2026 NSCA US Open at Game Unlimited

Over a thousand shooters came through Hudson, Wisconsin for the 2026 US Open, held August 11 through 16. Game Unlimited has been at it for over 60 years, and they are sitting on beautiful property of rolling hills, hardwoods, fields, and ponds in the St. Croix River valley.

Outside of nationals in San Antonio, the US Open is the biggest stop on the NSCA tour and it features some of the biggest names in the sport. It is also open to all skill levels and all classes. That is the part some people miss. The event rotates to a different club every year, and this one came down to three men tied at 127 with one round left.

Why I Entered Instead of Only Filming

I was at the US Open last year in Mississippi at Providence Hill, but I only shot video, no shotguns. This year in Hudson, I decided to actually enter the main event while making the video.

I had shot a handful of registered tournaments and that was it. Although I make shotgun content for a living and am a professional exhibition shooter, that is not the same thing as shooting sporting clays at the U.S. Open.

Day One: The Jitters Were Real

I told myself I wasn't nervous but I was. The first station made that clear enough.

Here is the part that got in my head. The targets did not look that hard. I could see them, I knew what they were doing, and I missed them anyway. The A bird looked like it was sitting right there, and I did not hit it once.

What saved day one was the squad. Two guys I had never met before that morning, Ron and Ray, encouraged me on every single station. I signed up without squadding with anybody on purpose, and I got paired with two of the best guys at the shoot.

Coaching With Zach Kienbaum

Coming into day two I had a plan and I had help lined up. I got time with Zach Kienbaum, a high-level pro who has accomplished about everything there is to accomplish in this sport.

He watched me shoot for a few minutes and went straight at my eyes. His read was that when the stage gets bigger, we drop out of that subconscious state. You start shooting defensively, you start paying too much attention to the gun, and you stop truly watching the bird.

The only thing he wanted me to do consciously was to tell myself to keep my eye on the target. Trust the hold point. Trust that the gun is getting to the right spot. There is some barrel awareness in there, but keeping your eye on that bird through the end of the shot is the whole thing.

His point that stuck with me: you can lay your head down at night and admit you were probably not watching the bird, even though in the moment you were certain you were. That session is a full video on its own and it is coming soon.

Day Two: I Walked to the Line Believing I Had Solved It

Feeling confident that day two would be better, we started on Federal 8 with a high tower shot. When the smoke cleared, I stepped out of the box with a one. Uh oh.

Five birds down on the first station of the day, a couple of hours after working with a pro. I would love to tell you I handled that well. 

The next station I got five out of six and slowed the game back down with my eyes. Some stations I looked like I belonged out there and some I looked like I had never seen a target before. That is what inconsistency looks like when you write it down.

Then I got to station five and ran it. Six for six. I was not thrilled with how I was shooting, but you need something to stand on out there, and that was it.

Day Three: No Cameras, Different Shooter

For my last main event round, I went out without a camera. First station of the day I ran it clean. Six out of six.

A few stations later, Ray looked over and told me I was a totally different shooter that day. He said my body language was completely different and I was moving differently. That stopped me.

He was not talking about my gun or my hold points or anything Zach had given me the day before. He was talking about how I was carrying myself. He was right, because I shot better on almost every single stand.

Maybe having no cameras around let me relax. Maybe three days of getting humbled finally quieted something down. I do not fully know, but I finished the round with a 43 out of 66, my best day of the week.

The Score, and What It Actually Means

I ended up with a 116 out of 200 at the US Open. Three weeks earlier, I shot a 92 at a registered shoot. Now to be fair, US Open targets are harder than what I shot the 92 on, and anybody who has been to one knows that, but they are not 50 targets harder. That difference was not the course.

It is not a number I enjoy putting out to the world and I know how it looks. I make shotgun content and I shoot exhibition shows, and there is a fair assumption that comes with that, but I would also call out that you get good at what you do routinely. When it comes to sporting clays, I don't have the reps and experience and there is no shortcut. There is winning, and there is learning, and I was on the learning side from the very first station of day one.

The Thing I Had Backwards

I thought the gap between me and the top shooters was that they hit targets I cannot hit. That is not it at all. I can hit those targets and so can you. Most people who shoot seriously can break just about any single target out there on any given day. The difference is that the top shooters have put tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of rounds into learning every presentation and they shoot all the targets more consistently.

There is no shortcut. There is no substitute for experience. You get better by shooting tournaments, putting in the reps, and seeing a lot of birds in a lot of different presentations and environments.

Todd Hitch Goes Back-to-Back

Three men went into the final day tied at 127. Todd Hitch, Derrick Mein, and Nick Barry. Behind them sat a stack of 126s and 125s including Gebben Miles and Anthony Matarese Jr., with 68 targets left to shoot.

Mike Luongo finished on the Federal course and dropped exactly one bird in his final round. That is the level, and it made him the runner-up at 191.

Todd Hitch shot a 192 and took the US Open for the second year in a row. He told me he had not slept well the night before and that the first couple of stations were the most nerve-wracking he had been in a while. He missed two on one station, regrouped, stayed aggressive, and ran the rest of the course except for one.

That is the part worth sitting with. The guy who won it felt the same pressure the rest of us feel. He just knew how to reset and move forward.

Then There Is Jaxson

I got put in A class as a penalty. I did not top A class, but I did run into the shooter who did.

Jaxson won A class in the main event with a 161 out of 200. He has been shooting A-class for about a month. It was his first US Open.

He is 10 years old. My humbling experience got a little more humbling, and I could not be happier about it. That is something worth celebrating, because this sport has room for every age and every skill level.

Final Thoughts

Shooting the US Open was one of the best experiences I have ever had with a shotgun in my hands. It was also one of the most humbling. Those two things are not in conflict.

Wherever you are in your shooting journey, there is a place for you at the US Open. Beginner, master, it does not matter. Get out there and give it a try, and stop worrying about what the card says at the end.

This event will hand you a year's worth of learning in three days if you let it. What this week gave me was an appreciation for what those men and women do out there, and that is worth more to me than a score I could have protected by never entering.

Special thanks to Game Unlimited for putting on a first-class US Open. They are one of the premier clubs in the country and they earned it this week.

Have you shot a US Open? Tell us how it went in the TFL COMMUNITY!

Whether our targets in the field or our targets in life, we'll only hit what we're focused on, live the #targetfocusedlife