# Rifle Golf: Americas newest shooting sport



## Big Don (Aug 6, 2011)

Rifle Golf: America&#8217;s newest shooting sport
​David Kopel &#8226; August 5, 2011 7:40 pm
Volokh EXCERPT (can anyone tell me how to pronounce Volokh)

​
If you&#8217;re interested in long distance rifle shooting, or in hunting with a rifle, I highly recommend that you check out the Spirit Ridge Rifle Golf  facility, in Utah. The &#8220;golf&#8221; part of the name is really just part of  the rules for how your shots are scored. Other than that, it&#8217;s all rifle  and no golf, and it&#8217;s one of the best opportunities I&#8217;ve ever seen to  test one&#8217;s rifle skills.

The facility is about 90 miles north of  Salt Lake City, near Tremonton, Utah. It&#8217;s remote, but well worth a  detour. A round of &#8220;rifle golf&#8221; works like this: Accompanied by a guide,  you drive  a six-mile loop on a dirt road on a sheep ranch. Along the  way, you stop at four different shooting stations. The stations have  tables and chairs for benchrest shooting. At the first station, your  first target to shoot at is a black wooden silhouette of a moose, at 442  yards away. At the place where a hunter would place an ideal shot on  the moose (at the center of the heart/lungs area), there is a hanging  half-circle white metal plate, about 11 inches in diameter. If you hit  the plate on the first shot, that&#8217;s scored as an &#8220;eagle&#8221; (2 under par).  If you get the plate on the second shot, that&#8217;s a birdie (1 under par).  If you miss the first two shots at the distant target, you take your  third shot at something closer; on &#8220;hole&#8221; 1, that&#8217;s a deer at 285 yards.
Each  shooting station has three &#8220;holes.&#8221; So at the first station, you would  also try for a grizzly bear (384 yards) and a coyote (169 yards), and  then for another moose (511 yards) and a grizzly (192 yards). Your guide  will have a very high-powered spotting scope, and give you advice  (e.g., &#8220;your first shot was perfectly centered, but an inch too high&#8221.  For all shooting, you&#8217;re one side of a valley, shooting at a slope on  the other side.
Shooting stations 3 and 4 are the same, with  targets ranging from 558 to 188 yards. Station 2 has a single target, a  moose at 1000 yards. You get two shots, and if you hit either, strokes  are deducted from you total score. If you get it on the first shot, you  win a prize.
What I&#8217;ve just described is the &#8220;classic&#8221; course. If  you&#8217;re already an excellent long distance shot, you can shoot at the  &#8220;master&#8221; targets at each shooting station. The long shots are up to 875  yards, and the shortest is 399. On the thousand-yard hole, your target  can be up to 1250 yards away.
Rifle golf provides shooting  challenges that most people can never try except when actually hunting.  For most people, it&#8217;s difficult to find a shooting range longer than 200  yards
END EXCERPTOne of you should send me to this!​


----------



## Sukerkin (Aug 6, 2011)

That sounds great, Don.  Sadly I reckon my rifle skills are long gone due to our overly restrictive laws on firearms and gun-clubs .  Otherwise, in the days when I was on my university rifle team I would've loved to have ago at this :double thumbs up:.


----------



## Big Don (Aug 6, 2011)

Sukerkin said:


> That sounds great, Don.  Sadly I reckon my rifle skills are long gone due to our overly restrictive laws on firearms and gun-clubs .  Otherwise, in the days when I was on my university rifle team I would've loved to have ago at this :double thumbs up:.


 You could always fly to California, pick me up and take me to Utah...


----------



## Sukerkin (Aug 6, 2011)

:chuckles:  Just the small matter of being an underpaid engineer in a failing economy to overcome :lol:.


----------



## Big Don (Aug 6, 2011)

Sukerkin said:


> :chuckles:  Just the small matter of being an underpaid engineer in a failing economy to overcome :lol:.


I just wanted to make sure you knew that was OK with me.


----------

