Trapshooting Foot Placement & Stance - E69

Summary

Podcast Summary: Trapshooting Foot Placement & Stance - E69

Podcast Information:

• Title: Trap Talk From The Back Fence
• Hosts: Zach Nanini & Richard Marshall Jr.
• Episode: Trapshooting Foot Placement & Stance - E69
• Release Date: April 12, 2024
• Description: Listen in as Zach Nannini & Richard Marshall Jr. talk trapshooting with the legends, the game’s top shots, and more!

---

Introduction

In Episode 69 of Trap Talk From The Back Fence, hosts Zach Nanini and Richard Marshall Jr. delve deep into the intricacies of trapshooting foot placement and stance. Shunning the usual surface-level discussions, this episode offers a comprehensive exploration suitable for both novice and seasoned shooters.

Importance of Foot Placement

Zach Nanini emphasizes the foundational role of foot placement in trapshooting:

“I think the base of shooting all starts with the feet and it's just such a freaking important topic to go into.”
[00:43]

Richard Marshall Jr. echoes this sentiment, reinforcing that a solid stance is crucial for consistency and performance:

“Feet, it all starts at your feet. So you want to make sure your feet are good.”
[11:03]

Right-Handed Shooter Stances

The discussion begins with the foot positioning for right-handed shooters across the five posts on a trap field.

1. Post 1:
   Richard explains how he positions his feet when leading off on post one:

   “I'm starting on one now when I walk up to the Post, any post. I'm always checking my feet first... parallel, shoulder width apart.”
   [07:23]

   He highlights the slight rotation:

   “I always rotate everything clockwise.”
   [08:09]

2. Post 2 to 5:
   As shooters move from post one to post five, their stance adjusts to accommodate different angles:

   “Take a little micro shift... you want to have your weight 60ish percent forward.”
   [09:46]

Left-Handed Shooter Stances

For left-handed shooters, the stances mirror those of right-handed shooters but are adjusted accordingly to maintain consistency.

1. Post 1 for Lefties:
   Richard describes the setup for a left-handed shooter starting on post one:

   “A left-handed shooter would be like a post one stance for a lefty... shooting across your body.”
   [13:17]

2. Post 2 to 5:
   Similar to right-handed shooters, lefties rotate clockwise but begin from a mirrored position:

   “Left handed shooter on one's going to start with their feet closed and pointing to the left.”
   [18:28]

Weight Distribution and Balance

A key point elaborated is the 60-40 weight distribution with emphasis on maintaining forward weight to prevent the gun from rising:

“You want to have your weight 60ish percent forward.”
[09:53]

Richard further explains the importance of balance:

“If you're leaning back, the gun automatically goes up.”
[12:32]

Adjustments and Micro Shifts

The hosts discuss the necessity of micro adjustments during shooting to accommodate varying target behaviors:

“You take a little micro adjustment... and that should help you.”
[11:03]

Zach adds that even minor shifts can significantly impact performance:

“A shift 1 inch can change everything... you lock right back in.”
[29:15]

Singles vs. Doubles vs. Handicap Shooting

The episode distinguishes between different shooting types and their stance requirements:

1. Singles:
   Emphasis on being deliberate with movements to maintain consistency:

   “Handicapping singles, you got to be deliberate.”
   [30:10]

2. Doubles:
   Focus on maintaining forward weight after the first shot to prepare for the second:

   “When I shoot... absorbing that recoil and make that little bit loop.”
   [31:24]

3. Handicap Shooting:
   Richard maintains a consistent stance across singles, handicap, and doubles, adjusting only speed:

   “I use the same foot position for singles, handicap, and doubles.”
   [29:56]

Importance of Footwear

The conversation shifts to the critical role of proper footwear in trapshooting:

“Wear some good shoes when shooting... I tend to wear Brooks or Adidas Ultra Boost.”
[51:01]

Key recommendations include:

• Avoid shoes with overly soft heels to prevent rolling.
• Prefer shoes with a slight edge or tilt to aid in maintaining forward weight.

“A good quality shoe, not a shoe that is super soft in the heel.”
[52:24]

Zach humorously notes the impact of footwear on performance:

“If you buy him a pair of Brooks Beast tennis shoes. He came back... he got three yards in handicap.”
[54:22]

Personal Experiences and Insights

Zach shares a personal anecdote about an Achilles injury that impacted his stance and shooting performance:

“I had to reinvent my game... I won the overall in state that year, but I didn't do it pretty because I didn't have my feet anymore.”
[46:22]

Richard offers solutions and encouragement for overcoming physical challenges:

“You just need to come along to a couple of my two, three, four day classes... you'll get them.”
[50:04]

Conclusion

Zach and Richard wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of a solid foundation in foot placement and stance. They encourage listeners to experiment with their stances, make necessary adjustments, and invest in quality footwear to enhance their trapshooting performance.

“It starts with the feet. If you don't have your feet right, everything after that is going to follow in a bad direction.”
[45:06]

They also tease future episodes featuring interviews with other instructors to further enrich listeners' trapshooting knowledge.

Notable Quotes

• Zach Nanini:

  “The base of shooting all starts with the feet and it's just such a freaking important topic to go into.”
  [00:43]

• Richard Marshall Jr.:

  “Feet, it all starts at your feet. So you want to make sure your feet are good.”
  [11:03]

• Zach Nanini:

  “A shift 1 inch can change everything... you lock right back in.”
  [29:15]

• Richard Marshall Jr.:

  “You just need to come along to a couple of my two, three, four day classes... you'll get them.”
  [50:04]

Final Thoughts

Episode 69 of Trap Talk From The Back Fence serves as an essential guide for trapshooters aiming to refine their stance and foot placement. Through detailed discussions, personal experiences, and actionable advice, hosts Zach Nanini and Richard Marshall Jr. provide listeners with the tools necessary to enhance their shooting performance and achieve greater consistency on the trap field.

Transcript

[Zach Nanini]

Welcome back to Trap Talk, brought to you by Craigoff.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Boom. Best gun in the industry.

[Zach Nanini]

We love our Craig offs. We gotta thank our sponsors. But that being said, today we had a great episode. Rick, tell them a little bit about we talked about today.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Well, we talked the whole episode about feet. Some talk about tennis shoes or shoes or boots, whatever, but really in depth on the stance on every position for right handed shooters and left handed shooters. So it'll be a great episode. You guys will love it. If you got any questions on it, give us a call.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah, I think we've never done a deep dive on feet. No, we've done some mental, we've done eyes hold points, some other topics, but I, I think the base of shooting all starts with the feet and it's just such a freaking important topic to go into. And so we, we gave you some good content. So hope you guys are gonna love it.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's right. Like I said, if you got any thoughts on it or whatever, wanna, you know, talk about any, any questions on it. On it, let us know. You know, send me a smoke signal text, email.

