How to practice/improve stage planning?
Ask some of the more experienced shooters what they're planning to do. Most competitors love talking stage plans.
Probably the most valuable advise offered so far.
And I suggest you not only talk to the fastest shooters at your local club but if you can, talk to the top regional shooters that travel up and down the state. Top regional shooters will leave your best local shooters in the dust and will approach shooting/stage planning very differently. You want to learn from those that are actually doing it, not just talking/thinking about it. And yes, as ATLDave posted, I found regional shooters very approachable and generous with a desire to share and teach others what they do that works.
While best local club shooters suggested I video tape my stage runs to review and learn from my mistakes, regional shooters told me in order to improve, I must address my mistakes to resolution. So instead of just reviewing video of my stage runs, they told me to set up mock up targets of stage I had difficulties with and practice until I absolutely addressed the mistakes to resolution so when I encounter such stage target setup, it would be old practice rerun that I have done many times instead of anxiety/frustration.
When I volunteered to help take down and later set up USPSA stages with the stage designer, I learned there are basic types of target layouts you should absolutely learn like the back of your hands and practice variations of those target layouts so as to how best to approach them. And like the saying, practice DOES make PERFECT. So, make yourself some target stands and set up practice stages at home garage/backyard and practice/test different approaches until you find the one that you can use fastest.
And network, communicate and ask questions. If you had difficulties with a particular part of the stage, ask/talk to shooters that managed to shoot them fast without issues. Chances are, they will happily share with you how they arrived at their shooting solutions.
BTW, here's Rob Leatham's suggestions on stage planning -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-help-me-speed-up.824618/page-5#post-10904877
- As you walk through the stage to develop your stage/shooting plan, identify how best to engage the targets and when to do mag changes
- Change your plan as often as necessary if better plan comes up (like other shooters shooting more efficiently)
- Have Plan B in case Plan A doesn't work out
- One tenth here and one tenth there will add up to saving seconds
- Watch and learn from other shooters shoot difficult parts of stage
- Watch other shooters shoot and openly share and problem solve with their difficulties and they will return the favor and watch/help you solve your difficulties