Righty to lefty

[dtarbell]

I posted this on POWOW and thought I might be able to get some thoughts here,I injured my bow arm in a workplace accident and after two years decided if I was going to shoot a bow again it would be left handed,in the past I shot 3 under and gapped,Im very right eye dominant and find if I close my right eye I can shoot reasonably well,a work in progress I guess,been at it for about a month,all in all its very akward,any advice would be appreciated,sorry for being so long winded.

[moebow]

David,

Switching poses different challenges for different folks.  BUT, it can be done.  Sounds like right now your main concern is eye dominance.  You CAN re-train eye dominance, but IF you can closing your right eye is not the best way to help with aiming.

Our brains (normally) function best with light signals coming from both eyes (OF COURSE) this presumes normal sight in both eyes.  A suggestion that might work for you is to take an old pair of glasses (regular prescription or sun glasses) and knock the lens out of the left side (since you are switching to left) and put a piece of plain old scotch tape over the right lens.  IF you already wear glasses, just put the tape over the right lens.

This way, as you learn the mechanics of shooting left handed, you can keep both eyes open and send that light signal to the brain even though the right signal is obstructed.  This will help to "re-train" you to see (aim) with the left eye and help to make the switch.

It can work to close one eye to aim but you will also loose a lot with that technique.

Arne

[McDave]

I shoot left-handed regularly just to get a better balanced body, even though I'm right eye dominant.  If you gap, both images of the arrow point are visible; you just have to learn to choose the less obvious one. If you shoot instinctively, you just have to shoot enough arrows to learn the new sight picture.  Neither of these things are particularly easy to do, but unlike long division, the learning process is enjoyable (if you like that kind of thing).

[DamselflyFarm]

Arne, Thanks for sharing that tip. I'm a right eye dominant, left hand shooting archer. Have been off and on for 40 years, and have never heard that eye dominance can be re-trained. Take care.

[Ed Q]

Like McDave, I also shoot lefty to maintain a more balanced back muscle development.  But I actually started after slightly injuring my right hand, which prevented me from drawing, but not from holding/gripping the bow while drawing lefty.

At first, it felt very awkward. I missed terribly, and I also had to close my right eye since it's my dominant one.  The learning curve was actually very fun, though, and now I can shoot better lefty than righty for some reason.  I also noticed that my target panic went completely away.  I could hold at anchor without having that urge you release prematurely, at least when I first started. But now that I've gotten so used to it, I have to consciously maintain more control at anchor like I do when shooting righty.

Either way, I find it a lot of fun being able to shoot both ways.

[Scarne]

I made the switch from righty to lefty back in 2005.  It wasn't hard, just awkward for a couple of weeks.  But I had an advantage, I switched TO my dominant eye.

The ideas regarding putting a piece of scotch tape across the part of the lens that your dominant eye would see through is a great idea. I know a lot of left eye dominant trap shooters that happen to shoot right handed that have benefited from this technique.  It does work...albiet better at the range than in the field.  It just takes longer to aquire the target and focus with one eye than it does with two.  Not much, but it does.

Now...if you don't wear glasses when you shoot your bow you might try hanging a small piece of opaque plastic onto the brim of a ball cap in front of your dominant eye.  This would serve the same purpose as the scotch tape, it just isn't right in front of your eye.  It lets the light through but you can't see through it.

Nothing fancy...just an aligator clip and a piece of opaque plastic.