British Open champion Tom Young starts shooting coaching in Scotland

Scotland’s game Guns and clay shooters have a new coach, and he is in the form of his life. Tom Young, who won the British Open Sporting Championship this year and then the Compak Sporting Grand Prix of the United Kingdom at Eaton Hall with 198 ex 200, has started coaching, and he will travel anywhere in Scotland, and over the border, to do it. “There is a huge need for quality shooting coaching in Scotland,” he said in Sporting Gun’s I am a shooter interview, published on Wednesday, 4 November, “and I look forward to bringing out the best in my clients and helping them achieve their goals.”

Why does Tom Young say Scotland needs more shooting coaches?

Young lives in central Scotland with his young family, where he runs the family’s traditional slating business alongside his father. It was established in 1918 by his great-great-grandfather, and he told Sporting Gun it is “an honour to be involved and carry on the family tradition”. He lives within a couple of hours of several of Scotland’s quality grounds, and the coaching, he said, follows a simple logic: “I have recently started my own coaching journey, as I feel the time has come to pass on some of the knowledge I have gained.” For the keeper, the shoot owner or the Gun north of the border who has wanted a lesson from somebody still winning at the top of the sport, the geography has just improved.

What should a Gun look for in a coach?

Young’s own answer is the advice he gives anyone thinking of entering competitive clay shooting, and it reads just as well for the game Shot who wants to hit more in the season ahead. “Get out to as many grounds as possible to experience different targets on varying grounds and target setters,” he said. “Find yourself a coach with a proven track record who can still compete at a high level. A good foundation will set you off in your shooting career.” It is the road he took himself. He credits Mark Winser, the world champion and coach, with shaping his shooting: “Mark’s guidance and friendship have been pivotal in my shooting career. His insight and knowledge of the sport are truly remarkable. If you want to be the best, you have to train with the best.”

How did first shots at seven become a British Open title?

Young’s father, he said, “has always been a countryman at heart”, and having been “his shadow from day one” it was a natural progression to follow him into the shooting world. Since his first shots at the age of seven, he told Sporting Gun, “I can’t say a month has gone by that hasn’t involved a day on the clays or some sort of shooting-inspired activity.” Competition did not draw him until he was 19 or 20. A taste of success in the Scottish junior opens led to the Scottish Open Sporting title at 21, then the Welsh Open FITASC title after a 99 ex 100, and over the past 10 years to seasons spent travelling up and down the country to the major championships. This year was the one. “Taking home the British Open Sporting Championship was a weekend to remember, and a true honour to be added to the list of the sport’s greatest competitors who have won it,” he said. The Compak Sporting Grand Prix at Eaton Hall in October rounded it off.

What does the champion shoot with?

For the reader who likes to know, Young moved in November 2023 to a Krieghoff Parcours X with 32in barrels and a custom factory stock, provided by Alan Rhone, and has “never looked back”. He shoots mainly Hull Sovereign 28g No 7s through ¾ extended Teague chokes, and his “secret weapon”, he said, is Teague’s Super Cylinder choke “for those frustrating close bouncing rabbits”, a target every rough shooter will recognise. His competition kitbag is less exotic: “Lots and lots of sparkling water”, fruit and nuts, cartridges, a box of chokes, Pilla lenses and, “especially in Scotland”, a waterproof jacket. He is sponsored by John Young & Sons, A F Noble and Son, Alan Rhone, Teague Chokes, Starkey Outdoor and Hull Cartridge Company.

What happens next

With the driven season under way and Guns sharpening up on the Scottish grounds between shoot days, Young is taking clients across Scotland and will cross the border for those who ask. His full interview, compiled by Sporting Gun’s managing editor Matt Kidd, is linked below.