Lee,
Actually you need to develop a whole range of skills from contact distance out to 50 or even 100 yards from a variety of positions.
What you witnessed today is an example of how concentrating on your marksmanship at a longer range makes the closer shots seem easier.
When I start with a new shooter, I always start them at about 10 to 15 FEET (3 to 5 yards) from the target, so they can work on getting small groups in the beginning, which helps to build confidence in their basic skill. Then as their ability increase, so does the distance.
But there are also skills/techniques to learn such as shooting with only a flash sight picture, shooting from an unbalanced or difficult position, multiple targets, etc., way too much to try and describe in this post.
Shooting is in one way like golf. You need a whole bag of special tools (skills) to play (shoot) with confidence over a variety of ranges and scenairos.
So I encourage you to keep pushing the envelope and learn as much as you can. Try and find someone else to shoot with, so they can watch you while you shoot to help correct mistakes, plus it puts a little performance pressure on both shooters.