[Zach Nanini]

Well, with that being said, let's get on to the show.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Get to the show.

[Zach Nanini]

With that being said, Trap Talk listeners, if you love everything about Trap Talk, please subscribe to our page. Also throw some likes on the videos that you enjoy. It really means the world to us.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. Comment on each episode. We read them, we respond to them with that. Let's get to the show.

[Zach Nanini]

Well, Rick, before we get to the show, we got to take a minute and thank all of our sponsors because we wouldn't be here without them. This show is brought to you by Craig Off.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yes, kraghoff. I've shot one since about 2006. Best gun out there. Balance customer service. The people at Craighoff, top notch.

[Zach Nanini]

Everything you need to know about a good shotgun. That's for sure. We got to thank Winnick. Winwick Stockworks custom gun stocks in Lincoln, Missouri. Nice hat, Ricky.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, I love my wing. I broke hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hundreds with my winning stock. But in all seriousness, get a hold of Bobby, Luke, Bill, get yourself a stock made. It'll change your shooting.

[Zach Nanini]

I want to say thank you to Remington. They've supported the show for since day one and they've supported me for a very long time. Made all America team shoot Nitros & STS's for many years. And we also got to thank Game Masters. If you're looking for a gun, Ricky, you can help them out.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yep, get a hold of me at game Masters. Two, call me, text me, email me, send a smoke signal. I get you any gun out there. We carry about every brand available in the Trapski sporting clays. Even carry some hunting guns, some hunting rifles, whatever you need.

[Zach Nanini]

I'm gonna have to try that smoke signal. I haven't communicated with you that way yet, but that sounds like that for the next sponsor, Shot tracker. We just seen them at Vegas at the shot show and they gave us some great insight on the product.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yep, it's like having a coach on the end of your barrel. They got some new updates coming out that'll really change the game with the shot tracker. Make it a little easier to set up. So get a hold of them, get yourself a shot tracker and it'll help you.

[Zach Nanini]

Want to thank you to Shotguns West Ryan Castani for being our Pela sponsor. Where do you get your Pelas from? They're doing a great job. They've got the new frames out. They're sleek, they're modern, they look fantastic. Also really excited about this year's new sponsor, Outlaw Engineering.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, Outlaw Engineering. It's owned by Randy Freston II R2. I've known him and his family for years. His dad's past president of the ata. He does a lot of engineering in the oil field business. So get a hold of him for all his engineering needs you got and he can hook you up.

[Zach Nanini]

Big thank you to White flyer making a great target and a great product. We've been smoking those all over the country, right Ricky?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. They came out with a new eco flyer this year so hopefully we can get a shoot them at some shoots. I know we did a lot of testing on them and they are an awesome target. So little alternative to the pitch target.

[Zach Nanini]

Looking forward to trying that out. Another thing that I'm looking forward to seeing more of is SOS Clays.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, the SOS Clays software owned by Greg Pink doing an awesome job. He's taken over the trap shooting world with his software. It's top notch, you know, get a hold of him from any needs you have in the shopping world.

[Zach Nanini]

And last but not least, we got gun and trophy insurance. Rick, you got to tell me about that.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, you can get a hold of Cole or Larry Cushman family owned business and they take care of all my needs on on gun insurance. They also offer offer trophy insurance for all your wildlife trophies to insure them too. But top notch, get ahold of them and they can hook you up. Literally. It's seven simple get online gunandtrophy.com you can get a policy going, I think less than about 10 minutes, very reasonably priced.

[Zach Nanini]

That's awesome. Thank you to all the sponsors and with that being said, let's get on to the show. Welcome to season two of Trap Talk.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Brought to you by Craig Off.

[Zach Nanini]

Welcome to another episode of Trap Talk, brought to you by Craig Off. I'm your host Zach Nanini and I'm here with my co host Richard Marshall Jr. We got our Craig off shirts on today and I gotta tell you folks, we didn't even plan this. This is just sometimes our brains, we link up. Like we both think Craig off shirt, bam. We both think pizza, pizza shows up. It's just, it's just, it's kismic.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Right, right Ricky, whatever.

[Zach Nanini]

We're on the same brain, brainwave leak and we're, we're doing well but we wanted to take this episode a little bit old school because we've, we've had some interviews, we did the shot show, obviously did stuff at the Spring grand, did some stuff at the Southern and, and now just want to decompress and go back to the basics of trap. And, and I was wanting to ask you Rick about some, some foot positions like, like feet, standing weight, body because we haven't gotten into a lot of that balancing situation and I feel like in talking with the guys at the amu, you know they talked a lot about their feet and like how they lean into it with bunker versus, you know we talk a lot about the goat Leo and he's more, you know, he was more kind of standing flat footed but obviously he's a little bit different than everybody else but different specimen. Yeah, a whole different specimen. But, but I, I, I just want to spend some time, you know, getting your opinion on, you know, where should people start? And I guess we start with, you know, let's you speak on a right handed shooter and then probably flip, flip it for a left handed shooter. So we can get as much value as we can for the listeners today.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Absolutely, yeah. No, I mean I'm a big advocate of stance.

[Zach Nanini]

Question number one. Do you have the same stance on every single post?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

No.

[Zach Nanini]

Okay. No. So what do you mean by that? What, what, what, what should people be looking at or thinking about when they walk onto the line post one to five, like what are the thoughts that go through your mind?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Well, of course, you know, I lead off, I just, I'm more straight, we'll just say on post one because I was lead off. So I'm starting on one now when I walk up to the Post, any post. I'm always checking my feet first before I start as, as, you know, you, you guys always give me crap as we're shooting and you know, what are you doing down there? I'm, hey, I'm making sure I'm ready, you know, and so I always, you know, my feet aren't straight, they're parallel, shoulder width apart. Okay. But parallel. And as I go from one down the line, I just rotate everything clockwise.

[Zach Nanini]

Okay.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Okay.

[Zach Nanini]

So if I'm understanding you correctly, you take your feet and you place them right under your shoulders. That feels comfortable for you. And then your left foot is a little bit in front of your right foot.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, but parallel, parallel.

[Zach Nanini]

And then as you go, you shift in direction. And for you people listening on, you know, audio and not watching us on YouTube right now I'm kind of using my hands to show the diagram of which direction he's going. But I'm believing, you know, he's rotating. I, I bet you're about to pull up a picture with some, some information. I can see him looking through his phone when he does this. He's usually got something, something good we're going to use.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So, so these are old school but like if you can see it, Zach tape. That's post one.

[Zach Nanini]

Okay. Okay. So that position now, now let's stay on that and before we go farther, pull that back up.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Rick. Yep. And we'll get John, John can, I'll send these over to John and he could post them on there.

[Zach Nanini]

So let's just take that for a right handed shooter on post one. Okay. Now in that position we've got more open to the left. Now why are we more open to the left on one?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So that way you could swing to the left angle.

