Losing the feel of the shot.

[MerlinApexDylan]

ever happen to any of you?

[John K]

Yes, when I tore the serratus posterior muscle in my drawing shoulder in the last half of 2002 while at the gym. One month of not realising what I had done with my shooting going all over the place, followed by a three-month lay off after a sports physio diagnosed the problem. Ever since then I've been struggling to fit everything back together. It's like I've had to reprogram my muscle memory from scratch. There are good days and bad days. :-?

[Marcus]

All the bloody time, in fact this is what prevents me shooting 1350+
When I have the shot I have no problems, rack up 10's with ease, if I lose the feel then I have to work on getting it back. This doesn't help that my form is drastically different to 6 months ago.
However the time frame of holding together is getting longer and recovery time shorter. These are good things.
Best thing to get it back is to stop everything and revert to fundamentals.

[mike]

This is a funny one. I remember that it used to be that realy good shooting came with a certain 'feel'. Nowadays I find that good shoot shooting comes from something else entirely, because I have had some of my best shooting when I have had it all feeling completely wrong (eg my thrashing of people like Erika :D at that world champs practice -- it felt horrible, but that first 58 just happened). So I give up on feel. I just try and 'get it right' as often as I can on a shot by shot basis.

I find it is either working (which means things like 56s at 90m, or 58s at 70) or it just patently isn't (read like 51 at 90m or 53 at 70).

I am actually not sure of the value of trying to identify why you have good days. Probably best to perservere and just try to make every shot as good as you can and just accept the good and the bad...

[MerlinApexDylan]

Marcus. Give it a year or so with the new stuff and you'll be rocken. I know in July it will be coming on to my second year now from whence I started to be retrained and haven't dealt with the loss of feel for a while. As the old crap dies and the new stuff is put in it's place. It gets better. Though some times, there are those days or two or three. :wink:

No worries though Eh. :)

[The One]

I definately know the feeling. The problem is that the more I try and relive that 'feeling' of the perfect shots, the harder it gets, as I become slightly too conscious of certain parts of my form. The main cure that I find for this is hundreds of shots into a blank butt, followed by practice at a distance that I'm used to, such as 70m on a 122cm face. If you can get yourself used to shooting good shots in practice, this will translate into good shots in a tournament.

If you find yourself getting into different mindsets in tournaments, it may help to have a shot routine that you go through every single shot you make. Without a shot routine, many people fall suceptible to overthinking their form. Shot routines help to focus your mind in achieving the perfectly replicated shot. Once you get the feeling of a good shot back, you may or may not wish to continue using this method.

Andy

[SteveFSA]

When this happens to me it's usually because I'm over aiming. I have found a few tricks that work for me. One is to put my focus on the weight over my feet through the shot. Also sometimes I focus on feeling the wall during the shot. The key for me is get out of my head and into my body if that makes sence.

-- Steve