Bill McGuire on July 21st at Hunter’s Pointe.
He went on to say that “Trying too hard” comes to mind along with the chapter in “Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect” called “Let The Short Game Flow” which has allowed him to be more confident and decisive when he gets on the stand.
He summarized his comments as follows:
A whole lot of good things have happened to me in my life, but they really came home to me on July the 3rd two years ago…. I’ll have fun and let the punches come to me as a soon-to-be 69 year old …
I would like to end with one of The Big Possum’s favorite quotes:
Many thanks to “The Big Possum” for sharing his story with the rest of our community. I look forward to seeing Chuck continue to punch his way up to AA class and beyond!
