shooting and golf
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375supermag
Member
Shooting is a lot like golf...but for men.
Lyle Wyatt
Member
I've always thought a golf course was a waste of a perfectly good rifle range.
Gridley
Member
Rifle shooting can help you defend your country, your freedom, or your life. It can also help you put food on the table or dispose of dangerous animals/pests.
What is the potential practical use of golf skills?
What is the potential practical use of golf skills?
Golf is a way to get a small ball into a hole using very expensive equipment, when it would have been far easier, faster, and vastly less expensive to simply walk up to the hole and drop the ball in.
Shooting for many, if not most of us, is a way to make small holes in paper using very expensive and noisy equipment and the ultimate accomplishment is expend the greatest possible cost in time and ammunition to make only a single small hole in the paper.
Shooting for many, if not most of us, is a way to make small holes in paper using very expensive and noisy equipment and the ultimate accomplishment is expend the greatest possible cost in time and ammunition to make only a single small hole in the paper.
Might make a poll out of that. I know it certainly doesn't describe me.
Zendude
Member
Both are good ways that I use to get out of the house.
You can also drink while golfing. You need your own acreage to do that while shooting.
You can also drink while golfing. You need your own acreage to do that while shooting.
Dave DeLaurant
Member
FWIW, there's a hybrid of shooting and golf that's been around for well over a century:
https://www.archerygolfwi.com/
I think this would make an awesome sport using dummy rifle grenades!
https://www.archerygolfwi.com/
I think this would make an awesome sport using dummy rifle grenades!
Arkansas Paul
Member
I was gonna say this too. I can safely drink beer while golfing. Well, safely for me. If the course is by a highway, apartment complex, or parking lot, the vehicles may not be after a few. lol
Legionnaire
Contributing Member
Both require you to figure distance, wind drift, etc. Both get you out doors. Both allow you to shoot birdies (but only one allows eagles).
As an avid golfer and shooter, I can attest that these have far more in common than most assume. I'm more of a pistol shooter than a rifle guy, but they really are very similar.
Hard to say whether pretentious blue-blooded golfers looking askance at sport shooting or proletentious blue-collared shooters quoting Col. Cooper's "joke" are more tiresome. Neither of them generally know anything about what they're sneering at.
Hard to say whether pretentious blue-blooded golfers looking askance at sport shooting or proletentious blue-collared shooters quoting Col. Cooper's "joke" are more tiresome. Neither of them generally know anything about what they're sneering at.
mustanger98
Member
Well, imagine someone drives, then someone else ranges the ball and shoots it. Two to four can shoot a round, alternating between driving and shooting. Hey, the shotgunners have sporting clays, so why not?
Golf originated as the shepherd's game... using their stick to whack a rock across the hills. Scottish golf courses, from what I understand, follow the natural terrain the sheep would graze. Now, considering points inferable from post #'s 10 and 11, if a shepherd knew how to place hit that rock, or the more recent golf ball, could it be a more primitive method of predator control? It predates firearms by at least a thousand years.
Golf originated as the shepherd's game... using their stick to whack a rock across the hills. Scottish golf courses, from what I understand, follow the natural terrain the sheep would graze. Now, considering points inferable from post #'s 10 and 11, if a shepherd knew how to place hit that rock, or the more recent golf ball, could it be a more primitive method of predator control? It predates firearms by at least a thousand years.
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Golf has a much, much higher chance of helping you earn more money (through social connections that become business connections) than shooting. For many people, it's far more useful in terms of measurable outcomes.
I like them both. At present, I like shooting more.
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JD Pinardi
Member
I've been a golf course Supt. for 38 years now, one of the best golfers I've ever known was a plus 2 handicap and also one of the best hunters I ever had the pleasure of hunting with. Caddy Shack is still one of my favorite movies. But for what it's worth, I've met more good ole' boys on the golf course than anywhere else.
Livin in rural america helps, go figer!!!
JMO
JD
Livin in rural america helps, go figer!!!
JMO
JD
Arkansas Paul
Member
It brings me pleasure. That's enough.
I agree that shooting and golf have a lot in common. Both strive for accuracy using very perishable skills that require a lot of practice to become proficient. Different golf clubs have specific uses like different firearms, and each tool requires a different skill set. Proper technique and mental concentration is paramount for both, and physical fitness greatly enhances both activities.
A martial artist from the 16th century once wrote that the same mindset that made for a good carpenter applies to the swordsman. I wouldn't be surprised if the same applied to golf and shooting.
bob97
Member
Or a waste of an open field. A good walk spoiled, one might say.
A big similarity is that, after reaching a certain level of competence, the biggest obstacles to actually executing are internal/mental/psychological, rather than external. Generally speaking, nobody is playing defense against you except you.
The similarities get even stronger as you go from precision shooting to speed/practical shooting, where most errors come from trying to do just a little bit more than you are capable of (trying to fly it 230 over the water to the par-5 green in golf, chasing those "jailbait splits" in USPSA).
earlthegoat2
Member
I have often compared walking a sporting clays course to golf. I have also compared archery to golf which I think is much more like golf than shooting. Even, the great archer Howard Hill was a professional golfer at one point in his life.
Buzznrose
Member
LOL! Makes perfect sense to me.
I've been working in DOD for 37 years (uniform 28 years, DOD civilian 9 years) as of last October, and I've meet more great folks at work than anywhere else too...but I've meet a lot of buttheads at work too, as well as both on golf courses.
