Julie Golob, author of Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition, is a shooter, a hunter, and an ambassador for the Smith & Wesson Shooting Team. As a successful marksman, Julie started shooting with her dad when she was fourteen. She has been shooting competitively now for over twenty years. She says that every shooting sport is a little bit different and she learns something almost every time she goes on the range. She shares some tips on how to become more proficient with a handgun and what drives her to be focused and dedicated to become the exceptional championship shooter that she is.
—
On our show, we welcome Julie Golob. Julie is one heck of a shooter. She has many awards. She has a book called Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition. It’s a comprehensive primer on shooting sports. Julie is also a dedicated Ambassador, and being captain of the Smith & Wesson Shooting Team, she has a lot of opportunities to share shooting with women, with youth, and with guys like me and you. You’re going to learn a lot about shooting. I asked her some very pertinent questions about drills and how-to and why-to and how to become more proficient with a handgun. It’s a great show.
Listen to the podcast:
Julie Golob World Class Professional Shooter
We’re heading over to Kansas City, Missouri and we’re going to talk to a lady that’s won a lot of accolades, won a lot of tournament as a shooter. She is an author, hunter, an ambassador and she’s a pretty good mom too. Julie Golob, thank you for joining us on Whitetail Rendezvous.
Thanks for having me.
How did this all come to being that you’ve been very successful as a marksman? How did that come together?
I think it all goes back to growing up in a hunting and shooting family, learning about safe gun handling and firearm safety rules, jumping into competition, having the support of my dad and learning so much that I fell in love with the shooting sports. I have just been really, really fortunate to be at the right place at all the right times. I started shooting with my dad when I was fourteen and hunting with him and then I went to my first Nationals as a junior in high school and met the coach and the army shooting team. I was recruited for the Army Action Pistol Team and then everything just fell into place there. Now, I am the Captain of the Team Smith and Wesson and I am living the dream.
You’ve earned that and ladies and gentlemen, she was the US Army Female Athlete of the Year and Army Marksmanship Athlete of the Year and it just keeps on getting better and better. What drove you to be so focused, dedicated and understanding the heart rate and the breathing and all the things you have to do to become an exceptional championship shooter like you are?
I think the one thing that I’m constantly learning about shooting, even to this day, I’ve been shooting for over twenty years now competitively. I think I learned something almost every time I go on the range and every shooting sport is a little bit different. I compete primarily in the speed event. I don’t really care how I’m breathing and as long as I’m breathing. I don’t care of what my heart rate is doing because I am running and gunning, but I’ve done a good bit of precision shooting events and particularly the NRA Action Pistol Championship Bianchi Cup is all about being calm and steady. I’ve been able to learn a lot about shooting in various different genres. I think it all comes down to being competitive as a kid and wanting to be the best at something. When I found shooting and hunting, that was what I fell in love with and with hard work and perseverance, it’s come together quite well.
If there’s a gal out there that never has shot a pistol, what are the five things that you would say, “This is where you start.”
The first thing to do is learn the basic rules of firearm safety. That's always number one. Share on XThe first thing to do is learn the basic rules of firearm safety. That’s always number one. That’s fortunately something that’s very simple to understand. It’s something that everyone who goes to shoot should know and it’s something we should teach in our schools. I truly believe that. After that, it’s become familiar with firearms that you plan to use. If you’re interested in rifle shooting or busting clays with a shotgun or running and gunning with a hand gun like I do, become familiar with that sport and become familiar with the specific firearms for it. After that, get out there and meet people who do it. Go to a local club, a local gun range, talk with gun owners, talk with fellow ladies, talk with knowledgeable instructors and get education and good training for practice makes perfect. Fortunately, in the shooting sports, you can do a lot of that dry fire without any ammunition around you. You can learn a lot about shooting without even making the gun go bang. Then five, go for the plunge. Absolutely get to the range to take your first shots. If you want somebody there with you, that’s going to help you along the way, seek out mentors or other people who can help teach you and a make it a fun and rewarding experience. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t hit those hard targets, keep things simple, just focus on safety and having fun.
I’m going to give the guys some advice. If your wife comes up to you and says, I want to learn how to shoot a pistol, you might not be the instructor. I’m just saying and I’m a guy so I can say that. Ladies and Julie help me out here, would it be better to find a competent woman to get you on the range and sided in and comfortable with your weapon?
