[Dave S]

First some info.

We are a small club located in a canyon that looks out over a valley. Our background is large mountains about five miles across the valley. To our west is a large mountain that blocks the sun on the trap fields about 3 hours before the sunlight fades in the valley to the north. And in the spring, temperature changes can cause winds to blow around sunset. This will be a one day shoot in early May. 60-80 shooters. 6 traps. 50 per trap. 3 squads at a time. I think having Handicap in the middle is the best option.

We usually run the events, Singles-Handicap-Doubles. But are considering changing to Doubles–Handicap-Singles. I think this would give us these advantages. Doubles traps would be set the day before the shoot. Changing the traps from doubles to singles when people are shooting at the next trap doesn’t affect them. If it gets darker and or windy, shooting singles in those conditions is easier than shooting doubles. The line for signup might be shorter due to people who don’t shoot doubles coming in later to signup.

Which would you prefer & do you shoot doubles?

#1` Singles-Handicap-Doubles

#2 Doubles-Handicap-Singles

Thanks for your input.

 

[wm rike]

I like to shoot doubles last. It's just a preference, however, a lot of times the visibility early in the day is not good for visually acquiring the second target.

 

[miketmx]

On a 2 day shoot many clubs use #1 for Saturday and Doubles, Singles, Handicap for Sunday. This is to avoid setting Doubles traps twice. This also is for clubs that have the best visibility for Handicap. For me personally I would rather have good visibility for Singles and Handicap and have Doubles last on a one day shoot.

 

[trapperwads]

A few clubs in my area shoot doubles first. They go quickly and the doubles shooters are happy to come early, so I would prefer #2...doubles, handicap then singles. The singles and handicap shooters that sleep in and those come later stragglers really hold up the doubles event when it is held last and the club loses those doubles shooters and the revenue it brings in. ed

 

[likes-to-shoot]

As trapperwads said the doubles shooters are less in numbers plus having the doubles already set will speed things for the day..Whatever you choose don't change it at the last minute to appease the whiners

 

[wolfram]

Sequence #1 is a standard and is good for several reasons including getting the shooters on their way early if they aren't doubles shooters, and there are quite a few of these.

On a two day shoot we will go with sequence #1 on the first day followed by sequence #2 on the second day for machine setting advantages. Also you find that many of the 'I don't really like doubles' shooters will go ahead and shoot doubles on the second day because they are there anyway and could use the warm up before singles.

The other option for you is to not throw the doubles but run a singles - HC - singles sequence. This gets your HC in the best conditions and the final event of the day will be reasonably easy targets that people can decide on participating in based on the wind conditions at the time and how much daylight they have to work with.

Then to satify the the doubles shooters, consider a separarte one day doubles marathon with cash awards for each 100 target event and a a decent cash pay for the HOA.

Its pretty easy to get a 500 target day in this way and the repetition helps most people settle in and knock out some really decent scores.

 

[dickgtax]

All the clubs that I've seen that tried doubles in the morning gave up the idea.
I think that you have a lot of singles shooters that want to shoot 100 targets and go home. Doubles shooters are a much smaller group, and usually shoot the singles and handicap, so they haven't been hanging around all day waiting to shoot.

 

[hmb]

Doubles shooters are a much smaller group because at most shoots by the time they get to shoot the suns going down and the workers are looking to go home. It's to bad that they are not treated better. HMB

 

[Ken Brandt]

HMB;

What do you mean by "to bad they aren't treated better"? Around here they are treated no differently that singles shooters. They are the ones shooting the most targets for the day. They are the ones ready to spend all day shooting. Most of us could care less when we shoot, just let us shoot.

We do the same thing wolfram has outlined above. In our area we have a large percentage of shooter's who shoot all 3 disciplines, probably 65%. I think if we took a poll they would rather shoot last but it wouldn't be by a wide margin. I don't see a problem with what you are proposing. Only your local doubles shooter's can really tell you their preference.

Good luck

Ken

 

[AAtrap]

I don't know if this would be possible for your situation, but several clubs that I shoot at have a doubles trap open all day. You then have an option of shooting doubles early, middle of the day, or later in the afternoon. I usually squad early for singles, then shoot doubles between singles and handicap. Just an idea.

Steve

 

[zzt]

I experimented a lot at our club. Let me preface this to say that what I found only applies to one club, and may not be applicable to others.

Everybody likes to shoot singles. That's what the "buddies" shoot, there are more of them, and the camaraderie is at its peak. Fewer people shoot handicap, and even fewer shoot doubles. So when we had the "typical" singles, handicap, doubles event scenario, no one was wanted to shoot doubles, because it extended the shoot so much.

When we went to doubles first, we had a squad or two of doubles shooters. The event went like lightning, and resetting for singles was a snap. Singles should be the second event, because that is what will bring the most shooters.

 

[Setterman]

Did you guys ever think that no one wants to shoot doubles cause the lighting sucks when you shoot them? Either late or early? Singles shooters only have one target to contend with, so shoot singles first.

Trying to shoot doubles when light is crappy or fading is the recipe for low scores and short squads.

 

[toddhoz]

You have 6 fields. Shoot doubles all day on one field. Use 4 fields for singles and handicap. The remaining field can be used for practice or a backup field in case of a broken down trap.
We have a club in Western NY that has 5 fields. They shoot doubles all day and get a lot of shooters who are waiting between singles and caps to shoot doubles when normally these shooters would not shoot doubles.

Todd

 

[ljutic73]

What MikeTMX said.

Ron Burr

 

[slide action]

If I had my druthers it would be Doubles-Hdcp. Singles--in that order! A lot of people don't shoot doubles because the clubs drag around all day and it late,late, late, before they get to the doubles. I would certainly rather shoot doubles FIRST since they are the fun game! I shoot alnost completely in the south and I will give the nothern shooters this----They start on time and keep the shoot moving!!! Here many shooter "lolygag" around and hold up the shoot making it very hard on shooters who drive long distances! To me,the time to SOCIALIZE is AFTER the event, not fiddle [email protected]#^ing around in the middle it!

 

[washandwear]

Echo This!

You have 6 fields. Shoot doubles all day on one field. Use 4 fields for singles and handicap. The remaining field can be used for practice or a backup field in case of a broken down trap. We have a club in Western NY that has 5 fields. They shoot doubles all day and get a lot of shooters who are waiting between singles and caps to shoot doubles when normally these shooters would not shoot doubles.

Todd said it first!

W&W

 

[TF]

25+ years ago before I moved to Florida, I frequented several clubs that shot doubles first. Traditional starting time was 1pm, so especially in winter the light was poor for doubles. We began starting doubles at 11:30 and those who wanted to shoot them came early. Singles started at 1 followed by caps. Seemed to work well for all. Also, if only a squad or two showed up for doubles, we would get in an extra hundred, sometimes two. It really helped my learning curve with doubles at that time. (These were mostly targets only shoots with a Lewis option sometimes)
Tom Frazer

 

[Dave S]

If you have an anytime doubles trap, do you presquad the shooters or do the shooters just show up at the doubles trap and shoot with any shooters?

Also any problems with shooters shooting doubles, and missing or holding up their assigned singles or handicap squad?

 

[BeerKing]

we have 7 traps. Shooting doubles at any time during the sgls and handicap will get some shooters home earlier but doesn't do much to get the help done any quicker as there are still those who choose to shoot doubles last and enjoy time between events getting their card games in. The shooter has paid for his day let him enjoy as he sees fit

 

[Auctioneer]

The first should be the most popular. The second event should be the second popular and the last being the least popular.

Singles first HC second and not everyone likes double trap. By shooting in that order you let people get home early and maybe before dark.