True story...I met an older gentleman on an Air Base in Japan who was a retired 25 year US Airman. He had spent twenty years after retiring from active duty working at the air base, first, in his "dream job" as a supervisor at the base golf course and after two years, he moved to the base bowling alley for the next 18. He was married to a Japanese lady and she refused to leave, so he stayed there in Japan.
He told me golfers (of which both he and I were/are) were the most unhappy bunch of folks he knew. The course was too wet, the greens too dry, the bunkers too messy, the carts were dirty, the players in front were too slow, the players behind them were too pushy, on and on.... Always complaints. After two years, he moved to the base bowling alley and the clientele, many of whom were the same customers, had a 180 degree different attitude. They bowled in leagues, with families and friends, drank beer, ate burgers and nachos, and had fun. Only a few uptight high rollers ever complained about the lane conditions, maybe three in his 18 year stint.
I thought is was eye opening, and made me think how I'd bitched about the golf courses many times, realizing how it was probably due to the fact I was having a bad golf day (my usual).
Now, when I golf, I'm only out there when one of our local American Legions or VFW's is having a best ball tourney. That's fun...and as most of my foursome are kinda tipsy by the time we're done the front none, I actually look pretty good! LOL!!!
Newtosavage
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Let me know when you see shooters competing for an 11M purse every week or so. 
LOL! Makes perfect sense to me.
I've been working in DOD for 37 years (uniform 28 years, DOD civilian 9 years) as of last October, and I've meet more great folks at work than anywhere else too...but I've meet a lot of buttheads at work too, as well as both on golf courses.
True story...I met an older gentleman on an Air Base in Japan who was a retired 25 year US Airman. He had spent twenty years after retiring from active duty working at the air base, first, in his "dream job" as a supervisor at the base golf course and after two years, he moved to the base bowling alley for the next 18. He was married to a Japanese lady and she refused to leave, so he stayed there in Japan.
He told me golfers (of which both he and I were/are) were the most unhappy bunch of folks he knew. The course was too wet, the greens too dry, the bunkers too messy, the carts were dirty, the players in front were too slow, the players behind them were too pushy, on and on.... Always complaints. After two years, he moved to the base bowling alley and the clientele, many of whom were the same customers, had a 180 degree different attitude. They bowled in leagues, with families and friends, drank beer, ate burgers and nachos, and had fun. Only a few uptight high rollers ever complained about the lane conditions, maybe three in his 18 year stint.
I thought is was eye opening, and made me think how I'd bitched about the golf courses many times, realizing how it was probably due to the fact I was having a bad golf day (my usual).
Now, when I golf, I'm only out there when one of our local American Legions or VFW's is having a best ball tourney. That's fun...and as most of my foursome are kinda tipsy by the time we're done the front none, I actually look pretty good! LOL!!!
If I were to shoot like how I played golf, I would completely miss all targets about 80% of the time, spend about 90% of my time looking for ammo, occasionally throw a gun in a pond out of frustration, lose my ability to add or keep count, blame the target for being in the wrong place, buy a new gun every month to cure my lack of marksmanship, and eventually quit shooting.
Newtosavage
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LOL! Makes perfect sense to me.
I've been working in DOD for 37 years (uniform 28 years, DOD civilian 9 years) as of last October, and I've meet more great folks at work than anywhere else too...but I've meet a lot of buttheads at work too, as well as both on golf courses.
True story...I met an older gentleman on an Air Base in Japan who was a retired 25 year US Airman. He had spent twenty years after retiring from active duty working at the air base, first, in his "dream job" as a supervisor at the base golf course and after two years, he moved to the base bowling alley for the next 18. He was married to a Japanese lady and she refused to leave, so he stayed there in Japan.
He told me golfers (of which both he and I were/are) were the most unhappy bunch of folks he knew. The course was too wet, the greens too dry, the bunkers too messy, the carts were dirty, the players in front were too slow, the players behind them were too pushy, on and on.... Always complaints. After two years, he moved to the base bowling alley and the clientele, many of whom were the same customers, had a 180 degree different attitude. They bowled in leagues, with families and friends, drank beer, ate burgers and nachos, and had fun. Only a few uptight high rollers ever complained about the lane conditions, maybe three in his 18 year stint.
I thought is was eye opening, and made me think how I'd bitched about the golf courses many times, realizing how it was probably due to the fact I was having a bad golf day (my usual).
Now, when I golf, I'm only out there when one of our local American Legions or VFW's is having a best ball tourney. That's fun...and as most of my foursome are kinda tipsy by the time we're done the front none, I actually look pretty good! LOL!!!
It kinda depends on what part of the country you're in. Where I live now, I'd say that assessment is spot-on. Clubhouse is full of complainers. If anyone is having a good day, they will be shouted down forthrightly. LOL But in other places I've lived and golfed, the opposite was true. I met great, fun and happy people at the golf course.
I shoot a lot of archery, and as a group, archers can whine and make excuses with the best golfers. LOL
littlelefty
Member
Dad used to say about golf, management, and raising children:
1) It is not easy or fair
2) There is no one best way
3) You can always get better
4) Mistakes will be made
5) Regardless of how well you do your job, sometimes outside influences can totally change things
Dad isn't in to shooting, but I find it applies there as well, especially in a hunting scenario.
1) It is not easy or fair
2) There is no one best way
3) You can always get better
4) Mistakes will be made
5) Regardless of how well you do your job, sometimes outside influences can totally change things
Dad isn't in to shooting, but I find it applies there as well, especially in a hunting scenario.
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