It all depends. I think there are a number of amazing male instructors out there who have, the keyword being, empathy. You have to be able to put yourself in your student’s shoes. Understand this is a new process and that your lingo and your knowledge and your maybe abrupt way of teaching is not going to be the most effective way. With that said, a lot of female instructors have a lot of great success because they have been there. They’ve done that. They understand the challenges we face with smaller hands and smaller stature, but at the end of the day, look for somebody that you are comfortable with, that you appreciate their teaching style. See if you can get a little sample of their style of teaching. It doesn’t really matter whether or not you go with a male or female as long as you are comfortable with them.
Ladies, don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t think so,” and walk away. I’ve seen situations at the range and you can just tell the person is not comfortable, man or woman. I just say, “Why don’t you take a break?” and why don’t you say, “This isn’t working out for me. Thank you for your time,” and move on and find somebody else.
If that’s not working for you and you feel really uncomfortable, then you definitely want to take a step back and analyze that. At the same time, especially for women or men who are nervous or anxious, or perhaps even downright afraid of shooting a gun for the first time, you need to communicate that with your potential instructors so that they know. They know to take things slowly, step-by-step and taking that first shot on the range is a big deal. You want to make sure that it’s a good one.
I’m 70 years old and I have a couple of pistols, but I’m more comfortable, one, with my bow and arrow, my crossbow, my muzzle loader or my rifles than I am on a pistol simply because I never grew up around pistols. I grew up around shotguns and rifles. It wasn’t until later in life that I said, I was in some nasty places in Alaska and in Montana and I carried a .357 for protection, for a gun to go bang and I had to learn how to use that. I have my concealed carry permit and have qualified blah, blah, blah simply because of the times we live in, simply said. I think it’s important that you’ve got to get comfortable and I’ll just echo what Julie said, I had to find an instructor that would be patient. They’re looking at me, “You’re hunting for 50 years, what’s your problem?” I said, “I’m going to go a different way. Thanks for your time,” and I left that person because he couldn’t help me. Then I found a bunch of people, “Bruce, it’s no big deal. Breath, just take it easy. We’re going to start you off slow.” I’m doing drills and dropping mags and putting mags in and doing everything I need to do at 30 feet. Beyond 30 feet, Julie, that’s some luck. Ten yards, 30 feet, I’m dangerous but over that, I don’t know. What tips would you give me? I’ve just given you some of my background in shooting and I shoot Rugers. Don’t get mad at me with that. I know you’re a Smith & Wesson, but I’m just a Ruger guy for my long guns as well as my pistols. What advice would you give somebody older? Obviously, I’m 70. I did start shooting the pistol so basically I was 60 where I’m doing drills and that whole thing.
The beauty about the shooting sports and firearms in general is they don’t really care how old or young you are, as long as the firearm fits your hands well, you can access the trigger easily, that’s what’s important. After that, with older age and that thing coming into play, it’s very important to focus on grip and stance technique because you may not be as strong as you were when you were in your 30s. Then also, any sort of eye issues. Older eyes tend to have more difficulty seeing iron sights and so you may need to play with using something like night sights or fiber optic sights so you can see your sight picture easier or even transferring to something like an electronic red dot. It all depends on what you’re able to see and how you’re able to do it. The one key thing though, a quick little tip for you, if you struggle past those close distances is the old saying, “Aim small, miss small,” and you do this and hunting. We pick a point on the animal that we know we want our arrow or a bullet to go. It’s the same thing with sports shooting. The smaller you have that area to shoot at, the more likely your group’s going to sink down and be nice and small.
When I pulled the trigger, it bounces and then I have to get back on my sight picture, and I’m squeezing. I’m trying to do everything that people have told me to do, but it moves because my little Ruger for concealed carry, it fits in the palm of my hand and that’s a challenge. I’ve had guys tell me, “Bruce, center mass. You’re putting all the bullets there, don’t even worry about it because that isn’t meant to go ten yards.” That’s what they told me. Is that pretty much true?
Some of these shorter barrel little guns are actually extremely accurate out to distance. The thing is, it’s very hard for us as shooters to shoot them that well because of that shorter sight radius. It’s harder to see any specific little fine errors in your sight picture versus when you have a really long sight radius like a five-inch gunner or larger. Even though it’s harder for us to shoot them just as well, a lot of times they’re just as accurate. At the end of the day, you have to think about what the gun is going to be used for. If you’re meeting your personal goals with that firearm, if you know that your max distance is going to be close enough that you may have to shoot at an animal that’s charging at you and you’re happy with that, then that’s what you have it for.
