You really need to pattern. Especially for those shooting 1 oz or less. Todays promo ammo sold in the big stores have soft shot. If you reload and buy foreign made shot your shooting 2% crap. Matters less if your shooting skeet or 16 yard trap, but add some yardage and be disappointed in your performance. The patterning board is boring, but it is your friend and confidence builder.

Set up to crush targets with well placed shots, chips and chunks only look good on the score sheet and your soon to score some zero's. Build your confidence in the gear and yourself through broken targets. Well broken targets with enough choke and quality components. Knowing when your on target mentally and physically sets up the next shot.

Maltz

Depends on how far you shoot. I shoot at 2 different 5-stand locations for a winter league. At the one, everything is closer than 30 yards and I shoot a skeet choke. At the other, things are more spread out and I use IC.

I'm of the learned opinion that most people over-choke their guns for clay shooting. Yeah, it "dusts" clays when you hit them but it leaves you with a narrow margin for error, which is kind of the point of a shotgun in general.

However, choke is only one aspect of what limits or extends your range. The eight of an ounce more up from a 1 oz load makes a huge difference as it significantly increases your pattern density, regardless of choke.

Also not all guns shoot the same with the "same" chokes.

Bonus: I remember one time I shot skeet with a 70 year old man, who used his old Full choke wingmaster. He got a 24 and the smile never left his face the whole time. All the "pro" skeet shooters there had their mouths ajar in shock.