We spoke with martial arts champion and instructor Cecil Burch during our last Living Legends segment. Today we’re chatting with Simon Golob of Pistol-Training.com fame.
Interview with Simon Golob
I’ve been a dedicated reader of Pistol-Forum.com for several years now. From the Bianchi Cup, to effective practice routines and more, there’s quite a bit that I’ve picked up from his writing. Despite this, I realized that I didn’t know much about the man on the other side of the screen. Time to rectify things. Let’s get to know Simon Golob, otherwise known as SLG.
Q: We’ll start off with a little bit of your background. What first got you into guns, your professional experience, etc.
I was always into guns as a little kid. My father gave me a toy Peacemaker when I was 3, and that was that. I grew up in NYC, so there weren’t many opportunities to shoot. As a Boy Scout, I shot .22 rifles (not well) and that was about it until high school. At age 14 or so, I got my dad into guns, and he applied for his NYC permit. After a lengthy wait, we were able to purchase our first pistol, a Ruger MKII. Other pistols and rifles soon followed, and I shot a bit during my high school years. In college, a friend told me that I could get my state permit before I was 21, so I applied and was able to buy my first gun at 19 or 20. That was when I started training seriously. In my early teens, I knew I wanted to be in law enforcement, so as soon as I owned a gun, I found a range and started training. I shot a brick of .22LR and a box of centerfire every week.
When I joined the NYPD in the late 90s, many more shooting opportunities opened up for me. Shortly before September 11th, I was fortunate to be asked to help with training at the NYPD range. I was assigned to a unit that specialized in teaching NYPD’s “elite” units, guys who had significant time and experience. When they saw that I could shoot and use tactics that prevented them from being able to shoot me (force-on-force training), they became excellent students. NYPD gave me my first fighting experiences (outside of school or competition), and there were a lot of hardened cops (and criminals!) to learn from. It was an instrumental time for me; I was able to work on my hand-to-hand skills and my shooting skills, and then get to apply them at work as needed. I became a very big fan of having a fast draw, as I found that it seemed to impress many of my clients, who then became more amenable to civil discussion.
Post NYPD
Leaving the NYPD in early 2002, I joined the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). I spent a year in the NY office learning a lot about protection and attention to detail. After that, I was selected for their tactical unit, MSD. They took the skills I had already built, and sent me to every top school in the country. From shooting and CQB to driving and lock picking. And a bunch of other schools I would have happily paid to go to. Then they sent me around the world to all the global hotspots. Finally, they let me learn from and teach some of our nation’s best warriors. The six years I spent running around the world with them were absolutely incredible, and gave me experiences I never would have considered as a local cop in NY.
During my time with DS, I met my wife Julie and started shooting competitions a little more often. I was fortunate enough to win Steel Nationals one year, though, full disclosure, I didn’t have very much competition in my division. That competitive experience expanded my shooting horizons quite a bit, and I was able to shoot and train with most of the top shooters in the country.
Julie and I started a family, and the FBI asked me to apply through their tactical program, so I left DS and joined the FBI. Overall, the FBI was a great experience, and I’m proud to have served as a Special Agent there. I was able to meld my NYPD and DS experiences, participating in operations to rescue kidnapped children and arrest murderers. While TDY to Quantico to teach firearms, I shot a “possible” on the old Tactical Revolver Course, which earned me a nice little pin and a spot on the Possibles wall at Quantico. I need ot mention that I was very lucky to work with some great instructors there who really went out of their way to make sure I was able to shoot the course.
Now, I am teaching classes under the Pistol-Training.com banner, and am getting to meet and shoot with agencies and civilians all over the country.
Q: If there was a discernible shift to “being serious” about guns, what brought that about?
I was always into guns, but had little opportunity to shoot when I was young. I had no friends or family in LE, and I assumed I would need to be good with my hands and my gun in order to survive. I watched lots of movies back then, like Lethal Weapon and Beverly HIlls Cop, lol. I started training in martial arts at age 10, and though I took a break here or there, I basically continued training from then until now. I didn’t start really shooting until college, and it has been non-stop ever since.
Q: Do you have any especially notable mentors? If so, what are some things that they did for/to you which stand out?
In college, my friend Jim was my first mentor. He really taught me how to shoot accurately and how to apply a method to everything I did. I find most shooters lack a methodical approach to their gear and training, and it can really hold you back. Also, having a base of relatively high-level accuracy is key. I built my speed and accuracy at the same time, and I think that is a great way to go. Nothing else matters if you can’t hit what you are aiming at.
I had other mentors along the way, like Jeff Cooper, Massad Ayoob, John Holschen, Greg Hamilton, Rob Leatham, and Ken Hackathorn. Some have been with me for years, others for briefer periods, but all contributed to my skills and knowledge. One you might not have expected is my wife, Julie. I have learned a ton from her, and it has helped me professionally and personally.
Q: Tell us about any specially fond memories you have from your career, as an instructor, other firearms or defense related experiences?
I’m not much on war stories, as I’m not a very good storyteller, and I find other people’s exploits to be more interesting than mine. As a former NYPD officer, my lack of storytelling ability is a real black eye. Typically, NY cops are great storytellers and some of the funniest guys you will ever meet. I will say that throughout my career, I have heard from guys I have trained with, starting with the NYPD, about how something I showed them helped them be a better shooter or helped them win a fight. That is a really great feeling and makes everything I do worth it.
