Description of Sporting Clays

- My home club. Two sporting clays courses, the south is in the woods shot off the side of a ridge (great views of the Ozarks) the north is where most of the tournament targets are thrown. Some are more wide open while areas are also back in the woods. There are two skeet ranges, and two trap ranges with a 5 stand and a wobble trap. They hold registered NSCA shoots almost monthly and have annual shoots such as the Fiocchi Cup, Friends of the NRA, Ozark Mountain Classic. They also have monthly ATA trap shoots and high school trap tournaments. See the link to their website on my links page.

- About an hour south of Cincinnati, OH and a bit farther north of Lexington, KY is Elk Creek. I have shot there four times. Once as a beginner with my wife and son. We shot 50 targets each on their novice course. I also shot there during their NWTF state shoot in 2004 and 2005. Both times I shot on a different course and had a great time. The first time the course was up in the fields and the second year the course was laid out along what they call the ridge. I remember a great diversity of targets and a very well run club. They also have a covered 5 stand set up down near a pond which was fun, I think they have since moved this. They have a great clubhouse with a well stocked pro shop. I shot some practice there in 2008 using their electronic target counter system. I hope to make it to the US Open in 2009 there. I will be back there as I don't think I've seen it all yet! My wife is interested in their wine tasting. That will wait until after shooting!

- I can't tell you about the sporting clays course as I only shot skeet here on a very windy day. What I remember about the club is I almost hit my first 25 straight here, wind and all, but I called pull before I was ready on the second shot at low house 8 and blew it! The staff here was very friendly.

- I have shot here a couple of times when I have been in Cincinnati. It is maybe 45 minutes west of north Cincinnati. I's a great club with some really interesting terrain. I particularly enjoyed the raveins and the pond shots. I am looking forward to shooting here again.

- Again I can only comment on the skeet fields as I didn't have time to shoot sporting here. The club was kinda pricey but the ranges are well maintained and the trappers were nice young kids. They hold the Browning Briley shoot here annually. I think the BB is now donw at Cajun Elite.

- Canoe Creek Ranch is just south of Lexington, KY and have a very nice sporting clays range through the woods. The range has a well tended path for carts and is up and down through varied terrain. The club's presentations were a bit soft at the time and they were newly opened and catering to new shooters. I will be back to try and the club again when I am in the area. In 2008 I returned with my family to shoot a round and found that they have improved the presentations. I believe that they held the Kentucky State Shoot there in 2008.

- I shot in the Quail Creek Claasic in 2004 and had planned to do so again in 2005 but Hurricane Wilma altered my business plans and I could not get there. They have a great assortment of presentations and have constructed a number of raised shooting platforms to help vary the Florida terrain. The shoot was well organized and the food was great! I shot the shoot with a rental gun that I am sure hindered my shooting but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I will return there again in the future.

- I was the guest of a group from our Baltimore store and shot with Terry Rich who is a master shooter in the area and used to work at Bass Pro. It was like a clinic as he helped us with our shooting and I was relatively new shooter shooting a rental gun. It is a very nice club and I enjoyed the sporting clays presentations. This is the club where I shot on the Bass Pro team with Allan Treadwell and Terry Rich and won the Congressional Industry Challenge Shoot in May of 2007. The presentations were on the easy side. In 2008 I shot in a registered shoot there on a Friday evening after work where they set the presentations on about 6 skeet fields. The presentations were about medium tough and I took a First in C class but there were only 4 in my class so again, no punch. I also shot in the Congressional Industry shoot with Alan Treadwell and this time Haley Dunn. We again took first place, but they stiffened up the target presnetations this year!

- I shot here once in a Clays For Kids Charity tournament. I beleieve it is a private club. Great topography and relatively easy targets, of course it was a charity tournament which could account for that. Shot skeet and trap during the day as well with a team from the Detroit Store of Bass Pro Shops.

- Only shot trap and trap doubles at this club with a borrowed gun. I haven't shot on their sporting clays course yet. - In 2006 I attended the Quail Unlimited Shoot at the club. The targets were set by Marty Fisher and seemed hittable but were also challenging. The courses were set around the ponds and lakes on the property and was very interesting. A beautiful course. The Florida University Trap and skeet team did the trapping for the event and were very competent. I shot terrible in the tournament but scored a third place in the 5 stand event.

- I spent a very nice day out at this club. The sporting clays course was a flat field for the first 8 stations shot around two sides of an open field. Then you get to the pond that they picture on the back page of Sporting Clays Magazine for one station, then another station that has some vegitation. They are very nice there and I had a good time. I also shot skeet and trap there. In 2007 I shot in the Bass Pro QU shoot here and had a blast. The course is still flat with not much variation. They did some neat stuff throwing rabbits up a hill and the like.

- The club is about 40 minutes south of Orlando and has some varied terrain for a Florida club. I shot a round of practice there before heading to the airport to catch a flight home. It was the first time I had ever shot using a self thrown delayed timer trap system. It was fun.