Interesting on the length because my .357, I can hit the paper at 50 yards, open site. I could do that, but I wouldn’t even take my little concealed carry pistol at 50 yards. We have berms and everything. It’s safe, but I’m just thinking that. Thanks for the tip. Those are tips from Julie and you can get our book, Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition. That’s on Amazon. Where can somebody pick up the book?
Amazon is a great place. There are lots of other resources, Barnes & Noble, all that good stuff but if you just do a simple search, you can find lots of different options.
What do you sell it for?
It’s $16.95 on Amazon.
Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition. If you have questions like me and I don’t care who I’m talking to, I learn something from everybody that’s been on the show about hunting. Especially with Julie because the fact to the matter ladies and gentlemen, this lady is good at what she does. That’s why she’s on the Smith and Wesson Shooting Team. Talk to me about how you get on Smith &Wesson team because I’m sure there are some pretty good shooters out there that said, “How do I break into that part of the business?”
It’s some pretty stiff competition. I was recruited to shoot for Smith & Wesson. I was actually stolen away from another manufacturer. We, at times do you open up like an audition or an interview process for new team members. Basically, it’s a being a good representative of the shooting sports. Obviously, highly competitive in a specific field or division. Also, being an ambassador for the Second Amendment and the shooting world in general. We look at all of those things and of course we have an incredible team with people like Jerry Miculek, Doug Koenig, Annette Aysen and Randi Rogers. There’s a whole bunch of awesome shooters that represent us shooting all over the US and around the globe.
What do you do specifically for Smith & Wesson? Do you just go to shows? You go to shoots? Are you a pro staff person in other parts of the outdoor industry where you’re promoting the product? Tell us what you do.
Every company is different, but my role as the captain of team Smith & Wesson is to serve as a liaison to the company between all of our shooters and then I represent Smith & Wesson and other sponsors at competitions all over the country and internationally. My day-to-day is training to make sure that I’m proficient. I also am very active on social media as the brand ambassador, answering questions and talking to people about our various different products. I do a good bit of video work where I give tips and training and product reviews and all of that stuff for the company. It’s the best job in the world. I won’t lie because I get to do what I love. I get to shoot, I get to share it and then I get to compete. It’s awesome.
Talk to me about the SHOT Show Business Person of the Year. How did that come up?
That was an amazing honor. The NSSF and SHOT Business put together this presentation at SHOT Show for SHOT Business Person of the Year and they also had Manufacturer of the Year and Product of the Year and that stuff. I’s something that I’ve always appreciated because you see the cover stuff on SHOT Business and the coverage and everything else. Last year, they actually reached out to me and said that I was a nominee. I was pretty blown away by that because it’s not something you can apply for. It’s something that you are recognized for throughout the industry. It was an extreme honor just to be nominated among an amazing group. We have amazing hunter athletes. We have amazing representatives for conservation in hunting and shooting and we have obviously lots of shooting sports advocates and just so many people to choose from. When I was actually selected as SHOT Business Person of the Year, that is a title I’m extremely proud of. It means I’m doing something right.
For those that don’t know it, Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade is probably the largest manufacturer show on the globe.
As far as for shooting and hunting, absolutely. There’s a reason why it’s in Las Vegas. There are very few places out there that can actually pull this all together in one place and it’s an absolutely huge amount. I think it’s like thirteen miles of nothing but guns and gear and hunting stuff and all that good stuff. It’s a pretty big deal and of course, anybody who’s anybody is usually at SHOT Show.
If you’ve never gone and you just have to look at what is it, just go to that. It will just completely blow your mind because it’s everything under the sun. If you’re ever wanting going on storage. They have huge trailers and they have huge RVs and you set appointments with them. If you’re a buyer or seller and it’s an amazing opportunity. That’s part of our business folks. That that’s part of the business who we are. Let’s talk about the amount of time you practice, let’s just stay on weekly to keep yourself proficient and that the level that you shoot.
You can spend all day on the range but if you're not getting the most out of it, then it's not going to work. Share on XI base my training schedule around the events that I have going on. There are times in a year that I’m not actively competing. I’m doing a lot of filming, so I try to schedule everything out accordingly. In the heat of the season, during the week, I will shoot anywhere from 300 to 500 rounds per day, four to five times a week. It’s a high round count and it’s a good amount of time on the range. It’s all in balance. You can spend all day on the range, but if you’re not getting the most out of it, then it’s not going to work. Ideally, that 350 to 500 rounds per day, four to five times a week is what I look for when I’m in full on competition mode.
