Book Review: “Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition”
I started talking with Julie Golob via Twitter a couple weeks ago. I’ll be 100% honest here: I wasn’t too familiar with her until recently. I knew that she was a pro shooter that worked with S&W but that was the extent of my knowledge. I’ve since learned a bit about her. Let me give you a quick rundown from her website:
- The First & Only Six Division USPSA National Champion In History
- 12 – Time USPSA Ladies National Champion
- 7 – Time Ladies World Speed Shooting Champion
- 4 – Time IDPA Ladies National Champion
- The Only Triple Crown USPSA Ladies National Champion
- US Army Female Athlete of the Year & US Army Marksmanship Unit Athlete of the Year
- 2 – Time NRA Bianchi Cup Ladies Open Champion
- 2 – Time International Revolver Championships Ladies Open Champion
- American Handgunner Ladies Champion
- 15 World, 22 US National in 7 Different Disciplines
- Over 115 Championship Titles in State, Regional and International Competitions
- Avid and accomplished hunter
In short: this woman is a shooting machine.
She recently released a book on getting started with competitive shooting and considering the subject was in the same vein of this site (i.e. “getting started with ____”), I downloaded a copy on to my iPad and gave it a read.
Right off the bat let me say that I was happy to see the very first chapter (after the obligatory introductions and such) was safety. Shooting safe was first, why you should shoot came second. Many, and I do mean many books that I’ve read swap those two and for some reason that annoys me. It’s just a personal thing but still, safety is a huge priority for me. I should point out that her note about lead exposure safety was honestly something I had never thought of. For someone that shoots as much as she does, I can see where that is a major concern. As I’ve researched more and more, no matter how much or little you shoot it should be something that is kept in mind. Her safety tips are great and well explained. I get the feeling she’s had to go over them quite a lot and that’s lead to some polish in the presentation.
She then goes on to explain why getting into shooting is a good idea. Not just about shooting sports, but why shoot in general. I like that she doesn’t get very political here. This section starts out more about the benefits of at least knowing how to shoot a gun. It then goes on to explain why participating in shooting sports is very beneficial both to technique and just plain enjoyment.
In the third chapter, she talks about why women should get involved in shooting more. It’s easy for me as a male to sit here and say “oh yeah, women should shoot more because it’s fun and so on and so forth” but for another woman, and an accomplished one at that, to talk about how much fun it is makes a huge difference. She touches on why some women don’t like it and how to handle it when you have kids as well. I also like that she takes some of the jerks on YouTube to task in this section. She almost exactly echos my own sentiments on the subject of some douche-bag handing a huge gun to his girlfriend with no instruction then proceeds to video her has she makes a fool of herself. Guys, seriously, stop that crap.
But I digress…
Then we start getting into the nitty gritty. When she describes this book as a “beginner’s guide to shooting competition” she wasn’ t joking. She takes each of the various shooting disciplines in turn and gives you enough information about each of them to be dangerous. What the competition is about, what you need to get started, basic rules and more is covered in each dedicated section.
At this point, there’s two kind of readers of this book:
- The ones that want to compete and don’t know what they want to do exactly.
- The ones that already know what they want to compete in.
The first group is probably going to read across the next 6 chapters, which summarize each of the sports, to find out which one interests them the most. The other group is probably going to skip to the chapter they’re interested then, then skip to the later chapters that talk about technique and such. Both of those groups will find incredible value in this book.
As I said, the final chapters talk about how to build your skills for competing. Frankly, everyone should read these chapters, not just those who want to compete. The skills and tips she talks about here are great for everything and should be practiced.
The final chapter really talks about how to self-critique. Believe it or not, the ability to realistically and effectively critique one’s self is not easy to do. Heck, that’s pretty much the majority of what art school is. The difference between a champion and a casual shooter is the ability to figure out where you skills are weak then work to overcome them. This final chapter gets you started with that.
All in all, if you are even remotely considering trying out a competition, you need this book. If you’re a beginning shooter at all this book is good for you. What I’m trying to say is: buy this book. It’s a great resource that should be on everyone’s shelf. Even experienced shooters might find something new here.
All in all, this one gets a rare 5 out of 5 dunce hats because it is just a phenomenal reference.
Buy it now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Itunes. You won’t regret it.
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