Showcasing Clubs Across the US
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    GOL Shooting, LLC, located in south Louisiana, began operations in 2005 as a corporate retreat for owner Joel Broussard and Gulf Offshore Logistics, an offshore boat company. Entertaining clients, associates, and friends was the primary function of the club. As the year went along, fund raising events took place and became extremely successful. In 2007 the club opened it doors to memberships and has built a strong constituency over the past year. Over 8200 shooters participated in events and daily activities at the club in 2007.

 The club was designed and built by Mr. Joel Broussard, owner, Keith Broussard, and manager Paul “Hawk” Hawkins. Soon Hawk’s wife, Diane joined him as the office manager and the same team continues to operate the club today.

 The club offers 16 stations of sporting clays, 1 5-stand, and 1 skeet field. They hope to add a trap field in the near future and plans to that end are in place.

 The 16 station main course follows along a limestone cart path, and offers two automatic machines at each station. There are three towers placed around the course, two that reach a heighth of 40-foot and one that reaches 85-foot. The configuration of the towers allows 6 different target presentations at 6 different stations at any one time. Each shooting station is set in a 10’x12’ covered house, containing bench seating and gun racks. The machines are activated and operated through the use of the Duematic pay card system, allowing maximum convenience and efficiency for the members. All target types and colors are used to enhance the intricacies of the target presentations and the presentations are changed virtually each week to provide fresh challenges.

The 5-stand is located under a covered, wooden pavilion near the clubhouse pavilion. The Duematic system is used here as well. 8 machines are in place on the 5-stand. One of the unique features of the system used is that a shooter can pick a particular target, or pair of targets, and attempt them repeatedly during their practice sessions, allowing them quality practice repetitions to their heart's content.     

 The skeet field is just a hop, skip, and jump down from the 5-stand. Concrete walkways and pads keep the shooters feet dry in even the wettest of weather. The trap field, when added, will be used as an inlay over the skeet field.

 The club uses an 80x30 foot pavilion, with an attached office, as the “clubhouse”. A 20x30’ cooking wing allows for maximum convenience in hosting bar-b-q’s, crawfish, shrimp and crab boils, and other cooking activities. 10 large picnic tables line the pavilion providing ample seating for members and guests. "Ample limestone parking lots provide a "mud free" environment to get ready for your outing."

 Sporting clays events are a major part of life at GOL Shooting. In 2007 alone, 40 events were held on the grounds. In the 3 years of activity at the club, in excess of $1,000,000.00 has been raised benefiting charities, schools, cancer patients, and a bevy of other organizations. The largest of these events is the “Lafayette Oilman’s Sporting Clays Tournament”, which attracts 700 guns over two days. The “Louisiana Oilman’s Bass Invitational Sporting Clays Tournament” also makes a yearly appearance at the club, bringing in almost 400 guns during a single day. These two tournaments raise in excess of $40,000.00 each for college scholarships and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital respectively.

 The two “signature” shoots at GOL are the NSCA registered “South Louisiana Challenge” tournament held each May, and the “Christmas Miracle Shoot” scheduled for October in 2008.

 The “South Louisiana Challenge” goes “outside the box” in securing cash sponsorships, from sources that are not necessarily the normal industry related businesses, that are in turn returned as guaranteed pay-outs to the winners in the shoot. In 2007, 12 sponsorships resulted in a payback of $12,000.00 to HOA, RU, 1^st through 4^th in each class and each con-current. The targets are set at a difficulty level to truly challenge each individual’s talents in both handling their gun and reading the lines of the targets. In the initial two years of the event, it has set record attendance marks for a single day event in the state each year.

 The “Christmas Miracle Shoot” is a benefit tournament for disadvantaged children of the area. The initial shoot was held this past November with an impressive national response. The concept, developed by Hawk and Diane, is simple… a 100 bird sporting clays tournament with no cash involved! A person only has to bring a new toy, or more, and they get their score-card, lunch, snacks, beverages, and the chance at bringing home a trophy in the Lewis Class run event. The toys are then collected, and through an application process, given away to children who otherwise wouldn’t be having any Christmas. In the inaugural tournament, over 110 people brought in more than 500 toys to be distributed. In addition, donations from all around the country were mailed in to purchase even more toys for the kids. The 2008 event is scheduled for the 18th of October.

 GOL Shooting is a membership only club. Walk-ins are not allowed, but with a phone call to Hawk, it is possible to shoot as his guest. Memberships are available at any time, but the membership year is a calendar year, January 1 to December 31. Another unique aspect of the club is, that after purchasing a membership, all targets are only 15 cents a piece. Again using the Duematic pay-card system, members purchase targets in increments that are then stored on a chip in the card. The targets are then counted down as the member throws each target. When the card is empty, all that is needed is to step into the office and purchase more. With a solid maintenance program in place, breakage is kept at 2% or less, and if there is trouble with a machine, a staff member is only a phone call away from fixing it.

 For those of you planning on attending the US Open in May. You might want to take a look at the "South Louisiana Challenge" the weekend before. GOL is located within an hours drive of the US Open and the "Southern Louisiana Challenge" is scheduled for May 24th. It is a one day event with great payouts and attendance. With most of us coming in on Monday or Tuesday it wouldn't be that big of a strech to add a few days for a quaility warm-up event.

 More information about GOL Shooting, LLC and their events can be found on their website located at www.golshooting.com, or contacting Paul "Hawk" Hawkins at 337-316-1936.