Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 27, 1994 TAG: 9407230006
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Americans, on a world scale, he said, aren't very good wing shooters.
Sporting clays, the shooting game that originated in England and has swept across the United States in the past half-dozen years, is proving that.
``The top American shooters would not stand much chance in England,'' said Phillips, whose sporting clays titles have included the American National Champion, the British Sporting Clays Champion, the Canadian Sporting Clays Champion, the Portuguese Open Champion and the World Silver Medalist.
``There is a small group of top [American] shooters who are good,'' said Phillips. ``There are a lot of people who are not getting much better.''
Last week, Phillips was coaching shooters at the Buffalo Creek Sporting Club in Bedford County. A month earlier he had boosted the standards of sporting clays another notch when he fired a perfect 100x100 round at the Quail Unlimited/Red Man Tournament in Atlanta. It was the first time a shooter in the United States had scored a perfect round in competition.
``We have been doing it longer,'' said Phillips, whose home town is Hockley Heath, England.
Sporting clays had been a sport in England 50 years before it reached America. When it got here, U.S. shooters embraced it with enthusiasm. With its disk-shaped targets simulating the uncertain flight of upland birds, waterfowl - even rabbits - in their natural habitat, it was as close as you could get to hunting short of fur and feathers. There now are a half dozen ranges within two hours of Roanoke.
``The courses over here are not very hard,'' said Phillips. ``So the good shooters, who have reached a standard, are not going to improve much more. They stay good on American style targets, but there is another big world out there.''
That world, said Phillips, involves targets that are faster and farther away, and they often blaze past in doubles.
``A lot of people over here, if they can't hit a target they bitch and moan until the ground's owner changes it. It is like me taking up golf and asking them to move the bunker because I keep landing it it.''
In England, the targets aren't just tougher, but the courses are less polished, he said.
``Here you have gone into it in a bigger way. You have nice facilities. I can wear nice shoes here. In England you have to plow through mud.''
That makes American shooting more expensive, a concern of Phillips.
``There are a lot of new people coming in, but a lot are dropping out. I think one of the problems is price. It is expensive over here to shoot. The main reason it is expensive, the shooting grounds are much, much better.''
Phillips took up shooting in 1976 at the age of 20. He came to America about three years ago to compete in tournaments and to teach shooting. He had shot three 99s in competition before breaking the perfect 100 at Wolf Creek in Atlanta.
``Four or five weeks earlier, I was actually at the same ground, shooting the Ducks Unlimited Tournament, and I missed my 100th target.''
That came back to haunt him in the Quail Unlimited/Red Man Tournament.
``I was getting nervous when I came to the last stand. It wasn't an easy stand. It was just a few yards from where I'd missed last time. I hadn't expected to get a fourth go at it so quickly.''
After breaking 100, Phillips shot a 97 the next day, giving him a championship score of 197x200.
He doesn't expect to see a rash of perfect scores.
``In England, I think there have been five since 1925.''
by CNB