Hi All!

[406pat]

I'm a lurker who finally decided to make an honest man of myself and join!

I've lived on the wet side of Washington for about 5 years now but grew up in Montana where there were actually seasons!

Started swinging a club when I was about 5. Played in junior league up to high school and then didn't play much until getting back into the sport heavily in the last couple years. 

I'm a born tinkerer and am constantly modifying/making things that are probably way above my level of actual competence. I got into shooting rifle competitions and that lead to getting into building my own rifles and garage gunsmithing. With marriage, home ownership, and a kid on the way I really only have time for one main hobby and I've been reluctantly giving up shooting for the sake of golf. I've found that practicing golf in the backyard doesn't raise nearly the amount of eyebrows that practicing shooting positions does and golf clubs don't get the same worried looks that rifle cases do coming out of the truck. My garage shop has been slowly transitioning from stocks and barrels to shafts and grips as my need to DIY hasn't diminished with a shift in hobbies. In the past two years I've made a couple of putters that ended up in the garbage, bought a brand new set of irons that I proceeded to hack up the shafts and re-grip, bought a new driver that I proceeded to cut down to 43" and re-grip, and had a blast doing all of it!

I want to thank everyone here for sharing their time and experience and also thank @iacas for letting us all play in his sandbox. I look forward to sharing and learning with you all and hope that I can give as much as I've received in advice and conversation!

-Pat

[DaveP043]

Welcome to TST, Pat.  If you get a chance, click on the INFO tab up top for some great introductory stuff.  Feel free to ask if you need any help with the site.  

[Lihu]

47 minutes ago, 406pat said:

I'm a lurker who finally decided to make an honest man of myself and join!

I've lived on the wet side of Washington for about 5 years now but grew up in Montana where there were actually seasons!

Started swinging a club when I was about 5. Played in junior league up to high school and then didn't play much until getting back into the sport heavily in the last couple years. 

I'm a born tinkerer and am constantly modifying/making things that are probably way above my level of actual competence. I got into shooting rifle competitions and that lead to getting into building my own rifles and garage gunsmithing. With marriage, home ownership, and a kid on the way I really only have time for one main hobby and I've been reluctantly giving up shooting for the sake of golf. I've found that practicing golf in the backyard doesn't raise nearly the amount of eyebrows that practicing shooting positions does and golf clubs don't get the same worried looks that rifle cases do coming out of the truck. My garage shop has been slowly transitioning from stocks and barrels to shafts and grips as my need to DIY hasn't diminished with a shift in hobbies. In the past two years I've made a couple of putters that ended up in the garbage, bought a brand new set of irons that I proceeded to hack up the shafts and re-grip, bought a new driver that I proceeded to cut down to 43" and re-grip, and had a blast doing all of it!

I want to thank everyone here for sharing their time and experience and also thank @iacas for letting us all play in his sandbox. I look forward to sharing and learning with you all and hope that I can give as much as I've received in advice and conversation!

-Pat

We have similar hobbies, but very likely a large age gap as my kids are now looking at colleges and my son is going to college next year. . .I remember first getting married and having to sell 22 handguns because my wife doesn't like guns around the house especially if we were going to have children around. I'm only now slowly getting back into that hobby. In fact I have an Anderson 5.56 lower that I'm building up with CMMG parts (upper/BCG etc). If you have any advice on that let me know. In my state it's illegal to have a pistol grip so I'm getting Thorsden Stocks.

 I got into archery again 12 years ago when my kids were old enough to try out shooting in the archery range. That was fun and we participated in many local and national tournaments. The cutting tools for arrows were exactly the same as the tolls needed for cutting golf shafts. So, that translated pretty well.

Golf is less about tinkering with the tolls so much as tinkering with the swing. Maybe not just tinkering per se, but evolving it.

Hope to read about all the things you are doing and have done in the past with shooting sports. I've got a lot to learn on that end. Even when I shot it was all handgun type shooting. Nowadays, I'm learning 3 gun and clay/skeet. Any pointers would be welcome.

Welcome to this site!

