Cliff Notes on Rick Welch Style?

[hogdancer]

"I just drove into the Koolaid pond butt naked."
I'd rather not think about that ! I'll call first before I come over from now on !

[bayoulongbowman]

is that the cement pond joebuck...    Watch Andy Griffth of Mayberry with ur kids it will bless ya all. Marco#78

[joebuck]

You got that right Ange'

[LocDoc]

I know he uses the 3 under anchor, but does he anchor with the index finger or middle finger as a reference?

[McDave]

Neither.  One anchor is the thumb knuckle brushing against the bottom of the earlobe, and the other anchor is the nose against the back of the cock feather.  The fingers are not part of the anchor.

[bayoulongbowman]

Man!I shot one of Rick's bows, I dont know what he does to the limbs, but it shoots straight and flat...I was just shooting 47 pounds wow!!!   :eek:      

[LocDoc]

OK guys,
Here's a little report on the Ricky Welch style that I tried yesterday. First off, I've never seen any of Ricky's tapes nor have I ever been to his school. I took what I had learned here (thanks McDAve) and other message boards, and applied it in a backyard experiment.
First step, I compared the 3 under anchor to both the index in the corner of the mouth and the middle finger in the corner of the mouth anchors. Shooting at very close range...about 10 feet.  I shoot split vision or instinctive if you will.
The bow is a Quinn Stallion, 55# @ 28, drawn to 30", with a Bear Weatherest. This bow is still new to me and I haven't paper tuned it yet. Doesn’t even have a permanent nocking point yet. It shoots 2020 XX75's very well. I've shot GT 5575's thru it as well, but they showed overspined w/ 145 grains up front.
Even at 10 feet, shooting numerous groups with each anchor position, you could detect a difference in group size. I wasn't shooting for accuracy, just groups. The 3 under groups were tighter,...nock busting tighter.
With the other two anchor positions, the groups were more spread. No much, but there was a difference.
At 10 yards, the difference really began to show. The 3 under group stayed tight, the other anchor positions really began to fan out.
I started shooting for accuracy at this point. Without a doubt, the Rick Welch style topped my normal shooting methods. And I have shot for many years.
At 20 yards, I was hitting my spot repeatedly. Better than ever before. But not with the 2020’s.
With the 3 under draw, I wasn’t getting near the clean arrow flight with the 2020’s anymore. They were still grouping, but you could see the difference. They also consistently grouped low and left. Now for the funny part. The 5575’s now flew like absolute darts. I could barely see them in flight until they smacked the target.
Another interest, with the elevated rest, I could nock the arrow at almost a perfect 90 degrees, and still get great flight.
Was the bow noisier? A bit. But it has no silencers on it now. So that shouldn’t be a hard fix.
Conclusion…I’m sold. I’ve got to practice this new style more. And relearn my trajectories. But I haven’t been this accurate, or this consistent, in years.

[bayoulongbowman]

Remember the most important part of archery is the arrow , weighted and spine and matched correctly!

[waiting4fall]

Originally posted by LocDoc:
OK guys,
Here's a little report on the Ricky Welch style that I tried yesterday. First off, I've never seen any of Ricky's tapes nor have I ever been to his school. I took what I had learned here (thanks McDAve) and other message boards, and applied it in a backyard experiment.
First step, I compared the 3 under anchor to both the index in the corner of the mouth and the middle finger in the corner of the mouth anchors. Shooting at very close range...about 10 feet.  I shoot split vision or instinctive if you will.
The bow is a Quinn Stallion, 55# @ 28, drawn to 30", with a Bear Weatherest. This bow is still new to me and I haven't paper tuned it yet. Doesn’t even have a permanent nocking point yet. It shoots 2020 XX75's very well. I've shot GT 5575's thru it as well, but they showed overspined w/ 145 grains up front.
Even at 10 feet, shooting numerous groups with each anchor position, you could detect a difference in group size. I wasn't shooting for accuracy, just groups. The 3 under groups were tighter,...nock busting tighter.
With the other two anchor positions, the groups were more spread. No much, but there was a difference.
At 10 yards, the difference really began to show. The 3 under group stayed tight, the other anchor positions really began to fan out.
I started shooting for accuracy at this point. Without a doubt, the Rick Welch style topped my normal shooting methods. And I have shot for many years.
At 20 yards, I was hitting my spot repeatedly. Better than ever before. But not with the 2020’s.
With the 3 under draw, I wasn’t getting near the clean arrow flight with the 2020’s anymore. They were still grouping, but you could see the difference. They also consistently grouped low and left. Now for the funny part. The 5575’s now flew like absolute darts. I could barely see them in flight until they smacked the target.
Another interest, with the elevated rest, I could nock the arrow at almost a perfect 90 degrees, and still get great flight.
Was the bow noisier? A bit. But it has no silencers on it now. So that shouldn’t be a hard fix.
Conclusion…I’m sold. I’ve got to practice this new style more. And relearn my trajectories. But I haven’t been this accurate, or this consistent, in years.

