It’s a long drive to Buccaneers but we’ve always made an effort to visit new places, it’s a big part of field target for us and travelling around the country brings a lot of good experience to stick under the belt. Plus supporting other regions is important for the sport going forward, I’m not a fan of the “stay at home” field target picnic campers.
Phil fell asleep again at junction 31 but the drive was pretty easy and we got down in just over 3hrs, not bad because that also included a break for breakfast. The ground was pretty easy to find and located in an interesting area with some amazing houses and grounds scattered around the main road, the kind of pictures you’d see on chocolate or shortbread boxes.
The plinker was in the farmer’s field and was taking a fair amount of wind due to it being exposed, I was hoping the course would be taking a bit less. I really needed a good performance today and had to stay focused on the job at hand, target by target and not to fall foul of the psychology of missing.
The ground is pretty amazing, it looks like a lost woods in a jungle scene from Apocaplyse Now. Looking from the top of the ground there are stacks of old trees and undulations all over the place, this was going to be tricky if the wind gets up but it did look ace and very lived in. The deformed horseshoe shape of the course also ensured you certainly need to keep your eye in at all times, that said there was a really good mix of targets and some of them were beautifully framed.
A walk around the course was checking in with people was interesting, Jack and Berty were still clear and most people were having a good time and loving it. It didn’t feel like there was much wind but we all know it’s there, you could feel it coming and going. I sat behind Dave Taylor for a couple of shots, first one he stayed inside left and it just whipped him out. There’s no way it felt like that much but that’s the game, it’s a cruel sport sometimes. Jack finished on a 1, he missed target 39, the long kneeler at the top of the course, if he got that he’d have been the first person to get into Club 50 twice! That’s 45 shots without a miss, that’s some shooting. Berty also came off with a 1, missing just target 5, the long diamond at the top of the course.
That kinda means we had it all to do, I didn’t think it was that kind of course that would get cleared, too technical and there would always be enough to catch people out. I started on Lane 8, so standers to finish on again, that’s twice in a row but whatever, do your worst cos I’m up for it.
I was holding my own and you could tell this course had been set by people who know how scopes work, get it slightly out and your either high or low, clever work without forcing a boring distance course, this was another technical one like Oaktree. I got my head down and probably overthinking a few but I didn’t care as they were dropping. The only mistake I’d made so far was wobbling on the first 15mm, oh well, next target please. Got to say so of the targets looked ace and had been perfectly framed, a lot of work had gone into this. I was still doing fine until lane 20, I missed them both because I couldn’t get comfortable. I should take my own advice and reset but I didn’t and I missed them both, that’s a PB slipping out of my hands right there. Oh well, NEXT!
