Someone said there's only nice shot and there's no such thing as nice shoot.
While another person told me nice shoot is just like nice kick where the shoot/kick is a verb.
p.s. why is this 'off-topic'? aren't this question about the 'word choice or usage' of an English phrase?
Shoot can be used as a noun that is similar in meaning to shot. Merriam-Webster's definition 2 for the noun shoot is as follows:
a : an act of shooting (as with a bow or a firearm): (1) : shot (2) : the firing of a missile especially by artillery
b (1) : a hunting trip or party (2) : the right to shoot game in a particular area or land over which it is held
c (1) : a shooting match · skeet shoot (2) : a round of shots in a shooting match
d : the action or an instance of shooting with a camera : a session or a series of sessions of photographing or filming · a movie shoot
Nevertheless, "nice shot" seems to be the established form of the expression. The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) contains 95 examples of "nice shot" and no examples of "nice shoot". Regardless of whether "nice shoot" in the sense of "nice shot" could be considered technically correct, I would not advise using it this way.
As wutangkillab observes, "nice shoot" is certainly possible and acceptable with other meanings; e.g. "a nice shoot some 15 feet or 20 feet in length is procured and well ripened in the autumn" (Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener, June 18, 1861).
That other person was wrong. Nice is an adjective, so grammatically it modifies a noun, ie shot (or kick). So you cannot say nice shoot with shoot being a verb.
If we then use the adverb nicely instead, that is still not enough: you would not use the present tense form in that situation. You cannot say nicely shoot, unless it's an imperative or an infinitive complement (I want you to nicely shoot that ball). It would have to be nicely shot (or nicely kicked), which is a short version of You have nicely shot that ball. That again rules out shoot.
The only situation I can think of where nice shoot can be used is if shoot is short for an event where shooting takes place, such as a hunting party. You could then use nice shoot analogous to nice match or nice game. But that is not the meaning you are asking about.
In reference to shooting a ball or a gun, nice shoot would not make sense, as shoot is the verb that corresponds to the action and shot is the noun. As the noun kick corresponds to the verb kick, the noun shot corresponds to the verb shoot. Therefore, nice shoot would be considered incorrect while nice kick is still considered correct.
Nice shoot does make sense, although not in the sense of sport; it's a noun referring to the part of a plant.
Shoot has meaning as a noun; act of shooting; discharge of a projectile; a shot.
So yes, you are perfectly correct.