[Zach Nanini]

Okay. So if someone is breaking the backside of the lefts on one, I mean what would you adjust your feet a little bit more so, so, so very clear. If you're breaking back edge on one of that left hand target, you feel bound up, you feel like you can't get there, you open up, you shift those feet a little bit to the left hand side so that you're favoring that target. Is that correct?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yes. And you want to, I always say you want to have your weight 60ish percent forward.

[Zach Nanini]

Okay.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So you know, you're moving, you're, you're pivoting everything at your hips and rotating and not arm shooting, you know, correct.

[Zach Nanini]

So, so, so for there we'll talk about some weight. Now you know, we're on post one. If we're Breaking the front side of the left hand target. Then maybe we went too far with our feet right so far.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

You could be, you could be pushing to the target, getting your weight, like, almost like throwing it. I mean, there's, there's all sorts of things that, you know, can, can come into play with that.

[Zach Nanini]

So, yeah, I, I think, I think, you know, you said it correct. You've got to figure out what works best for you. Step one. And like, you are really good at setting those feet and saying, okay, this is my spot. But also I've seen you make micro adjustments depending on if you break the target well or not. Like, you know, maybe on post one, you know, the targets are a little wider on the left or they're a little faster and you didn't quite catch it on the, on the show target. You break one on the backside, but you still hit it. I've seen you make that micro shift to that direction and then boom, you lock right back in. Is that, is that a pretty common practice that people should adjust?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, I, I'm a, I'm a big advocate. Like I stated at the beginning, feet, it all starts at your feet. So you want to make sure your feet are good. Now, targets, yeah, one's wider than the other. Okay. You just make a little micro adjustment like you said, and that should help you. Now, there could be other things that, for me, that's what it is. Other people could be some way you're holding the gun, where you're looking, you know, where you're holding on the house, above the house, eyes too far, whatever, all that play. But yes, starting there, you know my, you know, you saw the, the picture of my feet on one. So. And for me, you know, my whole point, I, I hold a little bit outside the house.

[Zach Nanini]

Now, do you have all five pictures to show today, Rick? So, so, so before we skip to the next picture, on weight, you said 60%. Now do you mean 60% of your weight on each of your feet? Like forward, like on the balls of your feet? Or you mean 60 on the.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

I feel like, I feel like when I and all my students know this and we talk about it is when you're mounting the gun, it's almost like your toes. My toes are almost grabbing the concrete.

[Zach Nanini]

Grabbing to it a little bit with.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

The front, just a little bit. So that, so you take that.

[Zach Nanini]

If you take that whole foot. We're talking about the top 30 or top 40 section of the foot.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah.

[Zach Nanini]

Is where you're putting the weight to and you're feeling it on the pad, not necessarily the heel, correct?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yes. Now your heels, if you're leaning back, as you know, Zach, any weight goes back, the gun automatically goes up.

[Zach Nanini]

So that's another thing that I think we need to talk about is, is you know, if you're on your heels, the tendency is to roll upwards and then you're going to generally short the target, especially on the angle because you're.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Gonna be, you're gonna go oz in front of it or what? No, you were high and behind because instead of going this way, now when you lean back, it does this.

[Zach Nanini]

Yes, yes, yes. You know, so, so that's, that's post one. And if we're a left handed shooter.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Then it's gonna be so a left handed shooter. Since you want to talk about lefties.

[Zach Nanini]

Right now, we gotta get into it.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Anything to show feet for left. Left handed shooter would be like a on. So for there for left you want to stand with your right foot. You're going to shoot across your body. So you're, you're unwinding to the left hand target. Okay.

[Zach Nanini]

So a closed dance correct for, for one.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

For right handed, you're gonna be. Yeah, almost like a post 5 stance for a right hand.

[Zach Nanini]

So what we're going to do is we're going to show the diagrams one through five on a righty. And I think the best way to explain it is it's going to be flip flopped. So if you look at the pictures for the right handed shooter, you're going to get a little bit of a. There.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

I can, we can figure out some type of diagram to put up. We can, we can have John, John's good with, with that sort of stuff.

[Zach Nanini]

Way better than us. We're just good at talking.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, teaching and talking. I mean I can do it.

[Zach Nanini]

It's so, so post two. Rick, let's see that picture.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So there's post two.

[Zach Nanini]

So are those next to each other so that you could like scroll from one to the other?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yep. So.

[Zach Nanini]

So there's one and then that's a shift. So. So you're shifting a little, a little bit to the right.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Just a look. Now here's the other thing you could. Here's. I've changed over the past. You could go different. Like here's post three. Okay. Now you can go between two and three V. Like I always say, everybody's feet position and all my students out there that I've taught understand this. I give you those basics like hey, stand kind of like this. But then I'm always saying, hey, you got to find your comfort zone. So maybe that stance on two doesn't work. You got to turn a little bit more or one doesn't work yet, that's fine. As long as I see you moving properly to the target, that's fine. I'm not going to say, oh, no, that's not going to work for you, because everybody is different. So you can't. And that's.

[Zach Nanini]

That's something in itself, the difference, right? Like if you have people that have knee issues, hip issues, like, you know, my father, anyone that has issues where they can't turn or they're really stiff, they've had a back surgery, something like that, well, then it's a whole nother world, right? Then we're. We're having to tailor and coach to the person that's out there shooting. And that's something that, you know, you can't just say, we'll just stand like this all day and it's going to work. Right.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Well, your, Your dad has issue. My dad's had new hips, new knees. He's backs fused, necks fused. So when, when, when pop shoots, you know, when my dad does, there's sometimes his feet, he can't stand like I do, so he's got to make some. And I always tell him, I'm like, make sure your balance is good. That's the number one thing. Make sure you're good. Your balance is good. When you mount that gun and got that weight forward, that your balance is good. If it's not good, it's not going to be good at all.

[Zach Nanini]

You know, if it's not good, it's not going to be good.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

But here's the one thing you want to remember, and we didn't talk about this with the weight forward, so you want to mount the gun and the weight forward all in one motion.

[Zach Nanini]

Okay. Anybody watches me, don't mount and then lean.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

You can't do this and then lean. You're. You're. I could grab your barrel and pull you right over. You just.

[Zach Nanini]

See, you have to come to that.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

One because then you're. Then it's. You're locked in. You're good. You can rotate.

[Zach Nanini]

I mean, you come up to that spot. You can't add a lean after the fact.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. Don't do that.

[Zach Nanini]

And I've seen some people do that. They get kind of. They're like, oh, I gotta afford. And then they do this, and then they're off balance.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's right. And then there's the arm shooting involved, you know?

