I have to back Todd up on this; I didn't start shooting IDPA until after I'd had some (but not much) pistol instruction, and my first full year of IDPA was mostly spent creating bad habits that would later have to be beaten out of me by good instructors.Originally Posted by ToddG
Honestly, my opinion of competition vs drills is that pistol drills are for developing skill, competition is for showcasing those skills under pressure.
At my first local action competition on Monday (IDPA-like match ran by IDPA organizers), I came in 5th and beat a lot of regular competitors because my practice regimen is very consistent, I run great drills found on this site, I study shooting, and I have had formal instruction from some very high level instructors. I'm not tooting my own horn, I got blown out of the water by the top 4 (who were the match organizers; 1 pro shooter, 1 pistol instructor/master, and 2 high level expert IDPA shooters). I think local matches are excellent for putting yourself under someone else's course, getting in shooting that is hard to do unless you have your own range (ie: shooting on the move, poppers, etc), and putting yourself under pressure. I came away with some excellent ideas to work on in training so that I can do better in my next match. I'm not sure I see a huge benefit to competing constantly, as I definitely gain more skill development from my practice sessions, at least at my mediocre level.
On a side-note, I think everyone here is blessed with an amazing community of advanced shooters. Before my first match, I was thinking that the best I'd do is about 15/20. I thought that because that is about where I compare to a lot of individuals on this site. When I got to the match (which is pretty well regarded locally), I realized that most shooters there didn't hold a candle to what most everyone on this site can do. Point being that we should all be thankful that we have such excellent opinions to draw from here.
Absolutely. I can't imagine anyone would ever gain skills from competition. I know a lot of people who are lifetime C level shooters who don't practice. There may be a causality there somewhere...
I totally agree. The good shooters on this site would be good shooters no matter who you stacked them up against. But in terms of the people at the bottom of a local match, who wants to measure themselves against the folks who don't practice and who think that they are going to "tactical training" when they shoot IDPA (where they spend most of their time discussing how a real gunfight would go...)? The beauty of competition is that you can target those few people who beat you and measure your progress as you pick each one of them off. Once you start winning local matches outright you can set your sights higher and try to be the big fish in bigger and bigger ponds. That's when you'll find yourself really pushing to develop better skills and more refined technique like you never thought possible.
I guess I should have asked in my earlier reply - what are your goals?
To be a competent defensive shooter (as in maybe having to shoot others) or a recreational gun owner?
Both..
as a gun owner, i must learn how to use my pistol responsible and effectively.
Some of my friends attend local/club matches to learn and enjoy their pistols.
But ever since i found pistol-training and pistol forum, i began to weight the drills vs competition thing.
One of my best friends is a long time Grand Master. He runs drills for practice and wins matches on the weekends. The two are not exclusive.
One key is to have a plan, execute the plan and evaluate your plan and progress.
To come at it from a different angle:
Shooting matches exclusively will probably not make you a very good shooter.
Shooting drills exclusively will make you a better shooter, but your practice will likely be very narrowly focused.
Doing both will create a synergistic effect where the total is greater than the sum of its parts.
Matches won't make you a better shooter, but they will show you holes in your technique. If you can't hit a moving target, can't shoot one handed, etc, you will never get better at those things from just shooting matches, but you will get better from drilling. On the other hand, if you only shoot drills you probably won't discover the holes in your technique because most people tend to practice only those things that they're already good at.
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I hate that word so much.
It's a real word that is used correctly in my post, and it applies in this situation. Sorry if you hate parts of the English language.
I'm not saying you used it incorrectly, I'm saying that it's a stupid word that has been so brutally overused that it has becoming utterly meaningless. When I have to sit through a presentation where a dude says some variant of "synergy" 15 times (one more and he would have covered the spread) and used the phrase "synergistic team energy" without a hint of irony it's hard for me to not believe that its use should be punishable by whipping.
Also on the list: people who say "make an impact" because they don't that effect is (usually) a noun and affect is (usually) a verb.
Oh, and in the context of the shooting sports: "dynamic" and "operator" are also dead. In fact, the following sentence is the worst thing I've ever written: "The synergistic dynamic operations had an impact on the operator's lives."
But no, your post was totally correct, but god that word is like nails through a pain of glass over my spinal column.
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