- I have not shot sporting there as I was on business on a tight schedule but the course looked interesting. I did shot their 5 stand on a very windy day. They gave me a tour of the course from the cart path and when they asked me how it differed from my home club I said "trees!" In 2008 I was able to return to the club which is now under new management and shot the small gauge events of the Desert Lake Classic. I shot well and had a good time. The targets were up and down in the raveins and arroyos (I think that's what they call them) and were fun to shoot. I picked up a tip from the trapper on being the first shooter to a station in the morning, Check the station for Rattle Snakes first!

- West of the Bass Pro store in Columbia, MO is the River Hills club. I shot with some members of the Bass Pro management team there. We shot a few of the sporting clays stations and then shot their 5 stand which is built like a deck on the side of a ravine. The target presntations there were great. A lot of fun. I retuned there a few years later and shot in a registered shoot there and had my hat handed to me. Good stiff tournament targets!

- I shot the sporting clays course here which was pretty flat and set around an open field for the most part. They had a tower shot in the middle which was challenging as well as some long battue targets. Finished up with a round of skeet and relaxed in their very elegant club house.

- Shot here during the US Open. See picture on the home page of me shooting there. It is a very frienly club, maybe about 2 hour drive west of Springfield. The courses have varying topography and creative stations over water and around ponds etc... Don't be fooled by the entry road which is flat as a pool table. The practice course had a key card system that counts your targets and allows a timed delay so you can pull for yourself. Great for practice so you can skip the easy stations and concentrate on the ones you are having trouble with.

- The club is about a two hour drive south west of Louisville. It is a friendy place and I shot a fun shoot there during the weekend while on a business trip. The first four stations were all quartering targets with the first two stations following pairs from the same thrower. After them the target presentations got more creative and challenging. I had a fun day and will return when I get a chance.

- Roger has a great club a couple of hours west of Orlando. He has three courses there the white course is a charity target course for beginners, a red couse which is mainly a tournament course and a blue couse which is set somewhere inbetween. The topography is Florida flat but the presentations are creative and challenging. I'll be back. The day I shot there it was just before hurricame Wilma and it was hot and sticky. Roger had placed coolers with water bottles around the course.

- The club is about a 20 minute drive from the North Myrtle Beach Bass Pro store. It has 10 stations over pretty flat terrain. The club has built some raised platforms so that gives some diversity. The course was set up for practice for the recent QU shoot in Savannah and it showed. The presentations were similar to the presentations set by Marty Fisher for that shoot. It was a good course and the trapper, a charming young lady, did a good job. The club is still under construction but is already a great place to visit.

Shot the course twice during the two weeks I was in CO. They have a timed release system that works very well and gave me a chance to work on the presentations that I needed work on. The course is set along a dry creek bed and there are about 20 stations with very good presentations. The presentations get more challenging the farther back in the course that you go. I really enjoyed the tower shots. I will go back if I am in the area.

I was able to shoot in a registered shoot at Elm Fork in 2007. In that shoot you trap and score for youselves and since I was there by myself on business I sat at the first station and waited for someone to shoot with. As it turns out I got to shoot with Gary Greenway(NSCA Head Instructor) and had a great time. The woods course is in and out of scrub trees and has good presentations. It seemed to me that most were angled up rather than crossers to get most of the presentations in the space they have. The meadows course is more wide open. I enjoyed the course and the staff there.

In 2007 I shot in a registered shoot at Mick Howell's. The target presentations were good. I remember a driven mini off the tower that I had never seen before. Good rabbit targets. The course is Florida flat but he uses the grounds well to set good presentations. The food was good also! They are working to improve the facilities. In 2008 not much has changed. Good targets good food and a good turnout for the shoot in June.

Shot in the Quail Unlimited shoot there in 2007. About an hour and a half drive south east from Macon this club is mainly a hunting preserve but Marty Fisher set up the sporting clays courses for small gauge and the main events here. Varied terrain, good presentations and a pretty good crowd on hand for this event. In 2008, the presentations were much tougher. I got to shoot in the prelim with John Kruger and Bill McGuire. Like watching a clinic!

In June 2008 I made the trip across alligator alley to the Port of the Islands Gun Club for a registered shoot. The club is a bit laid back but was well organized for the shoot. This time of the year most of the snow birds had flown north so the turnout wasn't great. The course winds around by a water course for about the first 6 stations all florida flat but the presentations were in and out of the woods. Then comes the swamp as my squad mate called it with some incomers a couple of tricky looping targets and more close crossing targets. The course then comes out of the swamp and there are some tower shots and some trap style presentations from what looks like a future covered 5 stand set-up. HOA for the day was 84 so my 78 held up pretty good and captured first in C class but with only 4 shooters in class there was no punch earned. I'm glad they told me about the 10 foot alligator that was killed on the sporting clays course after I finished shooting! The Steak cookout on the grill was really good!

Flat course with not much variation, good targets still set up from a previous registered shoot. They had a counter system but no way to determine where the targets are coming from at the stations until you throw them. A menu with some arrows at each station would be a good idea like Kiowa Creek has in CO.

Shot a charity shoot for the youth shooters at this club. They have courses for varying skill levels and the charity shoot was shot on the tournament course. Some very challenging targets, varying topography and a very friendly club to shoot at.