Trad Gang
Main Boards => The Shooters FORM Board => Topic started by: Sprint8b on January 09, 2010, 12:36:00 PM
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While viewing the classifieds section I read at the bottom of a post by Danny Rowan;
"When shooting instinctivly,it matters not which eye is dominant"
I have shot instinctivly for the 25 years (RH), after taking a break from bowhunting for the last 10 years, I have started back. I was conviniced to switch to LH since my left eye is dominant.
I'm in my second month of shooting and it's progressing ok, I guess? But now I am second guessing myself.
Is it true with instinctive shooting the eye dominance does not matter?
Bobby
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It seemed to matter to me. I was shootin right handed and almost went on to other types of enjoyment. Then I switched to left and am getting better and am having alot more fun now. It seemed real wierd at first but now after a couple of months it seems wierd to shoot righty.
I wish I would have switched from the get go. :banghead:
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Mattered to me to. Gave up trying to shooting all instictive after three years of frustration. Now I close my right eye and shoot gap. Much better results.
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You might try alternating left and right days. I like it and find that on some days it the dominate eye with the score and some days not.
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Still have both bows, good idea to try each.
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I am left eye dominent and learned to shoot left handed and shot well to some degree, then I read about shooting with both eyes open and focussing on a spot before raising the bow and after working on that along with the clock form I am really happy with my shooting skills
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Howard Hill shot right handed and was left eye dominant. You can shoot how you wish to, it is all about how much effort you are willing to put forth. I would think the preferred method would be in alignement with eye dominance, but you can shoot well either way with effort.
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FWIW, many top coaches are now looking to the back for dominance and not the eye. The dominant back is 99% the same as the dominant arm. The basis is that archery is more demanding in technically executing the shot then in aiming.
When my son was young we had him shoot right handed (we were not able to determine eye dominance at the time) and he did well, then we went to shooting the bow lefty (he is left eye dominant) and he struggled. A coach has recently moved him back to righty and he is shooting better than ever.
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I have a really hard time with eye dominancy. I actually see two targets when I shoot. I keep both my eyes open and have just taught myself which one to shoot. It was tough at first and now it seems normal to me. Good luck to you.
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Concentrate on the target before the shot, keep both eyes open or you'll lose depth perception if you don't. It doesn't matter which eye is dominant. It's like throwing a ball. Look & throw, look & shoot.
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I shoot right handed and am left eye dominant...I shoot with both eyes open ...
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For what it's worth, I'm left eye dominant and shoot both LH and RH, though I'm somewhat better LH.
Danny's quote is from Jay Kidwell, who I strongly suspect is right. If you practice diligently and tune your bow to hit where you're looking it probably really doesn't matter; it's a matter of programing your brain to hit from a given set up.
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Im right handed and left eye dominate. Actually I can focus on one eye or the other and pass any of the dominancy test, but my left is stronger. I find it screws up my consistentcy shooting left eye dom as a right handed shooter. To shoot my best I have changed 2 things. I shoot with a more open stance, so my right eye has a better view, and before every shot, I close my left eye, focus on where I want to hit with my right eye, then open my left eye as I draw the bow. This is what works best for me. I find wing shooting with a shot gun difficult, cause while Im aiming with my right eye, my left eye occasionaly will take over during the swing and throws my shots off target. Switching over to left handed equipment might be the best option for me, but Im not ready to make that change anytime soon.
Good luck.
Ken
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I agree with Butch. Instinctive shooting involves the "mind's eye" memorizing the path of the arrow and so you look and shoot. If you're aiming, such as with gap shooting, then it matters. Here, the dominant eye aims while the other eye is for depth perception.
But, as Bob pointed out, target archery no longer selects bow-handedness based on eye-dominance; they now consider only the dominant hand. So a left eye dominant person who's right-handed would be given a right-handed bow. They feel that it's easier to train the eye to adapt than the hand to adapt. I've seen plenty of target guys walking around like pirates with patches over their dominant eye. Quite interesting! :cool:
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Danny's quote appeared in Jay Kidwell's book but I believe it was originally uttered by Mr. Glen St Charles
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Seems like a lot of this stuff is just being discussed now. I've struggled with this for a while. I Realize that I'm way better shooting lefthanded(the way that felt natural to me when i was a kid) even thought I"m right eye dominant.
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I think it would be hard to switch from left to right vica versa if you had been shooting for a long time. If you are new of just starting, I think it would be best to go with the dominant eye, since that will give the brain the most consistent and direct sight picture to work with.
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I am left eye dominant and shoot right handed, I never really see the arrow. If you shoot enough arrows I think this will become natural for you and you will shoot well. I think proper form no matter what will overcome any dominance.
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It certainly does matter to me,it wasn't until I read Fred Asbells first book and tryed solely instinctive shooting that it did become an issue for me.
I don't think it matters as much if your gaping,shooting split vision or using sights because you see where the arrow is pointing or where the sight is placed,but if the instinctive claims are as true as people that always shoot that way say,then it makes sence to me that you would shoot with your dominant eye because that would be your strongest "instinctive" eye.
After all,it is all about hand/eye co'ordination,,,right.
I personaly had no problems with getting my left hand to adapt,,,but my eye sight is not going to change,,,and once again,,,FITA target shooters use sights that give them more flexability to ignore their dominant eye,,bare bow shooters do not because we do use hand/eye co'ordination.
If somebody can give me a good reason that "doesn't" include none related methods of aiming a bow like FITA coaches training sighted target archers,then I'm quite happy to take that on board,but I'm not seeing that in any of the discussions on this topic to date either here or anywhere else.
