I could always count on Mr. Owen.

After a summer of watching me, his pre-teen neighbor, fling arrows in groups that resembled a pattern of bird shot, he pulled himself away from building lure molds to give some much-needed advice to this fledgling archer.

“Son,” he said, “practice smaller and you’re gonna miss smaller.”

The 12-inch paper plate came down and the bottom of a to-go cup took its place. Increased focus, tighter arrow grouping, and confidence on the firing line grew daily. My stock at the range rose all the way to “he ain’t awful” in just a few weeks.

Try to implement Mr. Owen’s sage advice into your TOC practice regimen to increase its effectiveness. Pitching a jig to a willow leaf or shooting dandelion blooms with your air rifle will force you to pay strict attention to all the influences on accuracy. Wind, yardage, and angle will all become second nature after having to spot judge these factors in practice.

I once heard Brian Hanford, a fellow TOC staffer, give some great advice to a disappointed competitor that blends perfectly with the practice small, miss small theory.

“Visualize that whatever you used as a practice target is floating in the middle of the center ring,” he said. “You look at those big outside rings, and you’re setting yourself up to miss in those rings.”

—John