Welcome to the "dark side"    . Seriously, glad to hear that your performance has greatly improved. I've provided some links below, that may be of interest.

 http://shop.dakotabows.com/product.sc?categoryId=2&productId=8

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVeKKtdqHM8&feature=channel_page

[Llyr]

Greetings, all.  Wanted to thank everyone who has posted in this topic, and the other topics on Mr. Welch's style.  

I've just picked a (long)bow for the first time in my life - I shot some in Boy Scouts, but that was almost thirty years ago.  Figured with a Welsh grandmother on one side and an Indian grandmother on the other, I had to pick up a longbow at some point.  

I had been trying to shoot like I was told a trad bowman should...  bent at the waist, knock at the corner of the mouth, etc.  I was spraying arrows all over the yard.  I found this forum, found this topic, and now, without ever having even seen this man shoot, I'm putting arrows in the paper from wherever I shoot.  I'll have to play around with the fletching to let my gargatuan nose fit behind the cock feather.  Have to learn how to fletch first though.

Gah, this read like an AmWay testimonial.  Sorry about that.  In any case, Mr. Welch has a fan smack in the middle of the green hills of New Zealand.  Can't way to get the DVDs over here and keep improving.

Thanks, everyone.

[LocDoc]

Llyr,
Good idea on learning to fletch your own arrows.
May I also suggest getting a good supply of nocks.
Your gonna need them.

[Zog]

So far I have only used what I have gotten here from the description and the video clips and I have improved dramatically.

I will be one of the first to buy the new DVD.  Just maybe I can get to Arkansas, too.

[Don Baker]

I have been to his school too.
McDave is spot on with his explanations on Rick's method.
If you can afford it go to his school-if you can't afford it,go anyway -it's worth it.
Don

[jonsimoneau]

Hey guys just noticed this thread.  I went to Ricks school 3 years ago, and I am now a better shot than I ever thought possible.  Im going to give you guys some reasons why I believe his method will help anyone improve.  

Let's start with the anchor.  Everybody who starts shooting a traditional bow thinks that the place to anchor is in the corner of the mouth.  This anchor works really well for some people, but not so good for most.  The reason is that for most people, when you anchor in the corner of your mouth, you are not fully extended.  It is different for each person.  By anchoring the way Rick teaches, you HAVE to be fully extended and proper alignment and back tension are the results of this.

Holding vs. not holding.  I have seen the videos of Terry shooting.  Man, do I wish I could shoot with his style.  It looks so fluid, and he is very accurate.  But I can't.  I'm one of those guys that holds for 2 to 3 seconds.  It works well for me.  Gives me time to let my brain settle in on the sight picture.  If I do not hold, my shooting suffers.  
By the way, we are not really holding because we are applying constant back tension while at full draw.

3 under.  I prefer 3 under because it is easier for your brain to make the proper calculations as far as windage goes.

These are just a few things.  A note about the videos.  They are great, but there is alot of info that is missed by tring to figure it out on the video.  My advice is to spend the money and go take his class.  It is inexpensive, fun, and you WILL be shooting better when you leave.

