Help! Newbie dilemma...

[Witchie Poo Cat]

Thanks guys for all the quick responses, and to Geoff who correctly guessed that it was indeed Chorley Bowmen course I was on (and loved every second of it!!).

Thanks for explaining the reasons behind the equipment thing, sorry to hear you had a load of stuff stolen. We would love to come down and have a chat with some of the members, in particular find out if anyone is selling any entry level kit. We dont have a lot of money to spare, especially doing this as a couple, but if we had to we could probably manage the KAP surprise bow and kit from Archery-World but realise that this kit wouldnt be necessarily the best for us.

Lol at the "3 fingers" thing. I was just curious having seen others doing the one above, 2 below method and having used that on the archery experience day a few weeks ago. I now see from a link to another post by coaches that this is, indeed, the preferred method of teaching and, as you say, by the end I will be doing it properly!

Can you PM me with details of where and when to meet up with the club members tonight and we will pop along for a chat.

Thanks again to everyone who responded, what a mine of information this forum and its members is!!

Witchie Poo Cat

[OpaNL]

Can't imagine insurance has anything to do with it.. and it's stupid to assume that after a course you could make a good choice. We even discourage people to get their own bow immediately.

At our club, we have some older bows, and about 10 or 12 new KAP Evolution II entry-level bows waiting for people that finish the beginners course and want to become a member: draw weights range from 22 - 32 lbs.

For a small fee (I think it's € 6 / month) you can rent them for 6 months: you get the bow, sight, button, 6 matching jazz arrows, and a hardcase.

First sunday afternoon after the course has ended we set up the bows for everyone individually. You can then shoot a while with decent bows, change weight if you want and get a bit of a feel what you want in your bow to be.

Peter

[Thunk]

At Warlingham we run a beginners course twice a year. Those who join the club after doing the course are actively encouraged to use a club bow for a nominal £1 per session, and this arrangement can run until the start of the next course five months later - obviously we then need the equipment back for the new intake.

In my opinion, it takes longer than the 4,5 or 6 weeks of a beginners course to develop the muscle structure to a point where buying a first bow (and arrows!) is not a false economy. It also takes a fair while to appreciate what is available in the market and make sensible selections. If you are able to buy secondhand from a reliable source, this is probably a very good first option.

The insurance excuse is precisely that - an excuse.

[PorlyP]

Hiya,

I've just joined my club, literally, and our club does allow us to use the club kit for our first year, after that we are expected to get our own, and encouraged to not buy anything in the first six months (for me that's gonna be tricky!!), as we'll be building up strength in our shoulders, and our draw length may well change as we refine our technique.

GNAS only ensures you to actually shoot, afaik, nothing at all to do with the kit you are using. The Kit is the club's responsibility, so outside of the beginners course, they may either refuse to loan kit at all to non-members, or request some kind of deposit for members.

I'm currently relying on my club's equipment, and have just gone up by 4lb in draw weight, so it's already made sense not to buy my own kit.

Hope that helps!

[Witchie Poo Cat]

It would appear that it is simply luck depending on which club you join whether or not they will lend out equipment or not.

Sadly this means that more than likely Im going to have to look for a club further afield that will lend equipment, which is a shame as the club running my course seem really nice and friendly but I just dont think I can afford to spash out on membership fees AND kit now, and then for upgrade kit in 6 months time.

Am visiting the club tonight to chat to members so will see what happens. It might be that the club cant lend but there are members who are happy to lend old equipment, so we might be ok. Am keeping fingers crossed as the club has lots going for it, the problem with borrowing a bow is the sticking point though and will be the decider in which club we decide to join after completing the beginners course.

It is interesting though that the other club I contacted which are closer to us also do not lend equipment to new members! Looks like im going to have to do lots more research!

[flamingbladerider]

Our club has club equipment which beginners can use until they can purchase their own equipment, obviousley within a reasonable time. Once you become a member, part of your membership is your Gnas fees which covers you insurance.

[Rik]

Beginners and club equipment is a bit of a minefield.

Our club currently has a practice of allowing people to continue to use the club equipment until we go indoors. But encouraging people to get their own kit.
The issue is that the club equipment really isn't good enough for people to progress with. You need properly matched arrows. That generally means a complete equipment setup, as you need to be able to guarantee that you'll have the same kit from week to week (which you can't say is the case with club kit). For someone to try to lay claim to a piece of club kit, would mean that someone else can't use it, which isn't really a viable situation.

[PaulT]

It was good to meet you both tonight and I hope you found the visit to the club this evening of use. Please feel free to continue to ask as many questions as you have either down at the club or on here.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by CPlater1

About GNAS insurance, im sure they were just saying that as a load of b*******. The club may need the bows for more beginners to come in. The club I belong too is quite happy to lend bows when needed. You could ask people round the club to help.

Chris

My old club insisted that the tournament organiser had to know the name and address of the 'tea lady' and her helpers, otherwise they are not covered by GNAS insurance.

GNAS confirmed this was b******* when I wrote to them.

Trouble is, Club didn't like being proven wrong and threw toys from pram.