Getting started

Kersh

Can anyone give me some info on getting staarted in Archery. Where to get gear, what is the best gear, etc. Thanks.

Renegade_Archer

First and foremost, I cannot stress enough that it is officially a Good Idea(tm) to join a club - not only wil you then get proper coaching from the beginning, you will have somewhere safe and insured to practise, and there are people there who can give you advice on what archery gear suits you.

A list of archery clubs in Ireland can be found here:

http://www.archery.ie/clubs/clubs.htm

If you want to look at archery gear, I find the two best in terms of price are Alternative Sporting Services and BowSports

The club will probably have gear you can use for your first few sessions so you can get a feel for the sport and see if you like it - no point in blowing a few hundred euro on the sport only to realise you dont like it.

If youre in school, there is also the inter-schools archery league, their homepage is http://www.iol.ie/~ssac/
or if you are in university you can shoot for your university - nearly every major college has a club, apart from Trinity.

oscarBravo

Stickied. It's a FAQ, and Ewan's answer is a good start to it. If anyone else has n00b advice, throw it in here. At some point we might tidy it all up and make a proper FAQ thread.

The link to the clubs is broken.

halenger

Fixed.

RedBranchKnight

As I am now officially retired from the daily grind I am looking round for a sport/relaxion to get myself reasonably fit again.
So far I am contemplating (lawn) bowls, ten pin bowling and archery.
My wife, Mrs Red Branch Knight refuses to countenance me playing bowls as it is a "sport for old men" and me playing it might by association make her look "old".
I did briefly join a club about 20 years ago but never followed through
John

trig

A lot of the older archers tend to shoot compound bows. Its not just older crowd, but most of the older crowd do. Compound bows are physically less demanding then recurve (olympic style) bows as there are cams on the end of one or both limbs that give a mechanical advantage. Also they have a magnifying sight and a few other bits and bobs to make life easier. The downside is that they tend to be more expensive.

Its probably a good idea to find your nearest club and ask a compound archer what they would recommend. Even better, see if there's any older members there and ask for their advice.

Any club should have basic recurve bows that you can try too so that'll give you an idea of the way to go. Archery is an expensive sport to set up in so I can't stress enough how important it is to try it out first and see if you enjoy it before shelling out for equipment. If you do decide to buy anything, again ask at the club and they'll tell you how much to spend and on what instead of spending more then you need.

trig

Just noticed you have Armagh as your location RedBranchKnight. In that case you might find something closer here. Thats the link for clubs up North. The link in the previous post was for clubs in the Republic. No crossborder bodies in Archery I'm afraid..... Or not until Paisley gets his photos anyway, but thats a whole other discussion :rolleyes:

RedBranchKnight

Thanks for the advice all...much appreciated. There is a club based at a Sports Centre within 5 miles of me and seemingly an archery equipment outlet about 7 miles from me.
Although there are two Archery governing bodies on the island, people up here are entitled to "claim" either nationality so its really no big deal about clubs.

Besides I cant see that I will make so much progress before the next Olympics to really worry about it. From Beginner to Olympic contender in 3 years and at approaching 60 with dodgy knees is impossible...but I do have a 2 year old grandson but I see him shaping up as the next Damian Duff or Roy Keane. .
John

Griffon

I enjoy archery and have done it a good few times but never seem to get any better lol

MuchSavage

u have to keep at it, practise makes perfect..... i've been doing it for near 2 years and still haven't gotten any better, well have improved a bit, but that's because i had good advise from collegues who have been at it for years.....

u have to have patience, and don't give in when u can't do it propberly....just practise and take ur time..... (Pity can't take own advise!!!)

I have a habit of letting it get to me when i'm not shooting well, and things go from bad to worse, u'll have to over come that too......

ccd

The link is broken

oscarBravo

There are six links in this thread. Which one is broken?

ccd

Mea Culpa. Its the first one

MicS

Anyway, that's a simple change. List of clubs is here: http://www.archery.ie/clubs/clubs.htm
IAAA home page http://www.archery.ie/

oscarBravo

Fixed, ta.

admiralofthefleet

i used to do the odd bit of archery in drewstown house when i was in my teens, is it expensive to get back into it. i see john bailey is still doing it there

Redjeep!