I know there have been and still are plenty of people that shoot cross eyed dominate,as I did myself for over 25 years,and there will always be exceptions to any rule which is of course a good thing,but all the pro FITA coaches where I live all still teach dominate eye due to having no say in the issue.
Archery NZ has a very ridged set of coaching rules and the dominate eye is one thing they will not budge on,in fact any coach that steps out of that line simply doesn't coach at a national level any more,end of story on that.
As far as I can see this issue has never been "Proven" one way or the other even by those Pro coaches because I personaly know they also have differing opinions on the subject.
My father inlaw was NZ's #1 FITA coach and Naralie Fairhalls personal coach when she won Commonwealth gold for NZ during the late 70's.
He also has his doubts about this whole issue but he taught mainly dominate eye because "at the time" he had the choice and he belived it was the best over all method.
As far as I know all the better field archery and the very few that coach barebow here also teach dominate eye.
We've been fortunate to have Terry Ragsdale do some seminars here in the last few years,he came mainly to coach our field archery coaches,but they were open to any interested folks,he also taught dominant eye.
Anyway,I think we could be discussing this one for quite some time to come because it's just too personal a subject to have one answer.
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I shoot lh and I am rt eye dom. and close my rt eye. john
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I am strongly RH and LED. My first few years in Trad Archery I struggled with accuracy shooting instinctively.
A few years ago I made the switch to Lefty, it was difficult at first, but once I made the switch, it had a profound effect on my shooting. I can't even draw a recurve RH now, just seems to weird.
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As you guys already know, the experts definitely don't agree...on much regarding archery. I shot 28 years RH. About 8 of those without sights (I won't say I was instinctive because I don't believe I ignored the arrow point or the "gap"). I've shot LH (to match my dominant eye) for 15 years. I shoot sighted compounds 20% better (scores on 3-D) LH with both eyes open. I've not been back to recurves very long -- began dabbling in 2001 getting serious the past two months -- challenge of it. I don't yet shoot the recurve as well LH as I did as a RH with left-eye shut. However, I practiced a lot more when I was in my teens and early twenties (recurve days). In archery, both hands do something very important, which hand holds the string or the bow isn't as important as bringing the string to the dominant eye side of the face: better depth perception, peripheral vision, and for some folks better balance. Frankly, I think wrong-eye shooting and subsequent closing of the dominant eye promotes target panic because too much focus is placed on aiming instead of active bow arm and drawing arm/back for proper follow through. I can tell you of one person who shot 32 years (North Dakota) RH. Two days after switching to LH to match the dominant eye (sans sights) he was thrilled to be shooting better than he had his entire life (his claim, not mine). Must one match string hand and domiant eye. Of course not. But you'll have to take that dominant eye out of the picture a bit by closing, squinting, or "fuzzing" it up a bit to make the right eye be "dominant". I would strongly encourage (but never insist) that a new archer definitely match up with the dominant eye. I've seen the positive results many, many times.
Having "said" all that, a pure instinttive shot (if there is such a thing -- and I'm sure there is but much more rare than most believe)probably doesn't need to consider eye domiance. They will shoot enough to "learn" to feel proper windage and elevation ... or miss trying.
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So much of this is personal preference and attitude. The mind is a powerful thing. If you want something bad enough, it seems possible to get. How does it feel though. I shot RH for a while, but am Left Eyed. I never felt good shooting like that. I had some success, but the confidence was missing. Got a LH bow and now feel much more comfortable and therefore am enjoying the bow more. The biggest obsticale for me is doing those "nitpicky"things with a nondominant hand. Slipping an arrow out of my back quiver and nocking it seems harder than it should be. Repitition seems to be the key. After 10,000 arrows, it should be good.
TOM
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My left eye is dominant while shooting left, my right eye is dominant while shooting right. My eye that is closest to the arrow takes over. Point your bow with bow sides and see if it's true. When I do the "point finger" test, I am left dominant. Don't know why this occurs, but it does. I originally thought about switching to left since I'm a beginner, but upon examining what my eye was doing right-handed, I said forget it. My right eye takes over, so I'm good.
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I am left eye dominate and shoot right handed. I shoot instinctively and when I am shooting bad I tend to rely on gap method, which messes me up bad. The truth from my foxhole is it is all about sight picture. What does your mind see when you are looking at the target that makes you think you need to release. I took this military training and applied it to archery. What do you see when the arrow hits where you want it too?
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I agree with Butch Speer above. Focus on the target with both eyes, whether stationary or moving. Try focusing on a very small spot and bore a hole into the target with your eyes on that spot you want to hit with the arrow. I am a RH shooter with left eye dominance and it has improved my shooting dramatically over my original shooting style of closing my left eye and focusing down the arrow with the right.
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I am left eye dominant and RH, always shot with both eyes open until I learned the Joel Turner method of shooting, now I close my left eye and gap shoot. Shooting better than I have in many yrs...PR
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I am left eye dominant. I shot right handed for 35 years with both eyes open. My style was always kind of quick because if I held too long I would see two arrows. After a long bout with TP I switched to left handed shooting. Shooting now better than ever, BUT, I have to close my right eye. I guess after shooting so long off the WRONG side I trained my right eye to take over. Go figure!!! Still left eye dominate in a eye test though. It's NUTS!!!
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I am LH and right-eye dominant. My accuracy in sighted shots is just fine if I shoot left-handed, but I suffer on left-handed instinctive "look, draw, shoot" styles. I have recently switched to RH shooting and my instinctive aim is now deadly, whereas before it was only dangerous :)
For me at least, the eye is more powerful than the hand.