Since you are employed, your guns and ammo are hopefully supplied.
I do you have a very wonderful partnerships with a lot of great industry companies like Smith & Wesson and Federal Premium. I do not have a lot of the challenges that many face because I’m what we call a heavy user.
Somebody is just getting started, a lady is out there, she does have a gun, she’s learned how to use it, to stay proficient what’s the minimum amount per week she should be shooting?
I think it all depends on what your personal goals are and whether or not you want to take it to the next level. I think for just maintenance mode, if you can get to the range once a week, you’re doing a really, really good thing. Let’s face it, life is busy and guns and ammo are not inexpensive. If you can take a box of 50 rounds and shoot once a week, then you’re doing pretty good. The other thing that people always forget is that dry fire element. If you can combine a training session of 50 rounds a week, combined with a couple of nights of just practicing dry fire, trigger controls, sight alignment, drawing from your holster or purse, whatever your specific interest in that firearm is, if you can practice that, then you’re way ahead of the game and you’ll see huge gains in not only your ability to shoot better, but also your confidence and your gun handling and all that good stuff.
One drill I heard, I used this in shotgun and we put a dime on the end of the barrel and then we raised it up and went to the corner of the room. The room came together and the game was you had to keep the dime. You get to the corner and then you’d just swing through as you’re swinging through a bird, is there any kind of drills that you would recommend to everyone?
That dime one works. A little variation on a theme for trigger control for handgun shooting, you can take an empty case, especially if you have a flat top firearm like a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield or something like that, place the case towards where the rear sight is and in dry fire, make sure that your trigger is set and ready to go. You want to extend out on your target and slowly squeeze the trigger straight back to the rear so that you don’t disturb that case. If it falls, you’re probably not going to hit your target. That’s a pretty significant gun you need right there. By doing that and dry fire, you’re automatically programming your finger in your brain to do what it’s supposed to do so that when you actually go to the range and shoot live ammunition, you’re going to be able to take those skills and apply them.
I put a case near the front sight and then I squeeze the trigger and it doesn’t fall.
You don’t want it to fall now. Ideally, you don’t want it to move at all. You don’t want to see any sort of movement. That’s like Olympic level trigger control.
I probably won’t ever get there. I liked that and I’m just visualizing. You already extend, you’re already on target and then you put the case on then?
Either or yes. That that probably is the best way. You rack the slides so it’s all set and ready to go. Extend it out with your strong hand with the gun in there, put the case on it, require your grip and then smoothly squeeze that trigger.
How many times should a person do that a week?
As many as you need to, to get better. I don’t think you can ever dry fire too much, obviously. If you could do that 25 to 50 times, a few times a week, you’re really going to improve and I think you’ll see the results.
I hope you picked it up everyone, is that she said, “Practice the way you’re going to be on the street, in a store, in a situation, things go bad, somebody get stupid and you got to go to work.” You’ve got a practice wherever your weapon is. How do you do that at home? Do you just put on a shirt or jacket if you carry it in your purse? How do you that?
I have a place that I have staged in house, my office where my gun rigs and the way I conceal carry is all set up and ready to go so that when I went to dry fire, it’s just a simple matter of putting them on. I’ve even gone so far as keeping a rig and a belt with a pair of pants down there, so it’s easy on and off because a lot of times, let’s face it, especially for ladies, finding that perfect conceal carry gear with a holster is difficult and challenging. Just having a place ready, obviously, you want to be aware of where you’re going to be pointing the gun and make sure that you follow the safety rules and make sure you have absolutely no ammunition around, you can practice so much. Just that. When you think about it, the number of women that carry in a purse but had never drawn from a purse because their specific range that they go practice that, doesn’t allow it. Guess what? You can shoot at the range, practice you’re shooting at the range, but at home, that’s where you can get rid of all the ammo and practice on getting a smooth, good acquisition on the grip, drawing your pistol and dry firing that first shot.
Do you use an empty magazine because some guns you need the extension for you grip?
Some firearms also have a magazine safety, so if you don’t have a magazine in the gun, you can’t dry fire it. It all depends on, on what you have, but generally speaking, you want to use the setup that’s closely representing what you would use. If you have a small firearm with a pinky extension with the magazine, then that’s what you want to drive her away.
