How do I keep my bow hand from dropping?

[Lone Ranger]

I notice that my bow arm drops when I shoot, is there a "trick" to keep it up where I think it should be? I only notice this when I have my wife take pictures of me from the side. my right hand looks good at anchor, straight line from forearm to and through arrow shaft. but my bow arm seems to be too low. I can notice it with my shoulders too.

L.R.

[moebow]

Many reasons for a dropping bow arm.  Nearly impossible to tell without seeing.  There will nearly always be some reaction of the bow arm to the shot.  Just what that reaction is depends on form and concentration.  In order to say more I'd really need a video -- can you post one?

[McDave]

There's a difference between "dropping" and "alignment."  From your description, I'm not sure which one you're talking about.  Dropping means that your bow arm drops when you shoot the bow, i.e. poor followthrough.  Poor alignment means that you're not maintaining the proper "T" shape of your arms and shoulders as you hold the bow at anchor.

Alignment problems are common if most of the time we're shooting at a target lower to the ground than the tip of our arrow, so we get lazy and point our bow arm down at the target, rather than tilt at the waist to maintain the good "T" configuration.  That's why blank bales are usually set up so that you can shoot horizontally into the bale, which automatically gives you the good "T" alignment of your bow arms and shoulders.  You should maintain that same "T" when you shoot down or up by either tilting at the waist or bending a knee if the angle is more extreme.

Dropping, on the other hand, is an instantaneous reaction to the shot.  I don't really know how to cure it, other than just making sure that I continue holding my bow up in the shooting position until my arrow hits the target.

[Pete Darby]

As Moebow said it may be a lot of things.  I can tell you what was happening to me.  When I shot the bow arm would slash down.  That told me I was having some sort of alignment problem. I went to the blank bale and shot with various configurations of gripping the bow.  When the bow finally told me how it wanted to be held (Least movement) I adopted that grip and alignment.  Now my bow arm is rock steady and the bow itself has very little movement.

[Barry Winner]

Loss of back tension just prior to release could be another cause.  As stated earlier, a video would help.

[Terry Green]

"How do I keep my bow hand from dropping?"

Proper Alignment works every time.  All your energy will be going directly toward and away from the target....and it is impossible to drop your bow arm.

   

[Lone Ranger]

I am not talking about droping after the shot. I mean alignment. I will work on getting some pics on here to maybe help explain!


thanks for all the insight!


L.R.

[kenn1320]

I think I get what your saying LR, could just be you have a high anchor?

[Bowwild]

When properly active the bow arm should drop and fall to the side (rht for lefty and opposite for righty).  It is a myth that the bowarm should remain up until the arrow hits the target. This promotes collasping of the shoulder and leads to creeping. The arrow is long-gone before this follow-through concludes.

When keeping the bow arm active you will feel as if you are slightly leaning into (rather than pushing) into the grip.

[LongStick64]

Had to bring this up again, I couldn't understand what the heck was happening with my form, took a video of my form and while all felt good, I could see my arm drop, even when I tried hard to hold it up. Came down to alignment, now I am back in the grove.