Short Drawing and Snap Shooting

[Scott E]

These are two things that I have struggled with throughout my archery career and I still have to work on them every few months.

In the video I go over some form related causes of short drawing and snap shooting. Alignment, low front shoulder and expanding through the shot.

I also go over the mental causes. They are really mind over matter and take a great deal of concentration and commitment to overcome. Using a mantra (keep pulling) and a clicker will definitely help. But in the end you have to commit yourself and really focus on defeating your demons.

I urge anyone struggling with these two things to set aside a good chunk of time dedicated to working on the things I talk about in the video. Don't shoot any shot unless it's perfect and stay committed to the process!

 

[crazynate]

I saw your video nice work. Glad some one is stepping up to help others with these 2 issues. I used to have target panic and I am 100  percent cured. I did it by reading AND applying things taught by J. kid well in his book archery insights. I bring this up a lot because I never thought the day would come where I would be cured. I believe if you read it you will greatly benefit from it like I have.

[Terry Green]

Snap Shooting is a shooting Style and not associated with the mental issues of short drawing Target Panic.

Just wanted to make that clear as many of the late greats were snap shooters such as HH....    

[McDave]

Originally posted by Terry Green:
Snap Shooting is a shooting Style and not associated with the mental issues of short drawing Target Panic.

Just wanted to make that clear as many of the late greats were snap shooters such as HH....      

That's true, Terry.  Snap shooting has many advantages: fluidity, rapidity, and thinking with the body instead of the mind.  A friend who doesn't have target panic recently decided to switch back to snap shooting from draw and hold shooting because he missed the spontaneity, and wasn't getting the increased accuracy he had hoped for from draw and hold.  He might have increased his accuracy if he had stuck with it longer, but for him it was less enjoyable to draw and hold than to snap shoot, and there aren't many people locally who shoot better than he does anyway.

I used to snap shoot, and then got target panic, and the only way I could figure out to control the target panic was to switch to draw and hold, as Scott advises in his video.  There are many different methods out there to fight target panic, but all of them, with the exception of switching from right to left handed (or vice versa), involve drawing and holding.

I know you don't want to get involved with discussing, or thinking about, target panic, Terry, and I certainly don't blame you.  If I didn't have it, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole!  But just out of curiosity, has anyone out there cured their target panic without switching to draw and hold?

A doctor told me that the longer one holds at anchor the more likely that wear and tear type injuries can develop.  However, one of the things that goes first in snap shooting is a good anchor.  Regular form maintenance with concentrating only on the anchor and release can help prevent a sloppy anchor.  I find it just as easy to hit my aiming spot, semi secondary vision aiming, when I am about six inches from full draw than to wait to aim after an anchor and full draw is locked in.  A draw form that takes the arrow away from the line of sight will always necessitate a re-aiming after anchor.  Finishing the last bit of draw on target can be practiced independently as well.