There's still a club there. Meet every Tuesday night.

Ran by Jim & Pauline Conroy

doogle deegan

There is also Summerhill, which is a few miles from Trim. They shoot indoors on Sunday nights/evenings and outdoors (usually from March onwards) on Wednesdays and Sundays (with the possibility of other days aswell)

TelePaul

Join a club...being a back garden archer is NOT a good idea, I learnt the hard way.

Catarcher

ASI are as competitive and have really good stock levels of most items, I found them as Cheap as Altservices and bowsports, maybe fractionally dearer in some cases but no shipping costs to pay and also if you have trouble or faults with the goods you can bash on Keith Hanlon's door or hassle him at shoots or training.

Conchubhair

Hey, I'm looking to start archery. I'm living in west-Dublin.
Does anybody know some clubs near-by that have Junior's / Beginners courses....sometime in the summer ?

mr potato head

Where in west dublin? Lexlip would probably be the closest you might get if its the Dublin 15 area... Or Inchicore in D8.
The list on Archery.ie shows all the current clubs.

Conchubhair

I was thinking those 2 might be best....

kuroino

Thinking of trying target archery, but not sure where to start. Basically, I want to go to some indoors/outdoors archery range and give it a try, preferrably with a guideance of some sort and without getting into buying equipment from the start.

I live in Clonsilla-Clonee area of Blanch, Dublin and work beside Dublin port, so either one or another location would be good for me, as well as other locations on the way (along North Circular rd or further to the north from it).

Another question is following: it seems to me that archery clubs normally train 1-2 evenings a week. Does it mean that being a member of such clubs you are limited to these days or are there any other oportunities to train (apart from the back graden one, that is rightly rejected in some posts above)? It's not like I am planning to train more, it just that I may not have the same evenings free every week.

Thank you

Loveless

TelePaul wrote:

Join a club...being a back garden archer is NOT a good idea, I learnt the hard way.

Can you expand on the above statement a bit? ..as I practice in the back garden most evenings, but am a member of a club.

Renegade_Archer

Many dangers to shooting in your back garden:

If you live in an estate or have neighbours, you naturally run the risk of spearing someone, with the associated criminal and civil liability that would result. In contrast, if shooting at an IAAA-approved range, if you spear someone, your insurance as an IAAA member will cover at least the civil part of the liability (if memory serves, anyone from the IAAA care to comment?)

Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was on the Junior EuroNations team, a team-mate used to practise in his back-garden; he goosed a shot, and one of his arrows rebounded off a wall and landed in his neighbour's garden; whilst the velocity of the arrow was minimal, the neighbour called the cops, and my team-mate had some explaining to do...

In general, there is more hard stuff in a back garden to wreck your arrows if you were to miss the target.


In my case, I shoot from the back of my garden into my house - if I were to have a high shot, I'd probably perforate my fridge and be down an ACE:




But in the end, the biggest problem is liability.

alfresco

Renegade_Archer wrote: »

First and foremost, I cannot stress enough that it is officially a Good Idea(tm) to join a club - not only wil you then get proper coaching from the beginning, you will have somewhere safe and insured to practise, and there are people there who can give you advice on what archery gear suits you.

A list of archery clubs in Ireland can be found here:

http://www.archery.ie/clubs/clubs.htm

If you want to look at archery gear, I find the two best in terms of price are Alternative Sporting Services and BowSports

The club will probably have gear you can use for your first few sessions so you can get a feel for the sport and see if you like it - no point in blowing a few hundred euro on the sport only to realise you dont like it.

If youre in school, there is also the inter-schools archery league, their homepage is http://www.iol.ie/~ssac/
or if you are in university you can shoot for your university - nearly every major college has a club, apart from Trinity.

