Smoke 'EmWhat Is 5-Stand?
5-stand is sporting clays compressed onto one field. Five shooting cages stand in a line - usually across a skeet or trap field - surrounded by six or more trap machines throwing wildly different targets: a rabbit along the fence, a teal straight up, a fast crosser, an incomer, a looper off a tower. You get sporting's variety without the golf-cart acreage.
How a round works
A round is 25 targets: five per stand, then rotate. Each stand posts a menu card - typically one single and two pairs (report or true, per the card). Shoot your five, score each bird dead or lost, move one cage right, and the machines show you a completely different look from the new angle.
5-stand vs sporting clays
- Footprint - 5-stand lives on one field; sporting winds through a property.
- Pace - a 5-stand round is 25 birds in minutes; sporting is 50-100 over a couple of hours.
- Consistency - 5-stand machines stay put all day, so it's ideal for repeat rounds and leagues; sporting courses get reset to stay fresh.
- Same skills - both reward reading a target line fast and adapting, which is why 5-stand is the best-value sporting practice going.
Scoring it
Five stands times five birds gives the round a natural shape, and Smoke 'Em scores it exactly that way: a 5x5 card with each stand's singles and pairs marked as thrown, per-stand hit rates on a heat map afterward, and squad scoring when your crew fills all five cages. Clubs can save their 5-stand setups as courses so every round scores against the same layout. Track a round free.