Rick Welch question?

[Gil Verwey]

In the current Tradarchers World on page 32 is a frontal picture of Rick Welch at full draw. It looks like he draws the bow back with the string against his nose and to the inside corner of his dominant eye. It looks like he is sighting down the arrow with his eye on the bow side of the string! Is this an optical illusion or is this really what he does? It looks to me like that there is no way he can be looking with both eyes on one side of the string. Does he use the string as a site?  

I don't think I could do that if I tried, especially with the size of my nose.

Thanks
Gil

[McDave]

If you look at the picture carefully, you will see that Rick is drawing the back of the cock feather to his nose.  The string is on the right side of his nose.  Both of his eyes are on the same side of the string.  Rick feels that his sight picture is a very important part of the shot, and has never mentioned in his videos or in conversation with me that any part of the bowstring is visible as a part of his sight picture, so I believe his bow is canted just enough to get the string out of his sight picture.

In the past, I have had trouble hitting left, and one of the causes I've explored is the possibility that my right eye is to the left of the arrow.  Rick has discouraged me from worrying about that, emphasizing that the important thing is to have a fixed, repeatable placement of your head, as opposed to getting your eye over the arrow.  He told me that the out-of-focus point of his arrow is slightly to the right of his target in his sight picture, which seems to tell me that his right eye is slightly to the left of his arrow.

[Gil Verwey]

Thanks. I thought it may have been an optical illusion. I couldn't do that if I tried. Does he also touch his eybrow with the string? It looks like he drew back that far. I have and saw his videos. I was thinking other than touching his nose he may be setting the cant like that, by touching his eyebrow.


Thanks
Gil

[McDave]

It certainly looks in that picture like he's touching his eyebrow with the string, but I'd have to review the DVD's to see if that's something he commonly does, or if it just looked that way in that particular picture.  Same thing with the bowstring.  Looking at the picture, I don't see how the bowstring could be out of his field of vision.

[Gil Verwey]

I have all his vidoes and I am going to review them also. It sure looks odd, the way the string is far into his face. I never looked at the videos for that but I will give it another shot also.

[Gil Verwey]

I am going to try it. It looks like he uses the string to ensure his head placement and cant are consistant. I haven't done it with the bow yet but if you put something in front of your eye like that, with both eyes open it is like you see right through it.

I have tried many of the techniques in the video, but maybe this will help with my consistency also. I don't think my head placement and cant are consistant.

I am going to give three under another try. Most of my bows sound like I am dry firing them but I found one that doesn't. I sure would like to shoot like he does.  

I made the mistake of putting a thread with this question on another site. What a mistake that was.

[McDave]

Bear in mind that in Rick's classes, he teaches and shoots with all different degrees of cants, to use in shooting from a tree stand, from a stool, or kneeling on the ground.  But I'm sure we all have a preferred cant that we use when there is nothing that prevents it.  Probably like everything else in archery, a consistent cant improves accuracy.  Rick's preferred cant seems to be to hold the bow almost vertical, and it may well be that he is "looking through the string."  If that is so, it is something I have missed previously, and it is a useful thing to know.

[Gil Verwey]

I know the cant affects left and right. After looking at that picture it sure looks like he uses that as another way to keep everything consistant.

I would love to go to his class, but I can't make it out to Arkansas. I tried to get a few guys together to get him to come east last year, but I couldn't get everybody to agree on a date.

I think I am going to try to keep at his style using the videos, until maybe sometime next year. Then maybe I can get away to Arkansas.

[wds]

Took a dalaa 21 inch riser with short limbs. makes a 62 inch bow. 28 inch draw. Pulled the string back until the feather is on the end of the nose and the srting is hard on the eye brow. Draw hand tight to face. You may want to go try this if you have not allready. ooooohaaaaaaah  were open for buisness now baby. Kinda like this Rick Welsh fella.

[Friend]

The subject matter in this thread is very intrigueing. Hope this thread continues. What I have thus far been able to decipher from Rick's technique and with the guidance of some of R. Welch's students, I am quite pleased with my progess.

I would like to offer some information based on my own trials as suggested as to what Rick may be doing, however I have tweaked my rhomboids and it is painful to hold back tension. I was working to strenghten them and ended up doing just the opposite.

Please continue the discussion.

[zetabow]

Gil posted this question on LW and got a HUGE amount of abuse (from one partiular Ricky Expert), good to see constructive opinions on this interesting question.

[Skinner]

He never mentioned anything about using the string when I took his class 2 weeks ago.  He anchors with his thumb knuckle on the hard nub (above and in front) of his ear lobe and with the tip of the cock feather on the end of his nose.  This ensures consistant back tension (knuckle on ear) and the tip of the feather acts as a "draw check".