Question for ppl that switched hand due to eye dominance

[fazhu]

Hello all.  I have read all the things about eye dominance in the forum archives that I could find.  It seems that a great percentage of people that switched hands wound up shooting better and liking their new configuration.  I am curious to know how many tried to close the dominant eye before they switched.  What is the general consensus on closing the dominant eye?  I understand that the reason it's the dominant eye in the first place is because it has better vision.  I apprciate any insight that you can give.  Thanks!

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

You can do that but your depth perception will suffer.

I recommend changing to your dominant eye the sooner the better .

Jack

[Migra Bill]

I am right handed and left eye dominant. Like you, I read everything I could find. The consensus was to shoot left handed. I bought a light weight left handed bow. Just could not shoot it. Felt awkward. No matter how much I practiced and tried - it just wasnt gonna happen.
Went back to shooting right handed. If you are shooting TRUELY instinctive (no aiming, no gap shooting etc) eye dominance shouldnt matter. If you think about it, it's about repetition and muscle memory. Even though I am left eye dominant, I can still throw a baseball or football righthanded. Because I have done it a million times. Instinctive shooting is the same thing. Do it a million times and you will just know what to do.

[Shinken]

I am right eye dominant and am now shooting LH better (for almost 2 years now) than I shot RH - for 30+ years - and I was a *decent* shot RH, but my right shoulder finally did me in....

Both of my children are right handed, but both are left eye dominant.  They shoot their longbows LH because that is how I started them, but they both shoot Olympic doubles with a scattergun right handed.

The mind is a very powerful tool and if one is patient, one can shoot from either side regardless of eye dominance.

Practice, practice, practice....

Shoot straight, Shinken

   

[Danny Rowan]

Bill is correct. I have been doing this since I was 15 and am now almost 61 years old. I have always shot right handed and am left eye dominate. Just focus on the spot and shoot. Fred Bear was right eye dominant but had to shoot left handed due to a problem with his right hand, Glen St. Charles was right eye dominant and switched to shooting left handed due to a bought of TP and later in life shot both ways.

[Bowwild]

I am right-handed and left-eye dominant. I shot RH with the left-eye closed for 28 years. I switched to LH shooting in 1995. I had plenty of success shooting RH but I've never regretted making the change.

I've trained a lot of people (4,000+ teachers in NASP). It is common for about 10% of people to shoot LH but twice that number should. I've seen folks that had shot for decades with the RH switch to LH because of the dominant eye issue. Many of these folks will shoot the tightest groups of their lives in just 2 days. They are VERY excited about this.

Bringing the string to the dominant eye side of the face results in better depth perception, better peripherial vision, and for some folks better balance. For me it also provides a more relaxed feeling when I shoot. Try it, when you close an eye you can feel a bit of tension in your facial muscles.

A HUGE side benefit to switching. If you get some good instruction (coaching face to face or a good DVD) you get to start over and dump every flaw you've been taught or picked up in your archery life. That was the biggest positive for me. I had TP so bad in 1995 (had been coming on since 1981 or 1982)I was about done with archery. Starting over LH saved archery for me.

And no, TP didn't come back because I learned what causes it and how to prevent it.

[Javi]

I'm in the switch corner.. I shoot much better with my master eye.. but keep both open for depth perseption

[Bowwild]

Shooting with the dominant eye allows both eyes to be open.

By the way, in my experience the folks with greater difficulty are those who are co-dominant (equally involved aiming eyes) or only a weakly dominant eye. The weakly dominant eye folks often have their dominant eye negatively impacted by simply bringing the bow string into view. These folks often have to wink, close, or fuzz-up the off-eye to make their domiant eye stay on the job. If they don't fuzz up the off eye they have windage problems (right or left misses).

A great way to check this is to stand in front of a mirror (or another person about 10 feet apart). Put both hands palm out and arm's length from your face. Cross the fingers of these flat hands making a triangular, golf-ball sized hole to look through. Leave the hands outstretched. Look at the person's nose or your own in the mirror. Your dominant eye will be centered in this hole (remember the mirror will reverse the view). This is the way my eye doctor checks eye domiance and the favorite method taught in NASP.

If your nose is centered you are co-dominant.

[Danny Rowan]

I do not close my non dominant eye, I shoot with both eyes open. As I said it does not matter if shooting purley instinctive. Do what ever you want, switch or shoot rh, but keep both eyes open. It will not work if you use gap or look at the arrow point, you have to just focus on the spot you want to hit.

[Migra Bill]

Danny - you and I agree on this one. I think we are talking TRUELY instinctive. If the others are using the dominant eye to look down the arrow shaft and point aim at the target - that is not truely instinctive.
Not saying anybody is right nor anybody is wrong. Heck - I shoot wheelie bows for crying at loud. I just think that Danny and I are talking TRUELY instinctive. When you go throw a football to your buddy - do you aim? Or do you just know how to throw it for where he is standing?

[Rusty in Fla.]

I'm left eye dominant and left handed but shoot a bow right handed. I guess because it was never an option early on. Someone said, here's a bow, go shoot it and I did.
  Maybe I should switch now?

[calgarychef]

I was doing some work with a shotgun coach lately and of course told him my cross dominance issues.  He had me mount the gun and aim at his face (a hideous feeling) and said that I was able to "control" my dominance to a great degree.  We discussed it and it turns out he shoots longbow too.  He says that my time shooting the bow has helped me to choose which eye to focus with when I shoot.

 For a long time I had to concentrate on blinking my eye a few fitmes before shooting the bow.  This seemed to get the correct eye on target.  I switched between blinking, closing one eye, and simple squinting my off eye while shooting.  

The squinting thing works well because it causes the shooting eye to have to take over but still allows for depth perceprion.  

Having read of all the cross dominant shooters who can still shoot very well I think that switching hands is probably a lot harder to do than squinting.

[fazhu]

Thanks for the responses all!