[Zach Nanini]

Okay. Hello. Trap Talk listeners, Zach Denini here. And I'd like to thank our show sponsor, Remington. And today I would like to go into what shells I use when I'm training and when I'm shooting tournaments. First of all, we start with the gun club. This is a great shell. I shoot an 1145 ounce and eighth eight. And this is when I shoot for singles and both shots of doubles. The only reason I don't shoot this in tournaments is because I like a little bit of a harder shot, a little bit of a harder break. But it works great and it's the same speed as this STS shell. So this STS shell a little bit harder shot. Figure 8 wad column smokes the targets a little bit harder.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Also.

[Zach Nanini]

I shoot for singles and doubles, both shots. And then when I go to the back fence and I want to put the smoke on them, I bring out the Nitro 27 Alcinate 7 and a half. It's a 1235 shell. Blast the targets. Works really well. I hope these shells work for you. And I want to thank Remington for supporting Trap talk.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. Stance. So 1 and 2. We've talked now, you know, about 2, that it just shifted a little bit to the right. Okay. And that's the same thing. Now let's go to the left hand on the left side on two. So one, you know, you're like this, you know, shooting across your body. Okay. Then when you change your feet position to go to two, you're just rotating clockwise.

[Zach Nanini]

Everything.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

You're going to rotate clockwise. You know, I know there's some people out there that teach to keep the same position. I'm a big advocate of moving. So when you get over to.

[Zach Nanini]

That makes sense. So you're saying that whether you're a right handed shooter or a left handed shooter, you still rotate clockwise.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, you're still going to rotate clockwise.

[Zach Nanini]

It's just you start differently.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yes. Yeah.

[Zach Nanini]

The, the, the left handed shooter on one's going to start with their feet closed and pointing, pointing to the left and then they're going to keep coming over. The right hand shooter is going to stand open and pointing to the right a little bit and then they're going to keep coming over but everybody turns right with their feet, you know. That is correct. I even learned something because I never, you know, I knew that they were doing that, but I never knew to say, well, clockwise no matter what. Like that's, you know, that's a, that's a, that's an interesting thought. Bit of information. Where, where do I send My check.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Big is on no. So yeah, and it's, it's one of those. And then on three. Okay. As, as we go here on post. So we got 1, 2, 3. If it's a perfect square. So these pictures are, are from Lincoln Traffic Ski. My home club that I grew up shooting. Broke my first 25, my first hundred at this club. This the part post three. Well trap three. Everything's pretty square and it. So I always say almost run from corner to corner down the center of your body. So your feet on this each side of that square. So that corner's running.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah. So you take the box. You take the box and you cut it right down the middle from corner to corner and you put your body in the center of that box. And then you're rotating off of that, that line. You're not cheating to the front of the box or cheating to the back of the box. You're using the center of the box. And that's in most cases unless the pads are all messed up, right?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yes, exactly. But just try to, you know, just realize, you know, so you can move the same distance to the left and to the right and if it's like, ah, maybe, maybe you have some, some issues with, you know, knees or a back issue or something, you. And you need to adjust a little bit more. That's fine. Get into your comfort zone.

[Zach Nanini]

So I'm assuming if we've been going clockwise, we're going to keep going clockwise when we get to four.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Are you sure?

[Zach Nanini]

I'm guessing. I think I know the answer, professor, but I'm not sure. You know, this is where you kind of hold your hand up and you just hope they say, yeah, oh, there.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

We go, there's four.

[Zach Nanini]

There we go.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So you just rotate more and now you're shooting now. So let's go back to three for left handed. Leaving these lefties out.

[Zach Nanini]

Zach, you know, I know, I know. You'll cover it.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Tyler's left handed, so I had to teach him. But I could also shoot left handed. I should, you know, I mean, it's just I, I love to mess with Tyler. First time I took him out shooting, when I told him that about ladies like Dad, I don't understand. I grabbed his gun, I went boom, boom. Broke it. I go just like that. And he goes, really? I said, well, just look at the target. It'll break. You know.

[Zach Nanini]

Yet again folks, what can't Richard Marshall Jr do so with a left handed.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Shooter for post three then just switch on the left side and split that difference. Okay? And then when we're going to four now. So I just showed you the feet position for right handed, for four. Then when you go to four, poop. It's almost like post two, but flip flopped.

[Zach Nanini]

It's flip flopped.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

It's right handed, flip flop, left handed, post four.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So.

[Zach Nanini]

So for righty, the way you stand on one is going to be for a lefty, the way we would stand on five.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah.

[Zach Nanini]

And four is going to be two. Three is going to be just a flip flop, mirror image of three. Right. It's just, it's just the opposite side, but.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

There'S five.

[Zach Nanini]

So that would be, you know, if you were to flip it around for a lefty. That's the post one stance for a lefty, basically. Yeah, you got to have that front foot out, you know, in front leading. But. But you're just turning it all upside down like a mirror.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yes.

[Zach Nanini]

So. So I mean, that's, that's huge. But I guess the question that I know that the listeners are dying to ask is, you know, why are we even changing our feet? You know, why would we move them from one to the other? What's changing on a trap field that would cause me to want to change my feet?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Well, your angles, your body moving. Listen, we're not all 13, 14 and flexible as anybody. And I mean, you know, as we get older, things just don't move as well. So.

[Zach Nanini]

But I think, I think what you said, the angle's changing. Right. And where a lot of people, I don't know if a lot of people think about the angle of the trap house, but in the center, you know, we've got the hard right angle, we've got the hard left angle and everything in between. As you're shifting onto the left side of the field, the perceived angle or the perceived way that you're looking at that target is shifting left. Although the machine isn't, you know, going any harder left. It's the angle that, that line, the way you're viewing it, it's a different angle. Yeah. And so statistically on one, you're going to get a lot more lefts than you're going to get rights. And statistically on five, you're going to get a lot more rights than you're going to get lefts.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Well, you're going to get a straightaway. I mean, here's the deal. I see a lot of people out there standing. They, they really don't pay attention to their stance much. They just go out there and they stand. Okay, that's okay. Fine. But then I'll see them get, like, a hard right angle, and as they. As they're moving, they go. Yep, I see that all the time. Now. You won't see me go, because I can turn.

[Zach Nanini]

You could turn now. Now, when you're pivoting, is. Are you. Are you turning with those knees or is it the hips or kind of like, what is moving? Like, because I know you're locked in here, but what's physically kind of moving?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Everything's. Everything's moving. You're. You're. You're. I'm not bending. I'm not taking my knees and doing this. You know, I do that occasionally in sporting places. Because you got to move extra.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah, you gotta. I mean, if you got one target way on the right side of the field and one target way on the left side of the field, I've seen guys shoot one target and then move their feet for the second target, where you physically turn in the box. Like, when we were in Dubai, I remember a couple of those where we had to shoot one, and then the other one was literally behind us over our head, and you had to, you know, spin around in the box and shoot. And that's not necessarily common, but. But I think what it showed me is you have to have your feet ready for the shot that you're shooting.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. And that's why in. In trap. Now, hear me when I say this. When I put my feet on the ground and they're set, they're concrete. Okay. I don't want them moving. I don't kick back and. And just, you know, I don't. I don't do this like Rich Bullard does, you know?

