Welcome to Mountain Green Archery Club!
Information for New Members
If you have completed our Beginner Course: Congratulations ! We hope you found it interesting, informative and most of all, enjoyable!
Now for some house-keeping. Please make sure you read the below information.
Buying your own archery gear
if you are a new junior member or a new senior member who is not quite sure how long you will be involved in the sport, then we recommend a beginner’s set which contains all you need to start with. This is similar to the equipment you have used on the course, and costs a minimum of around $700 from local archery shops. This set can grow with you as you gain more strength and confidence. If you have stopped growing and/or are feeling committed long term to archery then you may wish to consider a more advanced (and more expensive) option.
Please contact a reputable local supplier when getting your first set, such as Archery Warehouse, Advanced Archery, or Attitude Archery, as they will give good advice on bow size selection and will help you through your options. At this beginning stage, we strongly recommend not buying used gear unless you know exactly what you are looking for and are working with an experienced archer.
If you have ordered your own gear and are waiting for it to arrive, then you are able to borrow the club’s gear until it arrives whenever you are shooting. Please note that any club activity requirements will have first call for the gear. Access to club equipment is available only while a committee member is present on the range. Unfortunately this means there may be times when the range is open but the equipment is not available for your use.
Once you have your gear, please become familiar with how to put it together yourself. Each member should be comfortable putting their own bow together and packing it apart.
There are some great videos to help teach you how to set up your gear. We recommend these:
Times you can shoot at the club
There are restricted times when you can shoot at the outdoor range due to the club’s lease arrangement. Hours of use are posted on this site.
Before any shooting, please read our Outdoor Range Rules in detail. These must be followed at all times.
As a new member, during your first six months (at minimum), you must only shoot at the outdoor range when a keyholder is present. To ensure there is a keyholder at the range, we suggest you shoot during organised times such as:
- Saturday mornings from 9:00am-10:30am when beginner courses are held
- Saturday afternoons from 1:00pm-3:00pm during the weekly club shoot timeslot
- Sunday mornings from 9:00am-12:30pm when the Youth (under-18) and MAGS Development sessions are held
- Any other scheduled session times indicated on our calendar (at the bottom of our homepage) – unless these note that the range is unavailable (e.g. we are hosting a tournament and the range is full).
Keeping in Touch
Our keyholders also often use a Messenger group to announce when they are opening and closing the outdoor range. Any club member/parent with a Facebook account may join this group to receive announcements. Please limit chatter in this group as it reaches a large distribution list.
After a minimum of six months, when you have proved yourself as safe and capable, you can apply for an outdoor range key using the Key Request Form (found on the Range Key Information page).
We recommend that all junior archers shoot on the Sunday morning with our Youth Development sessions. This is an organised shoot with some coaching and help for new youth archers. Parent archers are also able to come along and shoot casually in any unused lanes at this time.
Our indoor range on Royal Road in Massey is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even for new members. Indoor range access is part of your club membership. If you haven’t used this venue before we recommend that you attend with an existing member to familiarise yourself with the facility, and of course, familiarise yourself with our Indoor Range Rules.
Facebook Group: We have a Facebook group specifically for the indoor range where you are welcome to discuss the range.
Shooting at other clubs
Your senior or junior membership at Mountain Green demonstrates to other archery clubs that you can follow archery’s rules and shoot safely. In general, most other archery clubs will allow you to shoot during scheduled sessions but may charge a guest access fee (for comparison, MGAC’s guest fee is $10 per session). Keep your valid membership card with you; we suggest hanging it from your quiver.
Guest fees are generally not payable during advertised events such as tournaments or district shoots which require registration. For example, free organised ADAA 600 Round shoots are held monthly at rotating locations through the Auckland district. Most clubs require, as MGAC does, that you sign in and out of the club when you arrive and leave for health and safety purposes.
Be courteous and respectful of other clubs when you visit them. If you are unsure of what to do, or want to check a rule or common practice, simply ask your fellow archers.
Keeping up with Club Activities
The primary sources of information about the club’s events include this website, the club’s Facebook page, and the club’s email announcements/newsletters.
The club calendar (shown at the bottom of our homepage) can be subscribed to from your email program, calendar program, or mobile device using its feed. A similar calendar feed is also available from the Auckland District Archery Association (which includes our neighbour clubs).
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask another member and/or to contact the committee at info@mgac.org.nz.
Above all else
Please always remember that archery is a shooting sport and we must respect the rules and other users of the grounds at all times.
Once again, welcome to the club!
Subscribe to our calendar from your favourite device with this link: Subscribe here (.ical)