Gurus Grumbles
The "Yips" and the effects connected with them.
The “Yips” Ever had the “Yips”? Many do, and it is not just limited to the lower grade shooters either! The “Yips” can take many forms in shooters techniques and they are quite often extremely difficult to remove, often taking a very long time and a lot of work to get over the troubles. I had a case of them recently, which is why this article has been developed, but there are a number in our club that either, are, or have been affected, as we speak. As I said above they take many forms, so I will limit this discussion to the ones that affected me. I must also add I was not aware that I even had the “Yips” until one of the better shooters in the club pointed this out! The principle problem associated with the Yips is one of trigger release and can be compounded with follow through, recoil absorption within the position and muscle tension itself. The latter of course depends on just how serious the Yips have affected the shooter’s technique. To tackle the trigger release section that can lead to the yips, does depend on your ability to concentrate. It is essential, (in my opinion) that a top class trigger release is a subconscious reaction dictated by the recognition of a correct sight picture. The sight picture is recognised and the trigger just breaks without any thought. This type of trigger release is totally essential to very high level performance and obviously results. Have you ever fired a shot that went off miles before you were ready for it? Yes? Have you ever wondered why these shots seem to land smack in the middle? The answer is a subconscious trigger release factor. The subcon mind says “Go” and it does ! There are many reasons why my “Yips” developed, but the main one was mechanical malfunction of the trigger on my Bevan. It was inconsistent in release pressures and release point. I took the rifle to Fred and he worked the trigger over for me, which alleviated the function problems. The release was now crisp, but the pressure variation was still there and I struggled to get any form of subconscious shot release away. I was shooting the rifle consciously, with my focus on the trigger function rather than the sight picture. Thinking of the trigger rather than perfecting the sight picture made things extremely difficult to get the results I felt I was shooting. Sure, I shot 70’s in grade Teams, but the vee count was way under what I was capable of. It was during these matches, that my club mate had a look at what I was doing and took me aside after for what turned out to be a really important discussion. I had the “Yips” and he could see them! A development that was very obvious to him, but not immediately apparent to me! My “Yips” were being compounded by the way that I was now anticipating the recoil strike into the position. I shot my rifle with very high tension levels in the right (trigger) hand grip, forcing the cheek down hard on the cheek piece and absorbing recoil with high tension levels in my shoulders. This anticipation of the recoil “smack” into the position also caused me to have my eyes shut at the point of release! NOT GOOD! There were a number of things mentioned within that discussion, but the really important one was the trigger attack angle I was using and had used for the better part of my shooting life. I suddenly became aware that I had closed my mind to any further development of my trigger hand release system. That really woke me up! So, how did I get rid of the “Yips”? Please bear in mind that there was no specific direction of faults on my plot sheets that I could isolate, just bigger groups, with no guts in them. Back to the drawing board….!!! The method I used was pretty simple. DRY FIRE. And a fair bit of it. But I did have a dry fire program isolated to find the method. I sat down at my desk with my diary and a pen, then wrote out what I needed to do to compartmentalise the problems. 1. I needed to attain a subconscious trigger release. 2. I needed to adjust the trigger hand grip and consistency of pressures with it, encompassing the direction the trigger was operated with. 3. I needed to work on relaxation of the muscles connected with the entire position from the forward hand to the feet. 4. I needed to refine the techniques of position placement with the factors of cheek piece pressure consistency and placement behind the sight to enable target acquisition in the foresight with automatic centring of the rear peep. Now, how was I to determine a progressive order of the above? It was obvious that the various items were connected. So, first of all, it was obvious that I needed to address the trigger function to gain a very consistent trigger pressure. With the aid of a Lyman trigger dial indicator, I adjusted the trigger, further working on the release pressure and even though the trigger is now heavier, the release point is both crisp and maintains consistency. I then worked hard on the trigger hand suggestions I had spoken about in my discussions and gained a trigger hand position (relaxed) that operated the trigger directly back into the centre of the hand and the grip. This was entirely different from my “normal” hand position and even now this still takes a great deal of application to get it right whenever I am shooting. I am focussed completely on the position of the fingers on the grip in a much more relaxed state, with the trigger bar actually placed consciously in the same place, each shot. The dry fire routine I have developed with this, is only now reaching the subconscious release stage, based on correct sight picture and I am starting to become far happier with the trigger release method. As I said, this is completely different to what I was regarding as a normal trigger hand position. I also make very sure that the position is relaxed, with a very high awareness of muscle tensions under the sling, in the right shoulder and so between the both shoulder blades. Once I have this relaxed, only then is the face attached to the cheek piece. (Obviously in the exact same place for each shot. This is maintained because the right eye is looking directly through the rear peep.) With the consistency of the position relaxation, I found I was able to govern the breathing cycle to aim point a lot better. The position was set up with the rifle breathed onto the target, and I worked hard on getting the aim exactly centred, focussing ALL my attention on sighting. This factor alone was the method used to now develop the subcon release of the dry fire shot. It is extremely important (I found) to make sure the shot is released without even the slightest movement at the foresight and it is this factor that allows the follow through process to be developed. At all times, with dry fire, it is totally essential that the whole process of firing a shot (as in LIVE fire on the range) is repeated exactly as it would be. Otherwise there is no point in doing the exercise, is there? I found that the “new” techniques I developed designed to eradicate the “Yips” was just a matter of attention to detail. Even to this day, after an extremely long shooting career, I believe that dry fire, done correctly, is of inestimable value to any level of shooting. All that remains is to install the method, and then go to the range and repeat the method, exactly as you have done on the lounge room floor. Above all, Think about it. Guru