shooting style

[stonewall]

Can someone please name my shooting style , I was asked this last weekend and didn't know how to name it. What I do is come to anchor , line the arrow up with the target and concentrate and release. I see the arrow and the target but not the point like described as gap. It's more like the whole arrow shaft?But when I do start getting around twenty five yards I hold a little over the spot I want to hit. I use to shoot compounds the same way.

[McDave]

What do you focus on:  the spot you want to hit, your arrow, or the spot the arrow is pointed at?

[stonewall]

McDave , I would say the spot the arrow is pointed, I was taught as a kid to always follow the arrow to the target so I guess that's how it's developed over the years.

[McDave]

I believe your shooting style would be called "point of aim."  

Gap shooters typically focus on the spot they want to hit, with the arrow point somewhat out of focus in their peripheral vision.  Gap shooters are typically not concerned with where their arrows seem to be pointed, solely focusing instead on the gap between the out-of-focus arrow point and the in-focus spot they want to hit.

Point of aim shooters pick a spot below, on, or above the target, depending on the distance, and focus on that spot rather than the spot they want to hit.  This seems to be what you're describing.

At the point-on distance, where the arrow will hit exactly where the arrow point is placed, point of aim and gap are the same method.  Otherwise, the point of focus is different.

[slowbowjoe]

Stonewall, my shooting style  fits your description. I focus on the spot, and am also aware of the alignment of the arrow in my sight picture to complete the sequence.
McDave, interesting to read about this maybe being point of aim. At longer distances, though, I don't consciously focus on a higher spot, so much as intuitively adjust my shot to the distance. Only recently begun to practice at longer ranges, but I'm finding it really helpful.

Back to where the thread was... might Stonewall's style also be considered  split vision? That would be my first guess, though McDave's asking whether Stonewall is actually aiming at a higher spot seems a pertinent subtlety "separating" point of aim and split vision.

[ChuckC]

I think it is a modified version of instinctive.  If you are truly not "aiming", not consciously putting your point on or near the target or assigned point-on aiming device, then that leaves out several options.

We keep saying we don't "see" the arrow.  It is right there in front of us, your eyes can't "unsee the arrow" but see the rest.  

We don't concentrate on the arrow, we don't "aim" using the point or other aiming devices, but we see it.

I now do what you describe and I ain't aiming.
ChuckC

[TSP]

Definately not point of aim since shooter isn't conciously putting the arrow tip on a point on the ground (stone, ball, something tangible and pre-determined for range) in front of the target.  Quite a bit different.  

Your system seems to be a modified type of split vision...you focus on a spot to hit but pay attention to the line of your shaft...without actually looking down the shaft.  I believe many (perhaps most) traditional shooters use that approach.