At the moment Bowsports.com are selling the Bowtech Commander and Guardian for £329 each including target colours.

Thats under 400 euro including delivery! Best value ever.

jozi

fathers birthday is coming up soon and we are thinking about getting him setup to strart shooting. I've not much knowledge about archery, maybe someone can help us allong?

Bit of background first I guess.

Dad used to do target shooting when we lived in Holland, 12m kneeling at an indoor range. He had all the gear but sold it when we moved to Ireland, lack of clubs here. From what I remember mam telling me he always wanted to do archery but there where no clubs nearby at the time and rifle shooting was the next best thing. Kept him busy for just over 30 years so he must have enjoyed it

Had a look at the archery.ie site and offcourse there are no clubs (listed) near Cavan. we had a day of shooting a few years ago, in Kildare I think, which he enjoyed. Can't remember if he preffered compound or recurve.

From looking at the sites mentioned in previous posts, prices go from much cheaper than I expected to very expensive. Where do I start? There's a few 2nd hand bows in the for-sale thread of which I have no idea how good/bad or suitable they maybe.

Look forward to some advice

Jozi

eddie1690

where in cavan? there are clubs near kells and ardee

jozi

About 5mins outside of Cavan town

eddie1690

try drewstown then just outside kells contacts on archery.ie

pullandbang

Hi folks,
I'm half interested in having a go at archery and know there is a club (Summerhill) not too far from me. However, on the archery.ie contact page for them there are no contact details!

There are names ok, but no email, phone etc.
Apart from turning up outside their gates in the hope they're open, how do you contact them?

corneliust

Does anyone know where i can get 30 inch fibreglass arrows for a juvenile compound bow in westport/castlebar area arrows cost €5 each in westport shop i got bow in. I want to get more but i dont want to pay €5 a piece

Carebear11

corneliust wrote: »

Does anyone know where i can get 30 inch fibreglass arrows for a juvenile compound bow in westport/castlebar area arrows cost €5 each in westport shop i got bow in. I want to get more but i dont want to pay €5 a piece

To be honest that is a good price, you more than likely wont get arrows much cheaper than that. Or if so it will be may be €1-€1.50 cheaper only.

corneliust

found some online for €3.3 each + postage

Carebear11

corneliust wrote: »

found some online for €3.3 each + postage

If €1.70 really means that much to you, thats a good price!

corneliust

i made a deal with fella in westport got 10 arrows for €4 each got him down from €5

Carebear11

corneliust wrote: »

i made a deal with fella in westport got 10 arrows for €4 each got him down from €5

Well done

Branoic

Are there any decent bricks and mortar archery shops in the country (preferably east)?

Looking into getting some decent entry level kit but don't really know where to start with the online suppliers' options, so would really prefer to talk through my purchase with a physical person.

Private Ryan

ASI - Archery Shop Ireland is located in Vallymount Co Wicklow.
The details can be found on http://www.archeryshop.ie.

Keith and David are very experienced and I'm sure they'll be able to talk you through what you need.

Nadaur

A few months ago I decided I really needed to get a hobby, I was simply dying with the time I had on hand all of a whack and needed to learn something new. I've friends in England who are both seriously competitive archers, (county champions...top 20 type stuff) and they brought me along in April and gave me a go at Archery (was with an American Widebow).........

Right, I decided this was worth having a bash at...so I emailed EVERY club in Dublin and as far north as...well..the North...to see when and if any beginners courses were running, I phoned any that had contact numbers online..........nobody was running a course until the Autumn, (well the ones that bothered to reply anyway). I was crestfallen.

Then I get a call back from a chap in the Sportlink Archery Club in Santry.....they'll give me a course..on Monday evenings while they're shooting anyway.

