Intro to Clay Sports: Sporting Clays
I used to play a lot of golf. I was terrible at it but I enjoyed it or at least I was able to convince myself that I enjoyed it. In all actually, I was kind of obligated to play at the time due to my job. It’s very common for business people and those in upper management to play a lot of golf. The main reason is because it’s a great place to talk business. You’re outside of the office and between shots, there is a lot of time to discuss things. The problem is, golf is ultimately quite boring. If you’re not the one hitting the ball, it is about as fun as watching flies fornicate. If only there was a way to integrate guns with golf. THAT would be fun!
Turns out, there is! Sporting clays is the golf of the gun world except it’s fun. I don’t even have to convince myself it’s fun, either. It really is an absolute blast (no pun intended). The comparison to golf isn’t just a sad attempt at humor. The overall concepts are amazingly similar. You have a course that is set up out in the countryside. Each stop is meant to simulate a kind of hunting situation. In fact, Sporting Clays is really the closest thing to hunting you’re going to get.
The Game
As I said, Sporting Clays is a course you follow in which you stop at various stations along the way. There are usually between 10 and 15 stations but I’ve seen more that have 18…which further emphasises that whole “golf with a shotgun” thing. Each person (up to 6 in a group) takes a number of shots at each station. The number of shots depends on how the station is set up but it averages about 5 to 10 targets per station. Unlike golf, it’s still a “highest score wins”. Each station has a guide to which targets or combinations of targets are to be used. You’ll find trajectories that simulate a group of birds being stirred up from a bush or rabbits running across the field. Each station is radically different and each course is unique and varied. Best of all, it’s challenging. Personally, I think that sporting clays will test your skill far more than skeet and trap.
But Wait, There’s More…
An interesting trend that’s been happening more and more as of late are businesses taking potential clients out to a Sporting Clays course instead of golf. It’s something unique and interesting but it still gives you the networking benefits that you would get on the golf course. The stations aren’t usually right next to each other and you often take golf carts around the path. One person shoots, one person pulls and the rest stand way back talking business. Plus, watching each other shoot moving targets is just more interesting than watching someone swing at a stationary little white ball.
I absolutely adore Sporting Clays and I’m looking to trade my golf clubs for a nicer shotgun. If you have a sporting clays course near you, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. It is far more fun than it should be.
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