I think I saw the first video, I can't remember which one it was exactly. I seem to remember it advocating gap shooting as a good way to get started. Or maybe I'm mixing up videos? :confused:
I think a person can be equally successful either way, after the basic skills of archery have been mastered. (By that I mean that the archer has developed enough skill that matters of poor or inconsistent form are no longer a significant variable.) However, I think mostly it is just a matter of how we imprecisely describe experience with words. We're all obviously conscious of our shooting / aiming to some degree.
I'm sure I'll get lots of criticism for this, but I personally don't believe there is any such thing as "instinctive" shooting. Even if he never mentally calculated gaps or leads, the pro quarterback has practiced long hours, probably every day for years, to throw that ball through the swinging tire. Similarly, I think unconscious aiming is a product of conscious aiming performed somewhere along the learning curve while the archer was developing the basics of form. It didn't "just happen."
When you think about it, aiming is the easy part. Keeping back tension, follow through, smooth release, etc., all of these are hard to do consistently. I submit that a person's method of aiming is developed far earlier in the learning curve than the other aspects of shooting. By the time those aspects of form are consistent, aiming has probably already become consistent and second nature, "unconscious" or "instinctive," as you will.
I think when an archer has developed to that point, he or she, whether realizing it or not, has done a lot of unconscious aiming while focusing on aspects of form. Now the body has things sorted out enough that the mind is free to concentrate on other things. You can choose what those things are - aiming or something else. What you choose probably has more to do with you personally, physically or psychologically, rather than any supposed "best" method. For example, someone shooting a light bow with a short draw length may choose to focus instead on back tension, because of the dramatic decrease in power if they creep forward (but I wouldn't know anything about that...
) If it leads to consistently higher success, that is the best method for that person. Again, it goes back to what works for the individual, and that choice may have absolutely nothing to do with anyone else's experience. A large part of the debate I think comes from the (mis?)conception that people are sufficiently similar that the same method will work for almost everyone. Also, everyone is in a different stage of learning. Some are beginning, some are very advanced. A person's needs change as they progress along the learning curve.
The really good archers who do not consciously aim I think are successful because they have practiced so much that aiming is completely second nature, and in most circumstances, there's no need to use mental energy on it. Thus they are free to focus on other things - form aspects maybe, or mentally drilling a hole in the spot (is that "conscious aiming?"). They are just as free to focus on aiming, even though they may not have to from a technical point of view.
Topic: So called "instinctive" vs conscious aiming (Read 5536 times)