For the next 10 weeks I had 1:1 tutoring from past and current members of the Irish Squad, they lent me Recurve kit to practice with, swopped bits of kit when it didn't suit, indulged my complete and utter ignorance, had a good laugh when I hit a tree or missed spectacularly, generally ripped the p@ss. To cut a long story short...all the members there, not just the officers (or whatever the nomenclature is) couldn't have been more welcoming, helpful, thorough and diligent.I'd recommend it and them to anyone interested in giving it a go.


I finished the course, and they found me a great Bow and kit (for ebay money rather than have me buy crap that wouldn't suit),I'm shooting 50m now and really enjoy the sport.....I think Ive found my hobby.

So if you can't stand golf like me, or just want to give something different a go you could do worse than give archery a lash...it has this weird combination of delicacy, patience and violence...and ya get a bit of a walk!

Well thats my little spiel over.....if anyone would like to come along for a look where I go...drop me a pm.

Panserborn

Welcome to the Sport Nadaur!

Beware, once the honeymoon period is over the addiction sets in ........ hard to control sometimes!

Nadaur

Panserborn wrote: »

Welcome to the Sport Nadaur!

Beware, once the honeymood period is over the addiction sets in ........ hard to control sometimes!

already well and truely hooked.......:mad::):eek::p

buck65

What's the story with UL archery can anyone join? Live in Ennis and would be interested in learning archery (just watched the Weather man - I'm very compulsive!)

Robo_Mike

buck65 wrote: »

What's the story with UL archery can anyone join? Live in Ennis and would be interested in learning archery (just watched the Weather man - I'm very compulsive!)

Hi, yes, anyone can join UL Archery as long as you are over 18 years of age. We are starting a beginners course tonight which will run for the next 5 weeks. Email the club at ularchery(at)gmail(dot)com to get all the info!

Irishchick

I just joined the archery club in my college and shot for the first time yesterday. It was great. Id love to find a club near me but I went on the archery site and there doesnt seem to be any.

Does anyone know of any clubs in offaly??

Panserborn

Hmm. not so sure there is a target club in Offaly. There might be a field club near there though. Have a look at http://www.irishfieldarchery.com/index.html, might be lucky.

Irishchick

Thanks. I was wondering if you could help recommend a beginner bow. Im not really sure what Im looking for. I just want to start with something lightweight because I wouldnt have the strongest arms!

greysides

That's a big question and really only you can answer it. You've joined a club, they've probably bows you can use for long enough to get an idea for yourself of what's available (ask to look at other peoples bows and what they'd recommend) and what you'd like that's in your price range.
You'll need help to decide your best bow size, limb strength, compatible arrows (type,length,spine) and to choose plungers/longrods/sights/slings/tabs/quivers.

You could start with a KAP Prostyle. They use their own type of limbs and riser and limbs are usually cheaper than ILF stuff.
After that there's the entry level ILF stuff, some of which may not be too much more than the Prostyle-type kit. Agulla/Winstar/Mizar/Axiom/Privilege.
Then there's the second hand stuff. Probably a little more for your money but a little older. An old Gold Medalist would be cheap,available and got to Olympics.

Try Quicks or Alternative Services to window shop but my advice............keep your hands in your pockets.........use the club gear- for a while and absorb as much info and experience as possible while you build up BACK strength. Good form is more important than good kit at the moment and that's where your emphasis should be.

Panserborn

Good advice from Greysides.

One extra thing I'd throw in is not to be tempted to "overbow", meaning don't buy limbs that are too strong. If you pull a club bow and feel that its fairly strong, but pullable, remember that in a standard competition you will be pulling that bow at least 66 times in about an hour - it adds up believe me.

If you try all the bows in a club and come to the conclusion that you are at the stage that you need your own, I'd recommend a fairly decent ILS riser (this is a riser that will take limbs of many manufactures so is easily upgradable), and then with this riser buy cheap and weak limbs. Reasoning is that the riser will remain with you as you progress, but the limbs will be ditched and changed out for stronger ones fairly frequently as you grow in the sport.

So, I reckon, decent ILS riser + cheap low range limbs.

Any of the ILS risers Greysides mentioned are good.