If somebody really wanted to say, “I have the means. Can you help me get ready to carry? Do you have a consulting firm? Do you do that?
Truthfully, no and the primary reason of that is I have two young girls at home. Between the very rigorous travel and completion schedule and my own personal goals, I just don’t have a ton of time to take on individual courses or training and that thing. If you do reach out to me, I have enough network of people that I know that hopefully, we can find you somebody in the area near you that can help pitch to where you want to be.
Let’s just talk about how somebody would find you on social media.
It’s pretty simple. All you have to do is type in my name and you can pretty much find me, but you can also go directly to JulieGolob.com. All of my social links are right along the top of my website.
It’s just amazing to talk to somebody as successful as you have been in the shooting sports and to hear you share freely and good stuff. To everyone, take the time, go visit our website and check it out. Let’s switch it up to some hunting and this is about when we got off, but I really wanted to bring out that because I salute you. You’ve done so well with your career and you’re a great ambassador for shooting. There’s no question about it. Let’s talk now about hunting. What is your hunting tradition and how much do you hunt?
I hunt whenever I can. My life is so crazy, but some years it has been a real challenge, but I grew up in a hunting family. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up and so we actually depended on medicine to fill the freezer and feed us with protein for as long as I can remember being a little kid. When I was old enough rather to start hunting with my dad, I went out with him and watched him learn the trade from my dad firsthand and started hunting when I was a teenager as well. I did take a break from it for a long time when I joined the army. I just didn’t have the resources or the ability or the time when I was a soldier at Fort Benning, Georgia, but now that I’m a mom and we lived in Montana for many years, which is a Mecca for hunting. I fell in love with it all over again. It’s my relaxation time. It’s my time to be outside and just to be. There’s no social media. There is no email, there’s no nothing. It’s just me and the outdoors or if I’m with my husband or friend, it’s just the most intense and true personal experience that you can share with someone.
Share just a couple of things, three or five things that if a woman’s thinking about going into hunting, she should, do.
I think that it comes down to finding something that is going to be easier for you to get into. Like Missouri here, there’s so much great turkey hunting around and it’s a relatively a simple way to get involved in the hunting traditions. Growing up in upstate New York, Whitetail Hunting was what we did. There are so many things out there that you can enjoy and hunt. You need to decide what your goal is. If you want to have a social hunting experience or a quiet hunting experience and then go from there. Obviously if you’re hunting turkeys, you need to be quiet and very, very stationary. If you’re out duck hunting, it’s much more social. You’re can have coffee with you. You can chit chat with people in the blind until all the ducks come in and that’s that. I think that it’s important to figure out what your comfort level is. After that, really seek out and so much like shooting. Seek out a mentor, somebody that can show you the ropes because I think even more challenging than going out and finding somebody to help you learn how to shoot, learning how to hunt you. You really need a mentor for that. There is so much of a learning curve and so many times you may only have a single opportunity in a season to get an animal. The more knowledge you have and the more experienced you’re able to tap into, the more successful you’ll be.
There are so many things out there that you can enjoy and hunt. You need to decide what your goal is. Share on XThanks for sharing that. In the warm up, we talked about women in the outdoors being the fastest growing segment in the outdoor industry. Now, why do you think that’s happening?
We’re in the ultimate place in our society right now for equality for women. I think that now more than ever, the can do, will do, want to do attitude is out there. We’re seeing women getting involved in traditionally male activities from race car driving to shooting to hunting to all of these things, to fitness. It’s such an exciting time and there’s never been more opportunity out there. What’s really great is we as an industry are ready to embrace women and help them and guide them and let them know that this is not, a boy’s club, this isn’t, this isn’t the only thing for men and guys to do. They are welcome and it’s just an awesome thing.
That’s great and you get the time, now, about a minute or so to give shout outs to whomever the people would sponsor you, friends, neighbors, people in the industry. Take a moment and please do that.
I love to say of course thank you to my primary sponsor, Smith and Wesson, also Federal Premium, Trijicon, Safariland, Benelli, the NRA and the NSSF. A huge supporter of Project ChildSafe. If you haven’t heard about them, I encourage you to do so, so that we keep children safety-conscious and aware around firearms, both for hunting and shooting and other than that, thank you so much for having me on. This has been fun.
On behalf of everyone, Julie, thank you so much for being on the show. You brought a lot of insights that I need to hear and I’m sure our listeners did. On behalf of Whitetail Rendezvous, thank you so much.
My pleasure. Thank you.