This may be a little controversial but….. It is my opinion that there is no 100% CORRECT foot placement. After all, everybody is different and when you watch the good shooters, even they do not adhere to the “rules” or the YouTube videos. However, there is 100% INCORRECT foot placement; I think we can agree on that. If your feet are in the WRONG place then you will miss if you have to use any reasonable amount of torso twist during the shot.
Let me explain – unless you are shooting directly in front of you, then a clay shot will involve some movement about the hips, either left to right or right to left. How much movement is determined by the angle of the shot but for the purposes of this post let’s say the clay you are looking to hit is, a visible all the way, left to right crosser and it is not one of a pair.
It is generally accepted that where you want to kill the bird is where your body should be most relaxed. Tension in your body = tightness in your swing. This may be manageable early in your swing but not at the end, where you are about to fire. . The most relaxed position for your feet is having your lead foot (Your lead foot is the opposite one to the shoulder that you shoot from) pointing, give or take, at the kill point. Your supporting foot, the one that stops you falling over(!) is then sitting in either the 10 past the hour position if you are right handed or at the 10 to the hour if you are left handed. This may seem obvious but you have a look next time your are out at the shooting ground
The clockface
So for a right hander the feet are at about 5 to 2 on the clockface with the back foot slightly behind the lead foot. A left hander will see their feet at 10 to 1.
Given the biomechanics of the human body, we all know that you can only twist your torso so far in each direction. It will be a different amount from each side according to the gun orientation, right handed or left handed. So, if your feet are not in the correct place you could easily run out of “twist” before you get to the point where you want to shoot the bird.
No twist = no gun movement = miss
Too often, beginners and less experienced shooters will place their lead foot either at the point they SEE the bird, or the HOLD point, rather than setting their feet to the kill point and then coiling themselves like a spring back to their starting position. This coiling puts energy into the body; as you hold an unnatural position your body wants to get to “relaxed” and therefore, as you swing with the clay, you are being helped by your body wanting to do what is natural and uncoil to this relaxed state.
Coming back to where I started; you can have your feet in the “nearly right” position and still make the shot work. You will find it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to have your feet in the absolutely wrong position and get the shot away without problems.