[jonsimoneau]

I meant to say that alot of people are not fully extended when anchoring in the corner of the mouth.  It depends on each persons build. Some people are fully extended and have great allignment by anchoring in the corner of the mouth, but many, in my opinion do not.

[Bruce Martin]

I might add my own experience with Rick's school. As with others it improved my shooting phenomenally (I shot 193 when I left, unbelievable for me).While at the school, I did not try to think about the method much, just concentrated on trying to achieve what Rick was saying: "hold, hold... too fast". "Keep both eyes open"."What was the distance? Don't know, don't care." "Admire your sight picture". Relaxation and letting it happen was a key to shooting well in the context of his double anchor method of knuckle on the ear lobe and tip of nose to the cock feather. His method aligns the archer to the target and gives them a consistent repeating draw length. He sets up your bow (or his) to fit the archer so you are using back tension to aid in holding and keep consistent alignment. After the school, I continued to shoot well but not quite as good as at Rick's school. Why? My bow does not fit me as well as Rick's did at the school and is a higher poundage. I began to shoot a bit to the left as my shot collapsed. I watched Ricks second video and noticed his draw arm elbow is very high. I tried that and it helped bring the arrows back to center. It felt better and felt like I had better back tension so was holding better. Still I occasionally was shooting to the left. So I fletched the arrows just 1/4 inch deeper to extend my draw slightly when I touch nose to feather. That was the ticket and immediately I was shooting straight as back tension and alignment was corrected. Rick's method looks simple but all the components need to there for it to work. This is also true of any other method of shooting bare bow if you want to shoot good and consistent. I think a lot of archers are like myself and shoot bows that may stack or don't fit the archer in some way. Bottom line for me is that shooting is fun again and I can't wait to put the method to use on whitetails and, if I'm lucky, on an elk in September.

[Joshua Long]

After reading all the good reports I knew I had to try these methods.  I must say I am a beginner so take it for what it is worth.  My accuracy improved immediately with going three under.  I also changed my anchor from finger in corner of mouth to thumb knuckle under ear.  I must say after all the practice with my bow this is my first break through.  It feels good!

[dragon rider]

I went to Rick's school two weeks ago. Like eveyone else who's been there I shot much better there than I did before.  When I got home, however, things were still better, but not as much and not as consistently.  Part of the issue is that I shot one of Rick's bows while I was there, because the lighter one I'd taken with me didn't fit (you'll be able to find it in the classifieds soon).  His was such a smooth, sweet shooting bow that I tried to buy it from him then and there - no luck so I ordered one from him. The other part of the issue, of course, is me.

I've been practicing since, as he said, one shot at a time, but it hasn't been going as well as it was when I was there.  Having spent yesterday shooting with a friend who was kind enough to watch what I was doing closely, I think I've fallen into the same issue as Bruce, and that the same adjustment will cure it.  Rick warned me that that was likely to happen - he said that bad habits, like losing back tension, that have developed over time take time to break and to expect a month or two to really get it right consistently.

The school is such a great experience that I'd happily go back and do it again next year, just for the fun of shooting with the guy.  If you're thinking about going, and wavering for any reason other than economics, go.  It'll be worth every cent and more to you.

[razorsharptokill]

I'm not sure how I got on this subject, I think it was the vid of rick stacking arrows at 30 yards then did a search on here.

I tried some of what I saw in waitingforfall's video at ricks school. Basically just the double anchor. I too had been having trouble with my bow arm moving and hitting to the left.

I focused on anchoring with my middle finger tip in the corner of my mouth as usual but also putting my thumbs knuckle in the tender spot under my earlobe. I also held longer and concentrated on my back muscles insted of pulling with my bicep.

Upon release I held my form for a full two seconds. All I can say is that the shot is much more fluid and that I shot better. I usually only shoot one arrow at a time anyway so I didn't have a group to look at. Remembering how much better my last few shots were gave me a mental group though. I have to say I shot better.

The man definetly knows what it takes to shoot a trad bow to its full potential. I'd love to attend that class.