short drawing

[nhbuck1]

will short drawing cause the arrow to go left? especially further ranges?

[McDave]

Short drawing means that when you stopped drawing, you had an angle between your forearm and the arrow, rather than your forearm being in line with the arrow, as it should be.  If you do everything else right, but short draw the bow, it will make your arrow go left, because of the different force vectors involved.  This is called pushing the arrow.

[nhbuck1]

what do you mean angle and how can you overcome this?

[McDave]

The best way to see this is if you video yourself from behind and above as you draw the bow.  At full draw, what do you see?  Do you see your drawing elbow behind the arrow, so that your forearm and the arrow are in more or less of a straight line, or do you see your forearm at an angle to the arrow?  

There are two things you should be doing to get your drawing elbow behind the arrow:

1.  Make sure you are in good alignment, meaning be sure your shoulders are pointed toward the target and not at an angle to the left of the target (for a RH shooter).  To test this, have someone place an arrow on your shoulder blades when you are at full draw; it should point toward the target.

2.  Make sure you are drawing with your back muscles and not your arms.  If you are drawing with your back muscles, your draw will follow a J shape, where it goes straight back for a while, and then your drawing elbow rotates back around your spine, so that it can line up with the arrow.  If you can't feel your back muscles, you may want to consider getting a Formaster, which will help you to discover them.

[nhbuck1]

do you think this is from having an open stance? im using my back just keep releasingbefore my anchor to early

[McDave]

An open stance is not a problem so long as you rotate your shoulders into alignment as you draw the bow.  I prefer an open stance.  In a closed stance, your shoulders are already in alignment and you just have to keep them there as you draw the bow.  Either way is fine.

[nhbuck1]

drawing before my anchor is a big problem of mine i wish i could fix it i cant find 2 anchor points on my face the way its shaped

[McDave]

Many people tend to put the cart before the horse.  What you want to do is to learn to come to full draw, and then find an anchor, not vice-versa.

After you know how to come to full draw, then see where your hand ends up on your face.  Even if it's not a place that's easy to express in words, after a while you'll know you're there, and that will be your anchor.

One anchor that works for many people, because it's adjustable, is feather to nose.  After you know how to come to full draw, then figure out where you need to mount your cock feather so that it touches the end of your nose at the same time you reach full draw.

[nhbuck1]

if i touch feather to nose i am not at full draw, i would be at the same position in short drawing

[McDave]

That means you have to move your feathers to match your full draw.  For example, I mount my feathers so that the distance between the back of the quill and the valley of the nock is 2".  I determined this position by experiment. Mostly, feathers are mounted maybe 3/4" from the nock.  If I used most arrows, I wouldn't be coming to full draw either.

[nhbuck1]

how do i know the correct draw versus short drawing? any exercises to help?

[McDave]

Two things:

Study Terry's Form Clock, which is a permanent post at the top of The Shooters Form Forum.  This illustrates perfect alignment.  Notice that his shoulders are pointed at the target, and his forearm is in line with the arrow.  Photograph yourself from the same angle and see if you look the same way as Terry does at full draw.  If not, work on it until you can.

If you are drawing correctly with your back muscles, at the end of the J you should feel your drawing shoulder blade move in toward your spine.  Full draw occurs when you can't move your drawing shoulder blade any further toward your spine, and your bow arm shoulder is pointed at the target.

Your primary anchor is feeling your shoulder blade move toward your spine as far as it can.  This should result in your string hand touching your face in some particular place, where you can find a second anchor, and third, if you wish.  Your primary anchor enables you to be in good alignment, while your secondary anchor is mainly for elevation.  The third anchor, if used, can reinforce either or both of the other two.

[nhbuck1]

my problem is im not letting my arm hang in the set position, im starting the draw with my bow arm bent will this cause problems?

[McDave]

I don't understand "i'm not letting my arm hang in the set position."  What do you mean by that?

Many people start the draw with the bow arm bent.  At full draw, some people still have a bent bow arm, some have a straight and locked bow arm, and others have a somewhat straight but unlocked bow arm.  All of them seem to work for different people.  Probably the most common is the somewhat straight but unlocked bow arm.  The important thing that everyone has to do is to keep the bow arm shoulder down, and not let it scrunch up against the neck.  To prevent this, I have to feel like I'm pushing with my bow arm toward the target.  Some people don't like this description, but it's the best I can come up with.

[nhbuck1]

dave what im saying is i started my draw to close to my body which was causing my shoulder to raise up as you explained