Right and left eye dominance

[Sprint8b]

While viewing the classifieds section I read at the bottom of a post by Danny Rowan;

"When shooting instinctivly,it matters not which eye is dominant"

I have shot instinctivly for the 25 years (RH), after taking a break from bowhunting for the last 10 years, I have started back. I was conviniced to switch to LH since my left eye is dominant.

I'm in my second month of shooting and it's progressing ok, I guess?  But now I am second guessing myself.

Is it true with instinctive shooting the eye dominance does not matter?

Bobby

[highelk]

It seemed to matter to me. I was shootin right handed and almost went on to other types of enjoyment. Then I switched to left and am getting better and am having alot more fun now. It seemed real wierd at first but now after a couple of months it seems wierd to shoot righty.
I wish I would have switched from the get go.  

[unregistered]

Mattered to me to. Gave up trying to shooting all instictive after three years of frustration. Now I close my right eye and shoot gap. Much better results.

[easyup]

You might try alternating left and right days.  I like it and find that on some days it the dominate eye with the score and some days not.

[Sprint8b]

Still have both bows, good idea to try each.

[sabas silva]

I am left eye dominent and learned to shoot left handed and shot well to some degree, then I read about shooting with both eyes open and focussing on a spot before raising the bow and after working on that along with the clock form I am really happy with my shooting skills

[dragonheart]

Howard Hill shot right handed and was left eye dominant.  You can shoot how you wish to, it is all about how much effort you are willing to put forth.  I would think the preferred method would be in alignement with eye dominance, but you can shoot well either way with effort.

[BobCo 1965]

FWIW, many top coaches are now looking to the back for dominance and not the eye. The dominant back is 99% the same as the dominant arm. The basis is that archery is more demanding in technically executing the shot then in aiming.

When my son was young we had him shoot right handed (we were not able to determine eye dominance at the time) and he did well, then we went to shooting the bow lefty (he is left eye dominant) and he struggled. A coach has recently moved him back to righty and he is shooting better than ever.

[Conner Parry]

I have a really hard time with eye dominancy. I actually see two targets when I shoot. I keep both my eyes open and have just taught myself which one to shoot. It was tough at first and now it seems normal to me. Good luck to you.

[Butch Speer]

Concentrate on the target before the shot, keep both eyes open or  you'll lose depth perception if you don't. It doesn't matter which eye is dominant. It's like throwing a ball. Look & throw, look & shoot.

[T Lail]

I shoot right handed and am left eye dominant...I shoot with both eyes open ...

[dragon rider]

For what it's worth, I'm left eye dominant and shoot both LH and RH, though I'm somewhat better LH.  

Danny's quote is from Jay Kidwell, who I strongly suspect is right.  If you practice diligently and tune your bow to hit where you're looking it probably really doesn't matter; it's a matter of programing your brain to hit from a given set up.

[kenn1320]

Im right handed and left eye dominate. Actually I can focus on one eye or the other and pass any of the dominancy test, but my left is stronger. I find it screws up my consistentcy shooting left eye dom as a right handed shooter. To shoot my best I have changed 2 things. I shoot with a more open stance, so my right eye has a better view, and before every shot, I close my left eye, focus on where I want to hit with my right eye, then open my left eye as I draw the bow. This is what works best for me. I find wing shooting with a shot gun difficult, cause while Im aiming with my right eye, my left eye occasionaly will take over during the swing and throws my shots off target. Switching over to left handed equipment might be the best option for me, but Im not ready to make that change anytime soon.
Good luck.
Ken

[s_mcflurry]

I agree with Butch.  Instinctive shooting involves the "mind's eye" memorizing the path of the arrow and so you look and shoot.  If you're aiming, such as with gap shooting, then it matters.  Here, the dominant eye aims while the other eye is for depth perception.

But, as Bob pointed out, target archery no longer selects bow-handedness based on eye-dominance; they now consider only the dominant hand.  So a left eye dominant person who's right-handed would be given a right-handed bow.  They feel that it's easier to train the eye to adapt than the hand to adapt.  I've seen plenty of target guys walking around like pirates with patches over their dominant eye.  Quite interesting!    :cool:

[Flatshooter]

Danny's quote appeared in Jay Kidwell's book but I believe it was originally uttered by Mr. Glen St Charles

[nwt_harvester]

Seems like a lot of this stuff is just being discussed now.  I've struggled with this for a while.  I Realize that I'm way better shooting lefthanded(the way that felt natural to me when i was a kid) even thought I"m right eye dominant.

[maineac]

I think it would be hard to switch from left to right vica versa if you had been shooting for a long time.  If you  are new of just starting, I think it would be best to go with the dominant eye, since that will give the brain the most consistent and direct sight picture to work with.

[Backquiver]

I am left eye dominant and shoot right handed, I never really see the arrow. If you shoot enough arrows I think this will become natural for you and you will shoot well. I think proper form no matter what will overcome any dominance.

[Earthdog]

It certainly does matter to me,it wasn't until I read Fred Asbells first book and tryed solely instinctive shooting that it did become an issue for me.
I don't think it matters as much if your gaping,shooting split vision or using sights because you see where the arrow is pointing or where the sight is placed,but if the instinctive claims are as true as people that always shoot that way say,then it makes sence to me that you would shoot with your dominant eye because that would be your strongest "instinctive" eye.
After all,it is all about hand/eye co'ordination,,,right.
I personaly had no problems with getting my left hand to adapt,,,but my eye sight is not going to change,,,and once again,,,FITA target shooters use sights that give them more flexability to ignore their dominant eye,,bare bow shooters do not because we do use hand/eye co'ordination.
If somebody can give me a good reason that "doesn't" include none related methods of aiming a bow like FITA coaches training sighted target archers,then I'm quite happy to take that on board,but I'm not seeing that in any of the discussions on this topic to date either here or anywhere else.
I know there have been and still are plenty of people that shoot cross eyed dominate,as I did myself for over 25 years,and there will always be exceptions to any rule which is of course a good thing,but all the pro FITA coaches where I live all still teach dominate eye due to having no say in the issue.
Archery NZ has a very ridged set of coaching rules and the dominate eye is one thing they will not budge on,in fact any coach that steps out of that line simply doesn't coach at a national level any more,end of story on that.
As far as I can see this issue has never been "Proven" one way or the other even by those Pro coaches because I personaly know they also have differing opinions on the subject.
My father inlaw was NZ's #1 FITA coach and Naralie Fairhalls personal coach when she won Commonwealth gold for NZ during the late 70's.
He also has his doubts about this whole issue but he taught mainly dominate eye because "at the time" he had the choice and he belived it was the best over all method.
As far as I know all the better field archery and the very few that coach barebow here also teach dominate eye.
We've been fortunate to have Terry Ragsdale do some seminars here in the last few years,he came mainly to coach our field archery coaches,but they were open to any interested folks,he also taught dominant eye.
Anyway,I think we could be discussing this one for quite some time to come because it's just too personal a subject to have one answer.

[JF]

I shoot lh and I am rt eye dom. and close my rt eye. john