How important is dominant eye

[GregD]

My 9 year old son has been shooting right handed for a couple of years. We just discovered that he is left eye dominant. Since he is just getting started should I make him shoot lefty? He always seemed to be RT eye dominant till now, can you change? How many guys shoot cross dominant and do you think there are any disadvantages?  Thanks  Greg

[Bjorn]

Glen St. Charles is cross eye dominant and says it does not matter if shooting instinctively.
Freb Bear switched to lefty somewhere along the line and he was cross dominant too.
There may well be far more disadvantages to shooting as a lefty for your son.

[ChuckC]

I think if he is shooting instinctively, that is, not aiming in the classic manner,  it is not as important.  If he IS aiming,  Point on etc, he needs to close the off eye or change his handedness.  My opinion.  

It is not near as difficult for many of us to change over from right to left handedness, in terms of bow shooting,  but it does take some amount of practice.  I can shoot both ways.
ChuckC

[Ken Taylor]

I'm right handed but left eye dominant. I started shooting right handed as a kid and then switched to left in my thirties.

 I prefer shooting left handed. Besides covering you in case you want to try different ways of "aiming", I have noticed through the years that: most right handed people point with their right arm, most right handed people are stronger to push with their right arm, and most right handed people also usually pull with their left if both arms or hands are to be used.

Shooting left handed is a lot more natural to right handed people than most people who haven't tried it think.

 Jokingly, I wonder why they call holding a bow with your right hand-left handed shooting?

[moebow]

I'm with Ken on this one.  The NAA instructor I had for my intermediate instructor class felt that a righty with left eye dominant should shoot right handed and obstruct the dominant eye.  My feeling is that may be OK for Olympic style target shooting ... but...  Our kind of barebow shooting is totally a hand eye coordination thing.  If we want youngsters to become good instinctive (or whatever barebow aiming method and label you like) Start the kids shooting with their dominant eye over the arrow.  Ken makes another good point about strength a righty shooting left handed experiences.  I feel archery is a hand eye coordination sport not a dexterity sport ie. writing and other fine motor skills.  My experience with 9/10/11 year olds is most of them don't relate to instinctive aiming for a long while so starting them with point of aim or simple gap shoting at close range is the way to lead them to instinctive.  For what it's worth.

[easyup]

Yes, eye dominance does change, mine shifted in my 40's from right to left.  Totally screwed up my pistol stance and forget shotgunning!  I now shoot both LH and RH alternating between the two.  Interestingly when my left eye is is on it is the more accurate and when it is doing what I call drifting, which is like a split vision thing going on, it is not as accurate
 as you would expect.  Shooting on the right never gives me eye problems which I can not explain other than I shoot rifles and shotguns right handed and have been for nearly 50 years.  Tried left shotgunning and it was a disaster for a couple of years; pistols don't seem to be a problem.  Some have said there are degrees to eye dominance, I don't know.  Anyway if you can get him one of each and let it work itself out would be my approach.

[LimbLover]

Just so I understand...if you shoot instinctively with no aiming method. Rather, a method that does not require one eye closed - you don't have to worry about eye dominance?

I cannot imagine learning how to shoot left-handed.

[Don Stokes]

I grew up with a kid who shot right with left eye dominance. It caused him significant problems. I recommend getting him shooting left-handed while he's still young and not "set in his ways", and it will be the best for him long-term. Why complicate things unnecessarily? Leftys are pushed into right-handedess to their detriment.

LimbLover, shooting instinctively with no aiming method is called "missing".    

[Guru]

When my son started shooting at 4yrs old, I got him a righty bow. Because he seemed to do everything rt handed...he shot this way for 3 yrs....

 

 

But as you can see, we started to notice he was closing his right eye....

When I thought he was old enough, I tested him for eye dominance. Turns out after testing many times over a week or so to make sure the result was the same...he was lt eye dominant....

Switched him over and he took to it very well....he's almost nine now...

 

 

I'm also a natural righty, but left eye dominant, but I've always shot left handed.....

I'd switch him over.....

[BobCo 1965]

I went through the same thing with my son. He started out righty then in a few years we found out that he is left eye dominant. We switched him for a couple years to lefty only to come back to righty.
What I have been told is that aiming is a rather small part of the shot sequence as compared to the importance of using the strong side of the back.
Basically, the dominant side of the back takes precedence over the dominant eye.

[Guru]

But with shooting, wouldn't the pulling side become stronger?

I would think that your eyes have everything to do with "aiming"....

[BobCo 1965]

I would have to say that either side would become stronger if trained to do so. I believe it has to do more with the coordination and flow which is heightened with shooting with the dominant side.
Aiming is done with the eyes while having the ability to adjust the bow accordingly while keeping the proper form.
The trick is getting the arrow to go where you are aiming. I think there are a lot of people who aim correctly, but because of flaws in form, the arrow does not go where the person is aiming.
Personally, I am left handed. I write and eat with my left hand, so people label me left handed. However, my dominant back, arm, and shoulder are on my right side and most of my athletic activity takes place on my right side including drawing my bow.

Not saying this is the way it has to be for everyone, just sharing my experience.

[-Achilles-]

Howard Hill shot righty being left eye Dom...larry yien does too but larry squints his left eye

[dragon rider]

I'm left eye dominant.  I started shooting right handed at a point that I could barely see anything anyway.  After cataract surgery, when I could suddenly actually see, it became absolutely clear that I should shoot left handed, made the transition and have no regrets whatever.  The back muscles will learn to do what you train them to do, so no problem there.  

For what it's worth, I had this same conversation with Rick Welch who is of the view that if you really want to be accurate, you have to shoot with the hand that matches your dominant eye.

[GregD]

Thanks for all the replys. I'm thinking that it would be a lot easier to change now than to wait and try it as an adult. I'm the opposite of Curt in that I'm lefthanded but shoot righty because of being right eye dominant. I think I was told to shoot that way while learning to shoot rifles and shotguns in the cub scouts. I doubt they still teach shooting now. Hey  Curt, he has better form than me righty and lefty!

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

IMO do not hesitate, do not look back, just go for it! Been there done that and wasted a lot of time/money lsitening to people who said it did not matter. Change him now before the bad habits set in. He will enjoy archery a lot more when everything lines up.

Jack

[Guru]

Thanx Greg, he's coming along just fine with his shooting.....

Does your boy need a light bow to start out with?

I have a bow that TG'er Bob Palmer gave to Cade when he started(He has another now).

The deal was that I'd keep it as long as Cade needed it and then pass it on to another deserving little lefty.
I've been waiting for the right boy, and I think we've found him.

Only stipulation is that you do the same with the boy when your boy is done with it, Pass it on to the next deserving little lefty. Hopefully it'll be passed along for a long time!

It's a Pearson Bronco Recurve 48", 22@24"

Please let me know