 

[406pat]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

Welcome to TST, Pat.  If you get a chance, click on the INFO tab up top for some great introductory stuff.  Feel free to ask if you need any help with the site.  

Thanks @DaveP043! I appreciate the warm welcome!

29 minutes ago, Lihu said:

We have similar hobbies, but very likely a large age gap as my kids are now looking at colleges and my son is going to college next year. . .I remember first getting married and having to sell 22 handguns because my wife doesn't like guns around the house especially if we were going to have children around. I'm only now slowly getting back into that hobby. In fact I have an Anderson 5.56 lower that I'm building up with CMMG parts (upper/BCG etc). If you have any advice on that let me know. In my state it's illegal to have a pistol grip so I'm getting Thorsden Stocks.

 I got into archery again 12 years ago when my kids were old enough to try out shooting in the archery range. That was fun and we participated in many local and national tournaments. The cutting tools for arrows were exactly the same as the tolls needed for cutting golf shafts. So, that translated pretty well.

Golf is less about tinkering with the tolls so much as tinkering with the swing. Maybe not just tinkering per se, but evolving it.

Hope to read about all the things you are doing and have done in the past with shooting sports. I've got a lot to learn on that end. Even when I shot it was all handgun type shooting. Nowadays, I'm learning 3 gun and clay/skeet. Any pointers would be welcome.

Welcome to this site!

Thanks @Lihu! The wife knew what she was getting and as long as everything is locked up and I'm not gone all the time she doesn't mind. Don't have to get rid of anything yet, they're just going to get dusty! Just not enough hours in the day for all of the responsibilities and all of the hobbies to co-exist anymore. If I could just figure out how to get rid of this "work" thing, I'd have it all figured out!

I never dealt too much with the gas guns or handguns. My games were long range match and high power match with turn bolts. Three gun always looked like a great time, but fresh out of college I didn't have the cash for the ammo. The best advice I've heard on AR building is buy good components and cry once! I've seen a lot of Anderson and CMMG parts on the firing line so I'd say you have that covered. White Oak has some pretty solid barrels that are reasonably priced if you're still looking for one of those.

I used to bow hunt but gave that up when I moved from Montana. Had an old Bear that was one of the first compound models. No cams and weighed a ton. It was loud and heavy but it always worked, even with the aluminum telephone poles I was shooting!

Thanks for the kind welcome and feel free to drop any firearms questions my way. If you can't burn powder, the next best thing is to talk about doing it!

[Lihu]

5 minutes ago, 406pat said:

Thanks @DaveP043! I appreciate the warm welcome!

Thanks @Lihu! The wife knew what she was getting and as long as everything is locked up and I'm not gone all the time she doesn't mind. Don't have to get rid of anything yet, they're just going to get dusty! Just not enough hours in the day for all of the responsibilities and all of the hobbies to co-exist anymore. If I could just figure out how to get rid of this "work" thing, I'd have it all figured out!

I never dealt too much with the gas guns or handguns. My games were long range match and high power match with turn bolts. Three gun always looked like a great time, but fresh out of college I didn't have the cash for the ammo. The best advice I've heard on AR building is buy good components and cry once! I've seen a lot of Anderson and CMMG parts on the firing line so I'd say you have that covered. White Oak has some pretty solid barrels that are reasonably priced if you're still looking for one of those.

I used to bow hunt but gave that up when I moved from Montana. Had an old Bear that was one of the first compound models. No cams and weighed a ton. It was loud and heavy but it always worked, even with the aluminum telephone poles I was shooting!

Thanks for the kind welcome and feel free to drop any firearms questions my way. If you can't burn powder, the next best thing is to talk about doing it!

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to ask more questions. Yeah, shooting can be pretty expensive. I only reload match ammo when I am actually shooting for score.

I normally shoot the cheap ball ammo, this way I can make excuses to my buddies.

[dennyjones]

Welcome from Michigan

[Valleygolfer]

Welcome to the dialogue!

[406pat]

16 hours ago, dennyjones said:

Welcome from Michigan

Thanks Denny!

16 hours ago, Valleygolfer said:

Welcome to the dialogue!

Thanks Anthony!