If you’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 “golf” part of the name is really just part of the rules for how your shots are scored. Other than that, it’s all rifle and no golf, and it’s one of the best opportunities I’ve ever seen to test one’s rifle skills.

The facility is about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, near Tremonton, Utah. It’s remote, but well worth a detour. A round of “rifle golf” 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’s scored as an “eagle” (2 under par). If you get the plate on the second shot, that’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 “hole” 1, that’s a deer at 285 yards.

Each shooting station has three “holes.” 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., “your first shot was perfectly centered, but an inch too high”). For all shooting, you’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.

Reader Comments

That's cool.

Comment by: 1015811414 | September 15, 2011

I was browsing other sites when I stumbled here. I have one word for the rifle shooting: AWESOME! Thank you for providing an update here. By the way, how much does the rifle cost? Will it be more than payday loans? Well, I want to try it too! :)

Comment by: cathcox | February 23, 2012