Our report from the 2026 English Open Sporting Championship

Whenever we shoot at Barbury we’re always so impressed with how everything runs. It’s a smooth operation that allows us to spend our time focusing on the targets and not queueing or wandering about aimlessly looking for the next stand.

The 2026 English Open Sporting was no exception.

From booking in to getting started everything ran like a charm.

The whole place was easy to navigate whether shooting or walking around. Clearly sign posted, parking was plentiful and there were some great food options too.

And, wallets beware, there were some good pop-up shops to browse while we waited for our squad time to come.

We were there an hour beforehand so we had some time to kill before kick-off, and it seemed like the longest hour we’ve ever experienced.

The anticipation was building, the nerves started jangling and all the while we could see Stand 1 looming large.

In the days running up to the competition we were all checking weather and it wasn’t looking good. We were shooting on the Thursday, 2 days after the comp’ started, and it looked very changeable throughout the week.

The squad agreed the day before we were probably going to get wet but as luck would have it, ome light shower was all we saw. At one point we were even stripping off the layers as it got too warm.

All in all we were happy with the conditions, but a bit less wind would have been welcomed.

Josh who set the targets at the open deserves a medal. There was something for everyone on the course.

Sim pairs crossing, he had you. Eye sight test crosser, ditto. Naughty rabbit down a hill, he delivered.

It didn’t matter if you were a C Class entering your first shoot or a AAA Class looking to take the top spot, the targets were set in a way that gave everyone a chance.

Let’s compare it to last year’s English Open Sporting which was a real slog, a relentless grind.

From stand 1 to the end of 2025’s contest it felt like there was no let up. Bashed from pillar to post for 3 hours straight.

Everything was raging, screaming, disappearing into the distance in seconds with little time to react and get on the line. It was call, pickup and swing the gun into action.

This year’s comp still felt like a serious Open Championship challenge – and it challenged us for sure – but it felt more technical.

Yes, there was a good dose of speed and distance involved at times but the presentations felt like they needed more focused thought to smoke. Even the ones that looked like card-fillers.

For example, there was a straight up crow that floated up into the air, peaked and then rolled before it started it’s decent. Seemed easy enough from where we were standing, maybe a ‘gimme‘ target?

But it had been thrown from a place that looked quite near but needed some fresh air under it to drop it into your shot. Even the simple crow had the ‘Josh treatment‘.

And as for the looping right-to-left out on the Deer Park – that one caught us all out. It was a good distance away so we all decided it needed some serious lead. Even those shooters in our squad with years under our belt were absolutely bemused when the thing just refused to break.

Step forward our B Class shooter to smash 3 out of the four by just passing it by and pulling the trigger.

Josh had tricked us, it was pretty much quartering so the lead us lot though it needed was way too much. Cheeky target.

And that’s pretty much how all the targets were thrown. Real trickery and thoughtful presentation, utilising the landscape, trap angles and various ‘weapons of doom‘ like the telehandlers.

We put out some predictions last week where we said the classes should be aiming for these returns as a minimum:

A Class – 80%

B Class – 70%

C Class – 65%

Were we right?

Let’s start at the very top because Brett Hand deserves a serious round of applause. Shooting a 114 in Tuesday’s blustery, tricky conditions is nothing short of miraculous.

Achieving that score on that course on a flat calm day with no rain takes a Herculean effort. To shoot a 114 out of 120 on that particular day and for the score to hold throughout is great work and our congratulations go to Brett for a superb display of talent.

Back to the scores; A Class was won with an 88%, B Class was won with a 81% and C Class was won with a 80%.

Our A Class prediction was pretty damn close but we were a little off the pace for the B & C Class predictions. Both of those classes shot really well to get into the 80% bracket. That’s above their expected averages for their classes so to shoot scores like that at a major is superb.

The B & C Classes getting into the 80% ranges just proves how a layout can be set to challenge the cream of our sport but also give the upcoming shooters a mighty fine experience.

That’s important because it means they’re not dragging their gear back to the clubhouse feeling battered and bruised having had their score cards marauded.

Open Championships should always be just that – ‘open to everyone‘ and not just the best of the best.

As a good friend of ours has said many times before – and he’s set more courses than we can count – “doesn’t matter what class you’re in, we don’t go out and spend our money on shooting to miss more than we hit“.

And how true that is of the layout that was created at the 2026 English Open.

Clever and considered target setting is not easy: it takes experience, skill and thought. All of that was in abundance at Barbury this year and we applaud all the crew in Wroughton on a superb 2026 English Open Sporting Championship. Seriously great job, you should all be proud.

The next Open Sporting Championship is the British at High Lodge. Yet again another ground and crew who know what they’re doing.

We’re booked on so we’ll be sharing the insider info’ on that one too.