The Accuracy Factor by Rick Welch

[Michael K Miller]

I am interested in taking ricks shooting school sometime soon.  After doing some research some people have said that before you attend his school you should buy his DVD and practice his style of shooting and in particular his way of fletching arrows and anchor points.   I have also found that Rick has three different instructional DVDs volume 1,2,3.  My question is do I need to buy all three volumes or can I just buy volume 3 and get everything covered that I need?  

Thanks

[Michael Arnette]

Hhm I think when I bought them 8 years ago they only had 1 and 2 so I'm not sure about 3

[John Fragale]

I took his 2day class. Just get the accuracy factor vol. 3 and you will be fine.

[Michael K Miller]

Originally posted by John Fragale:
I took his 2day class. Just get the accuracy factor vol. 3 and you will be fine.

Great thank you. What was your take on the class?

[McDave]

I have taken his class and several followup classes.  We have gotten to know each other, and I consider him a friend as well as my mentor in archery.  I don't think you need to watch any of his videos in advance, unless you particularly want to.  What I do recommend you do is to listen very carefully to everything he says, and try to take everything literally, not colored by any preconceptions of what you think good archery form should be.

I wasn't sure what archery style I wanted to use when I decided to get formal archery training, so I took Rick's class and some other ones from other well-known archery instructors.  I decided there were good points from all of them and I picked the points I liked the best from all three, like you would from a menu in a Chinese restaurant.  That was a big mistake, and screwed up my shooting for a couple of years until I learned that you need to adopt one style of shooting and stick with it unless you're good enough to invent your own style, which I wasn't.  

I finally decided I liked Rick's style the best, and had to relearn it.  Fortunately, Rick is very patient and is used to having to reteach people his style after they try to mold it into something different.  So learn all you can from his two day class and try to apply everything you learn exactly the way he teaches it.  After a few years, if you want to try some different style, do the same thing: apply everything they teach you and forget the things Rick taught you.  If you decide you like Rick's style better, you can go back and relearn it, but I don't know how you can decide which style you like best without trying them, unless you are lucky enough to know from the git go that Rick's style is the one for you and you never have any desire to try something different.

[The Night Stalker]

I agree with Dave, just go and have a good time. Buy the accuracy factor as a reference . It like taking notes. Pay special attention to the way he tunes the bow to were he is looking.

[Michael K Miller]

Originally posted by McDave:
I have taken his class and several followup classes.  We have gotten to know each other, and I consider him a friend as well as my mentor in archery.  I don't think you need to watch any of his videos in advance, unless you particularly want to.  What I do recommend you do is to listen very carefully to everything he says, and try to take everything literally, not colored by any preconceptions of what you think good archery form should be.

I wasn't sure what archery style I wanted to use when I decided to get formal archery training, so I took Rick's class and some other ones from other well-known archery instructors.  I decided there were good points from all of them and I picked the points I liked the best from all three, like you would from a menu in a Chinese restaurant.  That was a big mistake, and screwed up my shooting for a couple of years until I learned that you need to adopt one style of shooting and stick with it unless you're good enough to invent your own style, which I wasn't.  

I finally decided I liked Rick's style the best, and had to relearn it.  Fortunately, Rick is very patient and is used to having to reteach people his style after they try to mold it into something different.  So learn all you can from his two day class and try to apply everything you learn exactly the way he teaches it.  After a few years, if you want to try some different style, do the same thing: apply everything they teach you and forget the things Rick taught you.  If you decide you like Rick's style better, you can go back and relearn it, but I don't know how you can decide which style you like best without trying them, unless you are lucky enough to know from the git go that Rick's style is the one for you and you never have any desire to try something different.

Thanks, I shoot 3 under with a high anchor and pause when I hit full draw for a few seconds before I shoot so I think Ricks style and mine are similar.  I think he can easily mold my style to match his.  Another thing I'm afraid of is he is going to tell me that I am over bowed, my silvertip is #66 at my 29@ draw.  I can shoot the bow fine for a little while but I tend to shoot better when I hit anchor and pause for a few where I was more or a snap shooter at first.  With that said drawing #66 and holding it at anchor gets heavy after a few rounds and I start to lose my groups.

[McDave]

You shoot a lot of arrows in two days with Rick.  You need to shoot a bow during the class that you can shoot 100 arrows a day from without tiring.  Rick sometimes loans people his son's bow, which is a good deal for him because people usually decide to buy one of his bows after shooting his son's bow for a day.  Also bring your regular bow, because he will want to evaluate you shooting that as well.  One thing about Rick's class, you never shoot more than one arrow at one place, so you always have a few minutes in between shots to recover.

[Fattony77]

All of the previous advice is spot on! For me, taking Rick's class was some of the best archery money that I have ever spent. My 3D scores improved dramatically afterwards, though they would probably be a lot better if I practiced more often. Especially if I practiced the way Rick taught me to...

I bought all of his videos prior to the class, but it really wasn't necessary. However, I am glad to have Vol. 3 as a reference now. It's a pretty decent refresher when I begin to stray or forget.