Son is right hand/left eye...which hand?

[BlackDog]

Seen Guru's post with Cade and thought I remembered something about him switching him to shoot left hand. My son (just turned 5) has been shooting the little mad dog pup for about 6 months now off and on (right handed). Figured out a couple months ago he is left eye dominant. He is definitely right handed though.

   Have read what the olympic coaches teach, other threads, etc. Anyone else switch their kids, if so how did it go? Maybe I should order a lefty and let him figure it out???

[BlackDog]

Jeeez! Didn't even think this might should have been posted in the shooters forum. Sorry, please move if so.

[Skipmaster1]

I would switch to left hand. It is really the best way to go for anybody and should be pretty easy at such a young age. I would vote for showing him how to shoot lefty and let him figure it out. It will be much easier now than later in life

[Bowwild]

I shot from 1966-1995 right handed but left-eye dominant. Had to shoot with left eye closed. Began shooting left-handed with both eyes open in 1996. In archery both hands have important job, which one holds the bow isn't as important as the string hand being on the dominant eye side of the face. I wish I had known this when I started.

Only about 50% of people who are left-eye dominant shoot with their dominant eye. More should. But, many people do just fine shooting "wrong-eyed", they just have to close, wink,or otherwise "fuzz up" the left eye to make the right eye carry the load.

The thing to watch for, if someone (especially youth) is shooting right-handed but left-eye dominant is they don't lean the head over the string to line up the left-eye. This can lead to form issues and even muscle injury.

[YORNOC]

My son is 7 now, and is the same. Right handed, left eye dom. Switched him to lefty recurve last year. Best thing we've done, he shoots great now.

[bluemoonrising]

Same here--I shoot my bows with both eyes open, "instinctively." It works for me. When I shoot my guns, I shoot left handed. Peace!

[Stone Knife]

I'm left handed and right eye dominate, I switched to shooting right handed when I was a kid. It's better to start young.

[macksdad]

My daughter is left eyed right handed and she won't shoot left handed, I guess she just doesnt feel comfortable doing so, so I cover her left eye with a patch. I've seen alot of kids / adults this way I believe you are better to follow the dominant eye and the younger they are when you get them shooting with the dominant eye the easier the switch.

[Eugene Slagle]

I started Erin when she was 3.5 years old as a right handed shooter but when she started school & was writing lefty & rechecked her eye dominance.
I made the switch from that day forward.

As long as she concentrates on what she is doing she is a much better & happier archer now.

[RUSTY1]

I made made the switch to left handed myself for the same reason. My 2 sons also are RH/left eye and I started them out lefty from the start.

Rusty

[dave19113]

I had my girlfriend, who is right handed but left eye dominant shoot her bow left handed. She adapted quickly and shoots her bow regularly without a problem.

[reddogge]

My son started shooting at age 5 left handed but was right eye dominant.  We switched him quickly and he never looked back.

[BobCo 1965]

Just thought I'd bring this thread to your attention:

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=005671

[cbCrow]

My son is left handed and left eye dominate. When he first started to shoot with me I got him a left handed bow, the boy could not hit anything. One day he went with me to friends house to shoot with the son who had a right handed bow. He tried the other bow and I was amazed he hit fairly well. He is 31 now and shoots best right handed but can shoot both ways. I never pushed him in either direction, he found the best way for himself.

[BlackDog]

Thanks for all the responses. Think I will order him a lefty and see if I can push him that direction.

[CG]

Originally posted by BlackDog:
 Anyone else switch their kids, if so how did it go? Maybe I should order a lefty and let him figure it out???

Wish I would have figured out earlier that my son was left eye dominant.  He had already been shooting for 2 or 3 years when I finally figured it out.  I found an inexpensive LH bow and tried to get him to shoot it.  He resisted, and from that point on he hasn't shown near as much interest (He had a really cool little RH Browning Cobra that had been shaped to fit a small hand and had the weight reduced-he loved that bow).

That may have happened anyway, but I really feel that I pushed a little too hard.  

I guess the lesson I learned is this--when you're older it's easy to say "wish I would have started out LH", but when you are 7 years old, it really just needs to be fun!

So, based on my experience I would say to keep it enjoyable.  If the love of bowhunting sticks with them like it did with us, then they can and will make all sorts of changes later on.  I would make LH an option, but not force it.

[BlackDog]

Thanks CG, that's exactly what I was thinking. Just going to give him the option and hope he will want to shoot the new bow.

[loneviking]

And if he doesn't want to shoot the new bow, don't sweat it.  Remember, the point to shooting a bow is to put the arrow into the target and be able to do that consistently.  If your son can do that, no matter how weird it looks, then he's a good archer.

My son is left handed and right eye dominant. He shoots left with the weirdest head tilt and anchor I've ever seen but it works for him.  I'm a lefty that shoots a right handed bow.  Looks weird, but it works and that's what counts!

[dan d]

Does this matter if you shoot with both eyes open instinctively ?

I'm right handed, but left eye dominant, I don't know if this old dog can learn them new tricks !

If your shooting instinctively I wouldn't think it would matter ?
Dan

[dan d]

Ok I posted without doing my homework, sorry, I see there are a lot of posts on this topic, I hope this statement is true because I like it so I'm going with it Lol
Dan

 posted February 08, 2011 12:19 PM                       
Well, well well. Saw this quote as a TG signature;

"When shooting instinctively,it matters not which eye is dominant"
Jay Kidwell and Glenn St. Charles

That agrees with what my experience has been.
I think,
I'm gonna forget the whole eye dominance thing, an just shoot.
R

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