As the old saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Starting a 3-Gun club can be a journey into the unknown, however it can also be one of the most rewarding things you can do in competitive shooting.

One thing that it does take is time. If you are willing to put forward the work, interested in building relationships and enjoy days spent on the range – becoming a match director might be your calling.

Every Match Director in 3-Gun has a slightly different story to tell. There are many creative minds that put together matches all over the country and each has something valuable to contribute. That said, we’ve polled some of them on this topic and outlined their responses below:

Mike Dell, (Indiana):

1. “Set the stages so they are linear. Since it is a local match and assuming newer or inexperienced shooters will be at the event, let the stage guide them thru.”
2. “I always tried to set up so 70 to 80 percent of my expected field could finish. The top tier shooters will always rise to the top, but don’t frustrate the masses at a local match. We need to grow the sport, not discourage it.”
3. “Limit traps, 180 traps, bad stage and dump barrel locations. Set stages to allow timely reloads.”
4. “Identify new shooters each match and help them. If they succeed, you succeed. The match is not necessarily about your success, but the shooters success.”

Ryan Dixon, (Ohio):

“I’m a fairly new MD but great advice given to me was to create a match you would want to shoot. I would also recommend they really make sure they don’t take help for granted because volunteers can be hard to come by and burn out easily.”

Jody Tippet, (Alabama):

“Have good dump barrels for all 3 guns. Ask for feedback from the shooters after a match and don’t take it personally. Go work and shoot some major matches as it will give you stage ideas for your match. Additionally it will give them some insight into what they will find at a major match. Let someone else design some stages from time to time. Have an assistant md that can run the match if you can’t be there.”

Justin Martin, (South Carolina):

“Plan ahead. You can’t plan ahead far enough. The better the plan, the less work in the end!”

Chuck Anderson, (Oregon):

1. “Know the rules. Know how to rule quickly on easy, common issues. Be willing to pull the rules out and consult with someone else if you aren’t 110% sure.”
2. “Have other people review your stages. It’s very easy to get caught up in the way you expect it to be shot. Make sure you account for the shortest and tallest shooters, as well as the ones who will do stuff that is dumb. If someone finds a better way to shoot the stage you designed, and it’s OK under the rules, this isn’t a failure.
3. “It’s a good thing to have stages with options. Leave your ego at home. Whatever you are doing at the match will reflect on your attendance. If you present a fun enjoyable event and are personable, people will come back.”
4. “The benefit of the doubt should go to the shooter. But doubt has to be there. If someone screws up, and it’s clear, you don’t need to look for excuses to let them off the hook. I have a lot more respect for MD’s who fairly and equitably enforce the rules rather than those who offer special treatment for their friends.”

Craig Outzen, (Utah):

1. “Build a stage based on testing fundamental shooting skills. Only need to test 1 or 2 per stage to make it interesting.”
2. “Anytime you are tempted to “slow down the fast guys” beat yourself with a hammer until that idea goes away. If you are successful in making the fast guys fail guess what you just did to the majority of your shooters? No fun.”

Bruce Davidson, (Ohio):

1. “Try not to tell a shooter what to do, instead force an action through stage design or target placement.”
2. “Think about how stages will be reset, not just how they will be shot. Shooter options are always nice.”
3. “Communicate as much as possible with your customer base before, during and after the match.”
4. “Make time to proof every stage before the match.”
5. “Be prepared to keep your setup helpers busy with good instructions or checklists. The goal here is to be able to hand someone a package and say “go build that stage.” Ask everyone to help with teardown and give good instruction to what that means.”

Todd Lewis (Florida):

1. “Learn to build stages that can be reset while the shooter is still shooting. This will help things flow better and reset faster.”
2. “Understand that your job will be more time management than anything”
3. “Find good people to be your range officers and treat them well they are the heartbeat and blood flow of any match.”
4. “Celebrate your Shooters both new and old and remember this sport is about safety and fun, in that order.”
5. “You only have one chance to lose your integrity. Be fair and equal in your judgment and rules.”
6. “Regarding stage design I look at it as my job to extract the best out of each shooter while taking into consideration all the different skill levels. With fault lines you can manipulate where they can go. With walls and barriers you can manipulate what they see and with props you can manipulate how they shoot a target.”
7. “If you make stages that are too easy, you won’t build better competitors. The flip side is if you make them too hard people might stop showing up. A good example of this is having stages where your par time is too low and the majority of shooters time out.”

Building and running 3-Gun events can require a lot of work and planning. However, if you love to see others enjoy your creation it can be one of the most rewarding things you can do. Taking a line from the movie Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come.” And just like baseball, 3-Gun is a pastime enjoyed by many with a wealth of knowledge out there to help you through.

Have more questions? Join the 3GN Members group like we did for this article and as always in 3-Gun, there are many willing to help. Also, be sure to check out our Club Series program >