Aside from that, some of the best memories I have from my career involve the military. I never served, but was fortunate to be able to train and deploy alongside some of our tip of the spear guys. I learned a ton from them, and my time in Afghanistan and Iraq was a real highlight of my career.
Outside of work, getting to train with Todd Green for so many years was pretty amazing. Aside from being a great friend and training partner, he pushed to make AIWB carry more effective, and between us, we created what is probably the most popular and performance- oriented carry method in modern history.
Q: Both you and your wife Julie are highly accomplished shooters, writers, and professionals, along with being parents. How do you ensure each of you maintain your skills while balancing professional and home lives?
That’s actually pretty easy. For much of my career, I could shoot at work about as much as I wanted to, so that helped. We also have a range on our property, so access is simplified. Julie is one of the hardest-working people I have ever known, and she gets a ton of stuff done every day. She makes time to shoot as she sees fit, and she makes sure that I have all the time I need or want. She is an incredibly supportive wife in everything I do. For almost a year, I was in training for a selection process at work. It involved 3 hours a day workouts, on top of 10 hours a day or more at work. 6 days a week. She made it easy for me to train then, and continues to do so to this day.
Q: Pistol-Training.com is one of the most revered firearms-centric websites in the “learned” sector of the firearms community. What has it been like taking the reins and revitalizing the site over the past few years?
It’s been a pretty big deal for me. I don’t like to write or type. Todd, who created the site, was a better writer than I am and a very hard-working guy. Pistol-training.com shows that level of skill and attention. I can’t really hope to match it, but I think it is important to keep the effort going, both as a repository for Todd’s work, as well as a place to talk about shooting issues that I think need attention. Blogs are less popular these days, but I find the writing to be somewhat cathartic. It is also a nice way for me to leave a record of my training and experience, both for the community at large (that’s both of the guys who care about it, lol) as well as my children.
Q: Oftentimes we see a heavy influence of competition and military/law enforcement on the concealed carry and training world. As a high-level competitor and recently retired law enforcement officer, is there anything that you think these groups could learn from the typical civilian self-defense world?
From a technical standpoint, probably not. From a “mission first” perspective, absolutely. Too many competitors and professionals don’t know much about civilian self-defense issues. Most civilians are not interested in pursuing high-level shooting ability (neither are most mil/LE types), but they still want to be able to defend themselves. Teaching them the finer points of a tactical reload is probably out of place. Teaching them a surreptitious draw and a good index is much more relevant. Teaching them how to maximize their limited training time and ammo is pretty important. The problem is, I don’t find that many high-level shooters know these things. Many became that way after a huge amount of time and ammo. Only a few really understand the process of how to get there efficiently and why.
Q: Are there any hard lessons learned for you that changed the way you do things, or that you’d like to relay to the readers?
Like I said, I’m not much on war stories, but when I was fairly new to all this, I learned a hard lesson about situational awareness. I survived it, but I was pretty lucky. Shooting skill is great, and guns are much more to me than just self-defense tools, but at the end of the day, I carry and shoot to protect my family. The most important part of that is probably your situational awareness. It’s not fun and exciting to practice and develop it the way shooting skills are, but it is critical. There is a quote from Marcus Aurelius that goes something like, “The fencer’s weapon is picked up and put down again. The boxer’s is part of him.” It may sound trite, but you have to be the weapon. Not just hand-to-hand skills, you have to train your mind correctly, or all the skills in the world will not help you. Steinbeck really got it right when he said, “The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.” He wasn’t talking about fighting; he was talking about everything. I read Steinbeck in school, but it was Louie Awerbuck who made me realize what a great writer he was.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to readers, whether they be instructors, competitors, or regular earth people?
There are lots of really great shooters out there today, far more than in years past. Some of them have become good instructors. As far as I can tell though, cold performance is an area that is completely neglected in the training space. It is something we at Pistol-Training.com have always had a passion for. It took some years to realize what’s what, but at this point, I think we have some good ideas on how to address and train for that issue. If more people get interested in it, like with AIWB, I’m sure improvements in training and performance will be rapid. If you think about it, for most gun toters, nothing else really matters other than their cold ability. If there is no invitation to a gunfight, there certainly is no warm-up.
Q: Where can people find you, your work, or train with you?
Pistol-Training.com is where I spend most of my time. I purposely limit the number of classes I teach each year, as well as the number of students per class, but if anyone is interested in hosting or attending a class, that’s the place to find my info, or email me at slg@pistol-training.com. My real passion is instructor development for law enforcement, and I have been lucky to get to work with some amazing LE agencies. It’s not that the civilian side is less important or less interesting, but those civilians will always find a way to train. LE, not so much.
Wrapping Up Living Legends Interview with Simon Golob
Thank you to Simon for taking the time to sit down and answer some questions! Be sure to swing by Pistol-Training to grab some good insight, and keep an eye out for upcoming classes.
Check out our other entries in our “Living Legends” series of interviews below:
Interview with Tom Givens
Interview with Rob Haught
Interview with Bruce Cartwright
Interview with Julie Golob
Interview with Cecil Burch
Support My Work
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Writing isn’t my full-time profession, and nearly everything I do comes out of my own pocket. Between ammunition, tuition, range fees and more, expenses add up fast. If you like what I have to offer, consider making a donation to my Patreon.
Every bit helps bring more work like this to you, and contributes to shortened timelines or more in-depth work on my part. You’ll also have more direct access to me, offering suggestions for future projects, looking behind the scenes, and getting early access to some content. You can find my Patreon >>HERE<<