[Coach Super-X]

And how many hundreds of dollars do you charge for this "tracking analysis," Jim?

And so what if your "analysis" says a tester has "defective" tracking ability? We are not major league ball clubs trying to decide on who to offer a $5M signing bonus to. We are just people trying to have fun.

Sorry, but I get sick of the hucksters.

 

[Coach Super-X]

As for your huskster comment, The RightEye System is used by several of the most prestigious vision research institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, Duke University and MIT. It is being used for brain injury therapy and monitoring, early Parkinson diagnosis and even long term affects to the brain like caused by Lyme disease. It utilizes the worldwide patented eye tracking technology developed by Tobii in Sweden(Google them) by taking that data feed and applying proprietary algorithms to generate the reports which constructed by comparing an individuals results to a database of of similar demographic subjects drawn from its master database of over 5,000,000 previous assessments.

Okay, but what does this have to do with recreational shotgunning (which is the only kind of shotgunning that exists in the U.S.)? I have had kids who I suspected had some sort of focusing ("tracking" perhaps?) problem. It was obvious they were never going to win a medal in a World Cup or at the Olympics, but they were still having fun shooting.

Another way to put it is, I have had kids who demonstrated exceptional "tracking" abilities (proven in field). They were the ones who went on to become top shooters in their discipline. But I did not need some machine to tell me the difference between the two.

I just do not see where you think you are going with this. So some shooters have better tracking ability. So what? Do you think you have a "training program" that is going to turn them into a top shooter? Where can we read about at least one such person you have converted from a mediocre or poor shooter into a top shooter? My approach may be archaic but I have taught several kids to shoot who went on to become top shooters in the country. These were not kids I cherry-picked out of existing programs, they were kids who came to me as rank beginners.

And what on earth does your "tracking" gizmo have to do with eye dominance? I can tell you which is the dominant eye on a beginner in about 10 seconds. It does not matter because I then teach them how to shoot on their strong side with both eyes open, irrespective of dominance.

And for the record, you cannot be a "huckster" unless you are selling something. I don't qualify, you do. My "book" as you call it is published in full on the Internet, free for all to read.

I am in this sport purely for the fun of it, although I will admit it is fun taking kids to the Junior Olympics and watching them get a gold medal hung around their neck, or becoming the state champ in multiple disciplines. I will put my percentage of successes up against any coach in the country with the exception of Dan Carlisle.

When you think your coaching or your gizmo has led to even one beginner becoming a top shooter in the country, by all means let us know.

 

[Coach Super-X]

Sure. That said, was it due to a tracking error, dominance issue, flinch, stopping my swing, lifting my head, jerking the trigger, hold point, mismount, or 1000 other potential issues? Would rather get back to basics and focus on the next bird vs. agonizing over the last one.

Not only that, but any time someone says they missed a bird they "could have sworn they were right on," I know their actual problem was merely what they are doing with their eyes, not some physiological defect.

 

[Coach Super-X]

One thing that has struck me over the years is how many great shooters had fathers who were great shooters. It is not genetic, it is the fact that the fathers started their kids out shooting the right way from Day One, so that every shell fired after that was making the kid better.

If shooting extremely well were simply a matter of experimenting, finding what "feels natural," or "what works best for you," the Derrick Meins and Kayle Brownings of the world would have a lot more competition.

Learning to shoot a shotgun well is the least intuitive endeavor I believe I have ever encountered. It is also the least understood by the great mass of its practitioners.

That provides gimmick and snake oil salesmen an open door, but there really is no shortcut.

 

[Coach Super-X]

Jim, I think Bayne is asking the same thing I am - what proof is there that "tracking ability" correlates to breaking clay targets with a shotgun? Obviously a shooter cannot have a severe tracking ability and still become a top shot, but how do you know an exceptional tracking ability actually produces more broken targets than a person with average tracking ability will break? Seems to me you are just guessing that it does, which is sort of convenient if you are making money if people worry about it.