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah, the tap, tap, tap, taparoo.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

I. I keep everything. I will. I always make sure that everything's good. I'm. I'm comfort. I'm comfortable. My feet are good. They stay. They stay in. Now, the reason I say that is because I see a lot of people moving around.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah, I think that's something just to spend a second on. You know, there's a lot of folks that. That they. I don't know if it's nerves or it's just. They don't know if it's important or not, but they're walking around in the box. You know, they're moving their feet. They're shuffling their feet. They're kind of changing their feet. And I feel like if you change your feet five times for five targets, you're going to have five separate moves. Right? So you're not really learning, like, like if you're locked in. In feet on post one and you get that hard left, that move from where you are to where that target is is a, you know, is. Is a. A distance. In math, if you change your feet five times, that move is going to be different each time. I mean, you're going to either need to go harder or slower. Slower, depending on your feet to catch that same spot. Right, Rick?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Oh, absolutely. That's the thing. That's where I. I mean, I. I stress this as much as possible is keep your feet, I always say, quiet feet.

[Zach Nanini]

Quiet. Yeah. Usually there's nothing else quiet about us but the feet. Right. I mean, that's. That's. That's. We got quiet feet. Ding, ding, baby.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Hello, Trap Talk listeners. Today's episode is brought to you by winning custom gun socks.

[Zach Nanini]

That being said, a custom gun stock is going to elevate your game because you get the same fit every single time.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

And I can attest to that. I broke hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hundreds with my winning custom gun stock.

[Zach Nanini]

I haven't broke hundreds and hundreds and Hundreds and hundreds, RIP. But I did break 100 from the 27 within seven days of getting my stock and broke two more that year and loved it.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Here.

[Zach Nanini]

This is you take it or me.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

We'd like to thank win and custom gun stocks for supporting trap talk.

[Zach Nanini]

That being said, everyone knows winners shoot winning. Are we doing the end work? So we'll get to. We've gone through. We've showed 1 through 5, right? We showed the 5 picture.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yep. So.

[Zach Nanini]

So that rotation, that seems to make the most sense to me because we're adjusting with the angle of the field and we're trying to stay in the center of that field. If it's over here, our feet need.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

To be over here.

[Zach Nanini]

Over here, we need to be this way, I guess. When it comes to weight distribution, is it always 60, 40 for you on each position, or do you have posts where you lean more weight?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

No, I mean, I try to be the same, but it just. It varies now. So when you're on post one stance, you're. You're more straight. Okay. Opened up so your weight's more forward center. Okay. You get the two. It changes a little bit. And say it goes more towards your. Your left foot. Now when you get over to three, that weights forward, I'm kind of over my toes, so. More? Yeah. More.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

You're more stable.

[Zach Nanini]

I mean, I feel more. I feel more catty wampus or off centered on 1 and 5. And that. That Distribution of my feet and weight because if I lean too far, I almost feel like I'm gonna fall over.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's why you try to find that happy medium. So 4, and here's the deal, folks. Post 4 and 5. If the stance on 4 work for you for 4 and use them for 5. 2. If the stance on 5 work for 4, use them F2. I'm not gonna ever say, well, that's not gonna work for you. I'm gonna watch you and be like, hey, let's ship. And, and all my students can contest this or agree with this is when I go up to you and say, hey, move it. And I will move your foot literally an inch. And some are like, okay. And then they're like, oh, okay.

[Zach Nanini]

And that's, that's something that I've experienced so many times is how a shift 1 inch can change everything. And people can be like, wow, I feel that I'm open now. I don't feel restricted. And I hear this word restricted it a lot. I feel like, man, I, I can't. When I'm going to the left, it's almost like I run out or it's almost like the gun slows down or it's almost like I can't get there. Whenever I hear that phrase, I'm like, well, let's look at the feet and let's maybe let's open your body up so you can make that rotation over to that target. I guess, you know, we're talking singles right now, but if we went to handicap, I'm assuming the feet stay the same, Is that correct?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

I don't. I use the same foot position for singles, handicap and doubles. Wow.

[Zach Nanini]

How about weight distribution? Is there any difference in weight distribution between singles and handicap and doubles? And I would say maybe to double handicap.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

No, I, I try to shoot the. I try to shoot the same posture and form now I shoot a little quicker. And handicapping singles, you got to be deliberate. Okay, for all you young kids out there listening, I mean, yeah, it's fast as cool, but let me tell you, I can go back and look at my, at my friggin shoot ata, you know, average card and tell you that in, you know, 1988 to about 96 or whatever it was, that I would break a 200 at 195, a 200, a 189, I mean, in that speed kill. So you want to be delivered when.

[Zach Nanini]

You got the light and when you're on, you break them. But when something's not where it needs to be at that spot at that distance, it's very rough to stay consistent. Absolutely.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So when I go to handicap about the same now doubles, I try to mimic everything the same, except for I'm really focused on that weight forward for that first shot. So when I shoot, you know, boom. And I'm moving the gun off the house, of course, I'm on the house. And. And when I shoot, I'm absorbing that recoil and make that little bit loop, you know.

[Zach Nanini]

I will agree with you. I think the thing that does, like you said in doubles, I almost feel like I'm more with the weight of the feet just a little bit more. Because, I mean, I mean, I think the easiest. The easiest way it was explained to me, and I don't remember who told me this, but they were like, well, you want to be where you would be in singles and doubles after your first shot. So, like, if you're at your 60, 40, and then you take the recoil and you're at 50, 50, well, then you're technically starting your second shot on your heels. Right. So you got to do whatever you got to do so that when you start that second shot, you're starting it in a forward aggressive position to rotate to that other bird. And I think many people don't do that. They get, you know, maybe they're 50, 50 to start, or maybe they're 60, 40 to start. And then they. They get rocked back and then they're.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Doing that roll up their first move when they, they. So they shoot. Boom. And then they're back. So then when they're coming over, they're going out. I'm exaggerating, but they're continuing the up move. So when they block the target, they pull the trigger and they're like, oh, man, I was right on that. Or. And then, you know, where. God, where was I?

[Zach Nanini]

Visually, it looks like that because you're coming from the backside and everything's in and blott, but that target's still flying.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yep.

[Zach Nanini]

And usually you're stopping the gun when you lose sight of the bird. I mean, I found more people stop the gun because they lose the vision. They're like, oh, I'm there. Stop, bang. Oh, I'm there. Stop, bang. Versus keeping it in sight. I mean, yes, that's what.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Correct. And that's why, you know, that. That 70% for the doubles, roughly, you know, and everybody can play this. Some people do good with having just a little bit forward and they stay forward and go. You know, I always say, don't try to pull the target to you go.

