What do you think

[Gurn]

OK boys I have been having a problem with the push pull talked about so much. This is what I've tried recently and it seems to help. I draw to the corner of my mouth, then just before releasing, I pull back just a hair past my anchor and release in one motion. This gives me a push pull feeling, and stops me from releasing before my anchor. What do you think about this type of shooting, and what problems could it cause? No I'm not happy with my current accuarcy, but this seems to give a improvment.

[BTH]

Hi Gurn,
Here is what helps me. I get back tension into my draw. When I anchor, I hit a double anchor...middle finger into corner of mouth and thumb into hinge of jaw...My pull through is actually done with back tension. I'm holding the bow, at anchor, and pulling with the back muscles to release the string through my fingers. Then my hand kinda drifts back beyond my shoulder in a straight line...not away from my face...straight back, after the string passes through. It all happens very quickly cause I'm picking my spot, aiming at my target if you will, before my bow comes up and I draw my arrow. Anchor, pull through with back muscles (and yes, I suppose my bow hand is pushing) and the release happens. And I'm burning a hole in the target with concentration.
I hope that made sense. I'm kinda bad at explaining stuff that works for me to other folks. Keep on practicing and working at it. If you haven't seen Terry's shooting clock or his shooting videos then search for them and check them out. Really made things clear to me and brought things into perspective.

[Gurn]

I think I understand. What was happening to me was after reading all the stuff on back tension, what would happen is this. If I anchored at the corner of the mouth, keeping my anchor stationary, when I added aditional back tension it brought the string so close to me, it would brush my face when I released. OUCH!!
I found that if I let my hand move back passed the anchor point about a inch I could use back tension on the release also causing my bow hand to push just a little foward, without brushing my face. This pulling the string past anchor and releasing are one motion. It seems that the string hand is pulling straight back and not away. This does give me the feeling of push pull and back tension. Maybe I'm just built wierd. But I'm trying.

[Molson]

Gurn,

Have you considered the string can only strike your face if your face actually gets turned into the string, or if the string, at the release, is moved out of alignment causing the bow to torque?  The string will always return to the center of the bow.  It cannot do anything else.

Back tension does not move the string closer to your face.  Your anchor is your anchor.  Back tension will move your drawing arm into alignment with the string, which is why a release with back tension is so much smoother, or consistent, than using your arm or shoulder.

It sounds, from your description, that you may be collapsing your form at the release, or losing tension which creates a "forward" release.  It can be very subtle and hard to catch unless you know the feeling or video yourself from different angles and watch it in slow motion.  If this is the case, pulling past your anchor and releasing will feel better and may give better results initially, but that is really just a "calculated" pluck that you'll soon lose control of.

I could be completely wrong on this but thought it might give you something else to evaluate.

Good luck.

[Gurn]

Thanks,I will consider what you say and see if I can figure this out.

[Bowtie]

Gurn, don't feel alone.  I'm struggling with a similar situation.  BTH & Molson offer excellent advice. Besides practicing with my bow, I'm working with a Bow-Fit (rubber tube bands) to try and get the feel of back tension shooting traditional.  What gets my goat, is that I should be able to figure this out after years of shooting compound. I've been shooting traditional for 2 years now, and love it!
Jerry