by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
There’s not a lot of perfection in this world, but Z. Mincek, chairman of the Gate Governors Club, goes after it in everything he does.
At work, he supervises operations and membership activities at the River Club, Epping Forest Yacht Club, PV Inn & Club and Lodge & Club. He started shooting skeet in 1975 in order to improve his performance at his hobby and as a way to unwind.
“It’s my outlet from my work,” said Mincek. “When you are in business, you have to do the best you can in whatever you do. It takes a lot of hard work and repetition. It’s the same with skeet.”
He took up shooting at clay targets in order to improve his results in the field.
“I have hunted all my life,” he said. “When I started hunting ducks at Guana Lake, I wasn’t very successful, so I took up skeet shooting to improve my hunting.
“I shoot skeet year-round and hunt birds during the season. I don’t hunt big game, just the birds.”
A tennis professional and player on the pro tour before he began his career in club management in 1991, Mincek said shooting skeet also appealed to his competitive instincts. He started entering local tournaments, then regional and eventually, national competitions.
This year, he competed in the Masters Tournament in Savannah and then went on to the National Skeet Shooting Association’s U.S. Open Skeet Shooting Championship in Fort Bragg, N.C.
“You shoot 12-gauge, 20-gauge, 28-gauge and .410-gauge, 100 targets with each gun,” said Mincek, who hit 396 out of 400 targets at the U. S. Open. “You have to concentrate for 400 targets. Skeet is more a mental game than a physical game. One lapse of concentration will make you miss a target. There is little margin for error.”
Mincek’s pretty happy with his near-perfect .999 score.
“I’m pleased with that,” he said. “I placed fairly well. There were some semi-pros in the field and some of them shot 400 out of 400.”
When he’s not shooting competitively, Mincek said his hunting hobby has allowed him to travel all over the Western Hemisphere. Some of his favorite domestic spots are South Dakota and Texas. He has also been on bird-hunting trips to Canada and South America.
Has skeet shooting improved his hunting skills?
“Oh, yes,” said Mincek, with a grin.