[Zach Nanini]

To that target and that's good advice. Don't pull it to. You go to it.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. Because if you're pulling it, you're going back.

[Zach Nanini]

Go up with it. Use your whole body and go there. I, you know, that's wild.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Now in 2023 here we have done 37 state shoots, seven of the 2011 satellite grant.

[Zach Nanini]

And we now have, I think it's.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

241, 242 clubs across the country using our system.

[Zach Nanini]

If a club was wanting to use you, do you have like a base entry level pricing or packages that you advertise or is it based on the size of the shoots? Greg, Our base level price is zero.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Our complete package system, you know, the.

[Zach Nanini]

Whole enchilada is zero. Zero is a good price.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah.

[Zach Nanini]

The premium members do not pay a pre squad fee ever.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

For all year. All year. Can I buy a lifetime membership? I want to be number one.

[Zach Nanini]

Zach, we want lifetime memberships for me and Ricky. There are some other folks out there obviously with different, you know, opinion on, on stance, I'm sure. And, and I, and I, there's that. Right. And like we, you know, we talked a little bit about Leo. Like I watched Leo shoot and I think that left to right, these same feet that you're talking about, he had that same, you know, his feet a little bit.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

When he got down to 4 and 5, he was more like a post 3 stance maybe, or even not even as extreme as 3. I mean you'd have to watch his video to see. I mean I, I stood next to him and shot thousands and thousands of targets. And I mean we, we discussed it, you know, on, just. And this is way before Big l was teaching and it was one of those things that he, he, he arms shot. So it worked for him because he, he, he rotated. That's, and he even said one time, I said, are you getting a lot of people to ask you to teach them like you shoot? And he goes all the time. And I was like, what do you tell him? He goes, I can't teach you the bad habits. He, and he did. He perfected it for 42 years of shooting. I mean, you know, for everybody out there, all you got to do is look in the, in the Grand American program under Grand American WINS and yeah, 27 times.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah. But what I noticed from him though, and I, I did not get to watch him as much as you did, but I got to watch him compete several years. I, I've been in a couple shoot offs with them and I've seen, like, I felt like he, you know, and it was hard to judge where his weight distribution was because he was a, you know, he was a big man. I mean, but being, being a big man, I felt like he was more flat footed or more centered with his weight right down the middle of his belly and he was just moving up top and kind of making those shots. You know, obviously you can make that work, but I mean, it's not as common, right?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

No, no, I, I don't recommend it. Like I said, even Leo didn't recommend it.

[Zach Nanini]

Well, that, that says a lot right there. Like, the guy that did it the most is, hey, probably don't, don't do.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

This, but we'll try this at home.

[Zach Nanini]

That's the thing that I did think. And, and I, and I, you know, just kind of unpacking this. I feel like, yes, you've got that roll up when you're more centered with your weight. But I feel like some people, and, and this is even me. In some cases, if you get too much weight forward or you get too aggressive or you get too rolly with your knee, because I see some people crack that front knee out like, like it's like a, like a lawn chair where like, you're like really getting into that whole knee roll and you're kind of moving off those knees and it's almost like I feel like you've created us a wobbly foundation where as you're going to the target, your barrel height is moving based on the wobble of your knee. And like one thing also. Yeah, like teeter totter. Right. Where like Leo did not have any teeter totter. Like, yeah, he was arm shooting, but because he eliminated the base or eliminated the feet, he eliminated that side of the game. His gun barrel was completely in control because there was nothing moving down there. Right?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah. You can Google, you know, his, his video and there, there's little barbs on there. Yeah, he, he just, he, I mean, the man did his thing and, and it worked. You know, I mean, like I said, I stood next to him and, and, and shot on his squad at multiple shoots and, and it was, it was always a great time and it was great to witness some of the amazing scores he broke in absolute horrendous weather, good weather. You know, I was fortunate.

[Zach Nanini]

He was very smooth.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And a great guy. I mean, just a gentle giant. And I wish he was here today and you know, and he'd be, he'd been the first person to bring on our podcast. Oh, him and Frank Copy.

[Zach Nanini]

We had five or ten episodes on them before we could even get to anybody else. I mean, a lot of. A lot of good info there, but. But it's just. It's so hard because there's so much knowledge out there in the trap world, and I feel like every X amount of years, a generation of that dies off, and if you don't carry that information forward, it's like you're losing it, you know, and then it's like the, the new. But the good news is there are new people reinventing the game. There are new people that are kind of coming out and it's. It's the same game, but, like, there's people doing things.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Really. No reinventing trap shooting, but it is. Everybody's got their own. Here's what I'll say. Everybody's got their own technique and do this and do that and, and have made it work. And that's all great. You know, when, when I'm teaching, you know, I'm trying to get you fundamentals, I'm trying to get you to where you're breaking targets, consistent, consistently, and a very easy basis. That's the, the one thing that I. I've seen a lot of people struggling, and that's why Zach, you know, when we started doing this podcast, you know, we've been interviewing a lot of people, but we also do these deals to try to help and try to preserve some of the. The trap shooting, you know, techniques.

[Zach Nanini]

We're gonna bring, whatever it might be.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

We'Re gonna bring other instructors on and, and we're gonna do some. Some cool stuff in the future with, you know, other instructors to try to get, you know, like, their take on everything.

[Zach Nanini]

And yeah, I want to learn. I want to learn from every level. I'm the kind of guy, like Ricky said before, Ricky mounts the gun and shoots and is. Got all of his talent, all these years of experience, all of his, you know, all of that. And, and at the end of the day, he looks at a target and breaks a target. I'm over here trying to analyze the different layers of all the different things, and I, you know, I'm. I'm. I'm. That's my problem. I mean, I just, you know, you've got to. You've got to eventually sometimes get out of your head and not think about all these different things and just like, okay, get back to shooting, right? And I think there's two sides of, you know, shooters. There's the, the shooters that shoot and then there's the shooters that think and then there's in between. And then there's like, when you turn it off, when you turn it on.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

But shoot the first one and then loop to the second one and drive through it just like that.

[Zach Nanini]

Great shot. Shot two. Great shot.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

We're just trying to help every shooter out there, no matter if you're an expert or a beginner. And this product will take your game to the next level.

[Zach Nanini]

Works for any of the disciplines.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

As long as it can find a clay and image, it will figure out how it's moving and how that shot pattern is going to. Yeah. Now, in that shot, I intentionally shot high, which is most people do. Yep. So outside the pattern now, what's it say for the correction of that one foot? Yep, that'd be correct. Now in this one, I will smoke the target.

[Zach Nanini]

If people want to purchase this unit, what's the best way to do it? I mean, is it. Is it through your guys's website? Is there a phone number to call or what's. What's that situation? Yeah, go to our website.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Taking Tech.com and an online store, we have inventory. We'll ship usually within 24 hours.

