✋ Where to aim when you’re shooting

My friends and I are aspiring shooters, and one question that we toss around is— “Where should you aim when you’re shooting?”  We’ve come up with a variety of answers. Here is the answer that I like best, because it is the one that works best for me.

Aim for the spot on the ground immediately in front of the target boule.

Go to the target boule and put your boule on the ground directly in front of it, so the two boules are touching. That’s where you should aim; that’s where you want your thown boule to hit the ground. Here is a view from above; the target boule is on the left; the ghostly circle on the right is where you want your boule to come down.

Here is a side view. You can see the thrown boule coming down from the right at approximately a 45 degree angle.

There a a number of reasons why I think this strategy works.

1. It makes shooting no different from lobbing. In both cases you are aiming for a specific spot on the ground. So if you can lob, you can shoot. You’re doing basically the same thing in both cases. When you’re shooting; ignore the target boule. Aim for that specific spot on the ground.
    
2. It produces a good solid hit. The target boule is hit on its front side, so the maximum amount of horizontal momentum is transferred from the thrown boule to the target boule. If you hit the target boule that way, it will be a good solid hit and the target boule will really go flying.
    
3. It offers a generous margin of error. (See the diagram below.) If you throw slightly long, you still have a reasonable chance of hitting the target boule higher on its front side. If you throw slightly short, you have a decent chance of the thrown boule hitting the ground in front of the target boule and then bouncing and hitting the target boule.

This is not a theory of the best way to produce a carreau sur place. (I’ve seen such theories and I really doubt that there is any single One Best Way to produce a carreau.) This is only a theory of a good rule-of-thumb for novice shooters. It works for me, and I recommend it to others.

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