We have talked about the definitions of location and view and their application on a short course, but what about medium and long courses where there are many opportunities for different locations and/or views? Let’s talk about good and bad stage design in relation to these two things.
Here we have a stage with 3 shooting areas and 12 targets. 4 targets are available from each shooting area and only that shooting area. This stage would be legal long course because it doesn’t violate “course design and construction must not require more than 8 scoring hits from any single location or view, nor allow a competitor to shoot all targets in the course of fire from any single location or view” per 1.2.1.3. But is this stage a good freestyle challenge? No! There is only one way to shoot this stage. Everyone goes to all three boxes and engages the same targets from each box.
What if we take the same stage and make one large shooting area? Does that make it more freestyle? Not really. The competitor still has to go to the 3 same locations as before to engage the targets. While legal, there still is really only one stage plan. There is no opportunity to come up with a creative freestyle solution.
Here is the same stage with the same shooting area and target positions. But the walls have been rearranged and some additional barrel stacks have been added. Now there are some freestyle options! Competitors can choose to go to the 3 same locations as before because the same targets are visible from those locations (and low capacity divisions will do just that), but now there are other options.
Competitors in the high capacity divisions are always looking for ways to reduce movement and shooting positions on a stage. T6 and T7 are the only targets that must be engaged through the center opening, but now T5 and T8 can be engaged from the center and T8 at the left position and T5 on at the right position. Yes, a competitor can go to the position on the left and engage T1-T4 and T8! And some of you are saying, “That is 10 shots and can’t be legal!” But are all 10 of those shots required from that location? No! Since T8 is available from 2 locations, and isn’t required from that position, we are not violating the “must not require more than 8 scoring hits from any single location” part of the rule. And it isn’t a single view either because the walls and barrels create multiple views.
This isn’t the most sophisticated stage design because I was trying to illustrate some points, but I suspect most top competitors will engage all targets as they move along the rear fault line for this stage. No forward movement is really required to see all the targets. I would have liked to also make more than 2 targets available from multiple locations to provide even more options, but be careful to not make the whole stage a memory game. Competitors like some of that, but too much gets old quick.
Just remember that stage design is just like being a competitor or a range official in our sport – it takes practice, practice, practice to become proficient in it! Competitors are more than willing to provide feedback on your designs. And watching competitors shoot your stage designs is a good way to learn as well. Just remember to keep your stages legal for no more than 8 required shots from a single location or view.