[Zach Nanini]

Huge thank you to Jim and Bob at Taycame Tech for supporting Trap Talk. I do want to talk about distance with feet because we talked about shoulder width. Now, that being said, we talked about if you lean to the left or you go left, you're going to have more angle left. You go right, you're gonna have more angle right. That. That's simple. But how about distance with your feet in and out? If you go wider with that platform, does that make you slower shoulder width?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So.

[Zach Nanini]

Correct.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Here's what I'll say. When it gets real windy, like when we think the real, real windy shoot was, you know, last year, like shooting in Vegas or shooting the autumn grand, you know, months and months ago, I would say take your feet and do a half step out on each, just a little bit wider. Now, what that will do to. To you also, that can slow your. Your swing down. So you might have to adjust a little bit more accordingly.

[Zach Nanini]

So wider stance is going to equal more stable foundation potentially in the wind, but could also equal slower gun movement. Now, that being said, as we come closer with those feet, the foundation has got to be less stable. Right. If you. If you brought your feet together all the way, I mean. Right.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, it's. Yeah, I mean, it's all.

[Zach Nanini]

I don't know if I could get my feet together all the way with my legs the way they are, but, I mean, I Could, you know, try.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

But listen, listen, we're going to try that when we get to, like, Ohio State. Shoot. We're. I'm going to have you try the. The feet together on the practice track, and then I'm going to go like this. And you're going to go.

[Zach Nanini]

I'm going to fall right over.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So.

[Zach Nanini]

But I would think if you brought them in closer, stability goes away. But I would think at gun speed, has to go up a little bit.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, it can. And. And it's all. That's why you want to get. I always say, you know, shoulder width apart, but be comfortable. Okay. You know, my shoulders are wider than your shoulder, you know.

[Zach Nanini]

Well, yeah.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So you just. It's all. You want to be like, okay, this is what I want to do.

[Zach Nanini]

This is how I feel.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Good.

[Zach Nanini]

We're good to go.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yep. Absolutely. So I would really. I. That's why I say when I walk up and. And anybody can watch me, you know, coming to Ohio State. Shoot. Pa State Shoot. You know, when I go anywhere where.

[Zach Nanini]

Targets are thrown, you'll see Ricky Marshall Jr.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

When, when I'm getting there, up to each station or each post, I look down at my feet and make sure they're right. And some people say, well, why do you do that? And I said, well, I just. It's one less thing that you're thinking about. I can go up and stand, but it's like, okay, that kind of. But the visual. I'm a visual guy. See it. Okay, we're good.

[Zach Nanini]

No, I think you have to go through. I mean, this is a whole nother episode where we talk about, like, the checklist of things to do. I think we did it a little bit on that before, but. But, like, it starts with the feet. I mean, I've always, always been taught, always been told and always thought you start the ground up, you work from the toes all the way to the mount, all the way to calling pool. And it's like, it's kind of building layers until you say, you know the word to draw the bird and go get it. But. But it starts the feet. If you don't have your feet right, everything after that is going to follow in a bad direction.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That is correct. Yep. So that's why, like I've always said, you got it. It's all. It's. It's. It's the basics, but really the foundation starts at all. I always tell everybody, like, have you ever played golf? You know, and I'm. I, you know, I play army golf, I hit it, whatever, whichever you know, But I always tell people, if you want to get consistent, you got to have the good stance, swinging through, just like shooting. It all equals consistency. So you find that. That happy medium there, this works. Okay. Boom. And then you use it and you. I don't look back. Except for, like you said, I broke the back off that target. And I could tell, like, I broke the bat just because I short shot it, or I broke the back because my body's just not letting me get over there.

[Zach Nanini]

And you'll feel it. Oh, for me, it's not something that I have to think about. It's something that, like, instantaneously my feet have already moved over because I'm like, oh, crap, I'm there, I'm tight. And it really happens a lot in doubles. Like, it generally happens to me on post four and doubles. I get over there from three to four and I just kind of don't have enough to get to that second bird. And I just make that little micro shift.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

And for you, it all. It all happened when you were running down the street chasing that meatball and you hurt yourself. I mean.

[Zach Nanini]

Oh, yeah, that ripped Achilles didn't do me any favors, that's for sure. I mean, I, I gotta. Public service announcement, folks. If you can avoid ripping that Achilles, you want to do that at all costs. It's not fun.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Now, how is. How has that affected you, Zach?

[Zach Nanini]

For. You know, so I'm still dealing with it at some level, but the biggest thing was the atrophy. So, like when you, when you, when you go through a mut, you know, left leg, right. It was my left leg, my driving leg. Right. So. So, so for me, that experience has taught me a lot about feet. And I honestly had a period of time where. And it's developed some bad habits. I know I had to shoot like Leo because I didn't have that front foot anymore. So I had to reinvent my game. That year, you were the whole state.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Shoot, you stood right next to me and you were, you're more.

[Zach Nanini]

And I, And I. And I won the overall in state that year, but I didn't do it pretty because I didn't have my feet anymore. And so all my brakes went out 5ft or 10ft. I mean, everything slowed down because I couldn't get. I couldn't get there. But like, the reality was when they cut that and they put me, I had to basically up with, you know, a cast for, you know, two or three months and then therapy to rebuild. But if you looked at the size of my Calf, like, when I grab around my calf, like, I can't get my, My, my, you know, fingers around it with both my hands. Well, then with the one that I had, I could wrap around it and have, like, actual fingers touching. So it was like inches smaller around the circumference of my calf because all of that muscle died because I wasn't using it for months and months and months, and they had to cut it and reattach it and go into that. So. So for me, I'm still working on building that front left foot because the tendency is my right back calf is much stronger than my front left calf. And I don't want to. I don't want to push off of it as much as I used to.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, I understand.

[Zach Nanini]

And to give, you know, just some, Some numbers. Right. Like, that year before that, in handicap, My average was 94 and a half. The year after the surgery, my handicap average was like 90. So I feel like that had a lot to do with. I wasn't charging off of that front side. I was just kind of like, oh, I'm gonna shoot the target. I didn't. I didn't push anymore.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So you short shot a lot of stuff. I remember we were. I think. Well, I think it was at Missouri.

[Zach Nanini]

On the bottom one of one of.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Them that I was standing behind you helping you at the practice trap, and you just kept freaking. Just short shooting, short shooting. But then, because your body's gonna tell you when you're doing something, you go to move and it don't like that move, the brain's going to go pull the trigger. And you pull the. You're like, what the hell I want, you know.

