CHAPTER 1: "You’ve got to get your mind right, Luke."

The first thing we’re going to work on is your attitude toward this station because lots of shooters head to Station 2 more worried about avoiding a miss than about hitting the target. You will always miss birds at high 2, but here’s a news flash for you – sooner or later, you’re going to miss them at every other station, too.

In spite of what you think, this station is no harder than any other; you just think it is, and you think it’s harder because you haven’t got the right combination of stance, hold point, eye position, break point, and focus. This bird goes racing past. You toss your gun barrel out there into the unknown somewhere ahead of the bird, and the referee calls "lost."

Well, we’re about to fix that.

CHAPTER 2: "Make a new plan, Stan."

Let’s first go back to a basic that all great shooters seem to have – they have a "shot plan." Don’t know what we’re talking about? Okay, go watch Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love, or any other professional golfer make a shot. They do the same thing every single time; they never vary – same set-up, same number of practice swings – and if anything interrupts them and their routine, they start over again from scratch.

You need to have the same approach to shoot skeet, especially Station 2. A shot plan doesn’t have to be fancy. Look at this example:

Step 1 – Be confident;

Step 2 – Establish break point;

Step 3 – Take a good stance; etc…

And you don’t have to recite these steps each time you shoot, but you do have to follow them until they become ingrained – until they’re automatic, silent, quick, and almost unnoticed.

This is your first step in successfully shooting Station 2.

CHAPTER 3: "So Bob short strokes in skeet, too?"

The second step in conquering Station 2 is nailing the low house (not a major problem for most shooters) so that your confidence is already on the upswing because you already KNOW you’re going to slaughter this bird.

The general consensus seems to be to shoot the single low bird exactly where you shoot the double, which is about one-third of the way from the center stake towards the high house. If it works for you, don’t change. If it’s not working, then shoot it at or slightly before the center stake.

Think about it. At or before the center stake gives you a wider shot pattern because it’s a little further away and also gives you slightly less angle on the shot, so lead becomes less critical. Also, the bird has not yet started to change its trajectory as it does after the center stake when it starts to slow down and drop.

You could also consider the Bob Myers "short-stroke" system. Watch Bob sometime; he holds closer to the center than you do on the incomers like low 2, and, although he watches the bird as it emerges from the house, he doesn’t move the gun as quickly as you do because the bird takes longer to get to his gun. When the bird gets to his gun – and as soon as he gets the first instant of the proper sight picture – he fires. The gun doesn’t move far, which decreases his margin of error.

Lastly as to the low house, if you’re still missing it, then you may want to want to patch your off eye or adjust your patch if you already use one. Sometimes that miss is caused by your eyes switching off, that is, by an erratic eye dominance. Your dominant eye isn’t necessarily dominant all the time, depending on how tired you are or the sun or lots of other factors. If that happens, you may see the same lead but it’s from your other eye, and it won’t be the lead you need to break the bird.

Even people with patches sometimes don’t have them in the right place, either. Remember, all you’re trying to do is cloud the vision of your off eye from the mid-bead to the front sight. You really want the off eye to see – just not help sight the gun, so blocking it off completely with too big or too solid a patch takes away that eye entirely, and you may as well be shooting with one eye shut.

CHAPTER 4: "Sure, you can read the directions, but that’s not very manly."

Ready to kick butt on the high house? I’ve got the answer – guaranteed! Sharpen those No.2 pencils and get out that legal pad, ‘cause here it comes. Ready? GO READ TODD BENDER’S ARTICLE IN THE OCTOBER 2000 SKEET SHOOTING REVIEW. This kid Bender probably won’t amount to much in the skeet world, but he sure has written a nice article on high 2. In fact, in two pages, he has written the DEFINITIVE article on high 2.

In summary, here’s what he says: Foot position – right-hand shooter, face the low house; left- hand shooter, face the high house. Hold point – three feet out from straight to the baseline; HOLD LOW; Eye position – just off the barrel back towards the house; Break point – anywhere from 15 feet before the center stake to the center stake.

If you aren’t shooting high two like this and you’re hitting the bird, then, once again, don’t change anything. If, on the other hand, you aren’t shooting high two like this, and you aren’t hitting the bird, then why don’t you change?

By the way, this is a good time to bring up a wonderful little gem. Sometimes, we have a shooter who tries something new a total of about three shots, doesn’t break the bird, and then abandons the new idea, dismissing it, and us, as stupid. Well, realize that this might not be your only shooting flaw and that you might still miss the target because you have thirty-eleven other little flaws to overcome as well.

Correcting problem #1 won’t make you hit the target when problems #2, 3, 4, 5, … are also making you miss. In other words, don’t chuck a new idea quite so fast. Give it four or five OR FIVE HUNDRED shots before you decide it doesn’t work.

Also, Bender stresses a very important point: Lots of misses occur at high 2 because you hold too high. Get somebody to stand behind you and make sure you’re holding at the bottom of the door. Most shooters seem to find it easier to go up than down anyway. A high hold frequently makes you slide over the top of the bird, plus, as Todd says, the lower hold ensures that you have a clear and unobstructed view of the target the entire way, even if it drops on you.

CHAPTER 5: "But you said I’d shoot 100. Did the referee miscount?"

Okay, you’re doing all of the above according to Bender, you have a positive attitude, and you still can’t hit high 2. Let’s look at four final thoughts.

First, consider customizing Todd’s comments to your individual style. You may find, for example, that the bird still beats you, so experiment with moving the hold point a little further out or the eye position a little further back towards the house rather than "just off the barrel." In short, you may have to customize your mechanics slightly to meet your needs, but don’t vary them too much because, quite frankly, his method is proven, and you’re missing because you’re not following it.

Second, are you keeping the Bermuda Triangle intact? Extend your arms full length in front of you and put your palms together. See the triangle formed by your shoulders and your arms? Now, rotate your body left or right by moving your legs, not your arms, and notice that the triangle doesn’t change it’s shape. Go stand on Station 2 and do the same thing. If you keep that triangle consistent by moving your legs, you’ll be able to focus on that target better. It won’t seem as jerky or fast. If you push the gun left or right by moving the arm holding the fore-stock without swiveling your body, you’re changing the triangle, and the gun is no longer shooting where you’re looking.

Third, are you "leaving home" on this shot? Since the timing is probably more important on this shot and low 6 than any other place on the field (with the possible exception of Station 8), jumping out in front of the bird and then having to wait for it gets you nothing but "O" on the score sheet. With your mechanics correct, there’s a lot more time to smash this target than you were accustomed to having, so wait until you see the little sucker before you do anything. Get your buddies to give you an erratic or slow pull now and then to see if you start moving the gun too early.

Lastly, are you really sure you’re focused on the bird? After you’ve incorporated the "Bender Basics" above, this is the single biggest reason for missing high 2. You think you’re focused, but you’re not. You have got to stare holes in that bird. Look for the rotation; look for the ribs or edges; look for the line where the orange meets the black; look for anything to keep you focused on the target and make sure you maintain the focus from the point when you first see the bird until after it flies into little birdy pieces.

Imagine a big yardstick starting at the door of the high house and stretching along the flight of the bird out past the center stake. When you watch that target fly, it’s like trying to read each number on that yardstick as you move your head left to right. If you can’t read those imaginary numbers, you ain’t focusin’.

Now we’re back to Step 1 on everybody’s shot plan – BE CONFIDENT. So go do it.

- Cris and Randy Lindsay