[Zach Nanini]

Yeah. And it's the damnedest thing because it went from, like. I mean, obviously one day I'm doing it the way I do it and all my life, and then the next day you don't have that anymore. It goes away and you've got to reinvent it. But, like, I'm trying to get initiate weight back onto that front, front leg, and I'm trying to build it up so that I have that power off that calculator half, which in. If you don't have it, you don't have it, you know, And I was able to shoot really good singles and doubles that way, but I never could shoot. I mean, I think my singles almost got better because it slowed everything down to where I was more methodical, but I never could get that, you know, big handicap stroke back once. I was.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Yeah, I get it. Well, and that's One of the things, you know, you just need, listen, you need to come along to a couple of my two, three, four day classes and, you know, walk with me side by side and you'll get them steps and you'll, you'll work, you get them.

[Zach Nanini]

Them Ricky Marshall steps. You wear, wear those pads out from left to right.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Hey, hey. At these glasses, you know, I'm like, ah. You know, someone asked, how many steps you doing? I'm like 11,000, 12,000 a day. And I said, that's my steps. If I include my wife's steps in there, I did about 18, 19,000. Jody goes. Because every time we're walking somewhere, she's like, would you slow down? You walk like this. And I walk like this.

[Zach Nanini]

Hey, it's hard sometimes. We got places to go, people to see.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Exactly.

[Zach Nanini]

We ain't got time to waste.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's right.

[Zach Nanini]

Well, you know, I think we covered a whole lot and I know we've talked Mental game. We've talked, you know, I hold positions. We've had a lot of listeners say they want to get like tentacle on one subject and just go really deep. And I feel like we've gone pretty deep with the feet today and the body and kind of the weight distribution. Is there any other things to do with weight, hips, feet, you know, that we're, that we're missing here?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

I would say one thing. Wear some good shoes when shooting. I mean, you know, I, I tend to, you know, I'm wearing Brooks or Adidas Ultra Boost.

[Zach Nanini]

You got that Ultra Boost money, though. I mean, most of us can't afford that stuff.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

We're wearing money thanks to Zach Nini Financial. I mean, it helps.

[Zach Nanini]

I got you that Boost money.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Hey, that's right. Hey, hey. You know, Justin, my squad mate, Justin Debris, he's got a few more Boost dollars than I do since he's got a few more Boost tennis shoes than I do.

[Zach Nanini]

So, you know, yeah, I, now, I, I, that's such a good point. We completely overlooked and didn't go.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

So I appreciate, I was, I was waiting for the right time to throw it in and you were just like.

[Zach Nanini]

You know, you gave it to me. That was perfect. So with, with shoes, like, if we were going to say, let's talk about the type of shoe, like, is there a type of shoe that you need to wear to trap shoot? Because I know like some people, some people, like Darryl Handy said, hey, I want to wear a cowboy boot. Right?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's all. Just gonna say cabba boots. When I was a lot younger I shot in Cabo boots, you're automatically getting that. That automatic lean, so to speak. Weight forward a little bit. I just say a good quality shoe, not a shoe that is super soft in the heel. Because if it's real soft in the heel, you're gonna.

[Zach Nanini]

There get on your heels. So something with a stiff enough heel to keep that heel up off the ground. Now, do you know anybody that's using spacers or like orthotics in the back to push that heel up? Or is it all just a good quality shoe with a step?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

I mean, good quality shoe. You know, I wear a lot of Merrells runners. Or like.

[Zach Nanini]

Do you like shoes that are completely flat, or do you like shoes that have a little bit of an edge from the back to the front?

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

A little bit of edge, possibly. That's why I like the Ultra Boost. It's almost. It's not flat. It's just tilted just a shade.

[Zach Nanini]

It's getting you forward, not shooting.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

And like my dad, I remember when the first year my dad shot any registered targets was 1998 at the Nebraska state shoot. I was going to the hall of fame that year. And he decided he's going to shoot the whole state shoot. Never registered target in his life. And he was shooting in Birkenstocks.

[Zach Nanini]

Hey.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

And I was like, dad, you're. You know. And he's like, ought to be fine. I know what I'm doing. He shot the tank top in Birkenstocks, and he had. He had a mark on his shoulder. And, you know, but he. He loved it. He just. He was doing it.

[Zach Nanini]

I want to talk crap on the Birkenstocks. I know there's some shooters in the country that I've seen that. That wear those damn things and then break good scores. So, I mean, you. You could figure it out. Obviously. I mean, I'm not going to be wearing any Birkenstocks with my Italian white feet. But.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

But listen, we've seen your feet. We. You keep them. Think you need to wear some jeans, too. We're. We're.

[Zach Nanini]

No, the legs are beautiful, but the feet we got. We want to keep those things in. We put Puma socks on from Costco, throw them in some freaking throw. Throw some snack sketchers on, and we're rolling, baby.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Oh, Lord. Yeah, just. You know, I always say get a. Get a good quality shoe. I mean, I remember. I remember teaching Mitchell Pearson at the. At Arizona, and he had. I can't remember if they were hookahs. Hocus, whatever.

[Zach Nanini]

That's right.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

And. And he was kept like sitting on his heels.

[Zach Nanini]

Shoes, they're so flat. Like you talk about those like, I don't know, like a Nike Jordan or like the flat. Yeah, you know, flat shoes. And I know people that were like, those things are level, flat and they're designed to keep your heels on the ground. Like that's not it. I mean a good cross trainer, maybe.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

A runner that's not, doesn't have the toe turned up, you know, but yeah, I remember with him, I told Mark, I said, mark, go buy him a pair of shoes. That night they went to the mall in Tucson, got him a pair of Brooks Beast tennis shoes. He came back. I did another lesson with him that week. He got three yards in handicap.

[Zach Nanini]

So there's your announcement. If you're, if you're having trouble shooting, maybe try a different pair of shoes. Like, like, if you're like, oh, I ain't hitting nothing, I'm behind. I mean, check your equipment. If your soles are all wore out, out, I mean, hey, time for, I mean, we wouldn't shoot a wore out shooting pad. Right. We need new pads on the shotgun. We need new shoes on our feet. We got to be looking good. I mean, that's just part of it.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Absolutely. So yeah, that's, that's another aspect of it. And just there's all these little things that add up that make a big difference.

[Zach Nanini]

Well, you know, with that being said, I think we should get out of here today. That was a ton of great information. I, I, you know, we covered, covered it in good detail. I'm sure we're going to get some follow up questions, guys. If there's any other things that you'd like to see me and Ricky dive really deep on, send us, send us an email, hit us up on the, on the page, let us know. But shoots, you know, yeah, hit us up. We're, we're always looking for great things to talk about and we've got a huge lineup of some great shooters that we're going to interview soon. So we're keeping it interesting and keeping it fun and we appreciate everything you guys do.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's right. Thanks everybody.

[Zach Nanini]

Happy Friday.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

That's right, Happy Friday.

[Zach Nanini]

And the Trap Talk podcast is brought to you in part by RM Shooting Clinics. Have Ricky take your game to the next level. If you want to shoot hundreds of hundreds of hundreds, give Ricky a call today. Zach Nini Financial we believe in putting people first.

[Richard Marshall Jr.]

Sat.