Is there any hope?

[Gordon Jabben]

Here is a vidio of my shooting.  I feel I do many things wrong and don't know where to start for improvement.  I have bare bale practiced until I'm blue in the face but when I go back to shooting targets, I can't see any change.  Lighter weight bows seem to make me worse. I know I should slow down but that doesn't seem to change anything either.  Odd thing is I seem to shoot as good as most shooters and I wonder if I should just forget about trying to change things.


 

[moebow]

Gordon,  If you are happy being able to shoot as well as "most shooters" don't change.  Changing will decrease your accuracy (you won't shoot as well for a while) until your form improves.

For starters, here is what I see that you may want to consider working on.
First, your bow shoulder rides too high.  You need to hold it down and back and get rid of that large lump on the top of the bow shoulder.   It will help if you concentrate on getting that bow arm 90 degrees to your spine.   To help with this, get your target at shoulder height if you can so you are not shooting "downhill."

Second, your draw is far too long.  That string is clear back to your ear.  The only way that you can do that is by using your upper deltoids on the top of your shoulder and your biceps for the draw.  You have no back muscles involved with your draw at all.  You will find, that if you draw with a shoulder rotation followed with elbow rotation around your spine, your string hand will be more in front of your face.  The rotation will help you get into your back muscles more -- this is essential!

Right now, in watching this video, you do not have a consistent draw length and again, the rotation will help with this.  Also you can see the "pop" out of your string hand on release which is another indicator of biceps instead of back. Finally, your bow hand at release moves to your right, another indicator of no back involvement.

You mentioned that you are shooting too fast -- yes!  The big thing is to get the feeling of drawing with your back rather than your arms and that will take some dedication -- and a light bow.  Start with the bow higher than you do now and draw around your spine with your elbow moving in a SLIGHTLY downward angle.  Currently you are moving that elbow in a slightly upwards direction.

I would recommend that your fastest route to change would be to find a certified coach there in your area or in Tulsa.  As you point out, all the blank/blind bale in the world will not help too much until you can get the back muscles into the game.  Get and use a form master, that will help too.

[BowsanAiros]

Gordon..
Good Video.. I can see you're consistent. Every shot is the same, anchor point etc..
But you're head and neck is in a forward position.(neck injury maybe?) If you bring your head back a bit
and in between your shoulder (natural way you head should be) your draw line will stay the same, but
 your anchor point will be closer to side of your mouth. (Your head will be in a comfortable position as well).
But If you feel you're doing good as other archers, don't change...
Another thing I would suggest is trying step 3 of my shoot along. See how that works for you..

[Gordon Jabben]

Thanks guys.  This is a lot to take in at one time and I knew there would be a lot to work on.  I really appreciate the help.  
Moebow, I may have some questions on how to lower the bow shoulder but let me see how that goes.  I'm sure a lighter bow will be a must.  I have wanted to do this post for quite awhile but I have always been a little embarrassed by how poor my bow form is and really didn't want to have a vidio of it. LOL

[Terry Green]

Sure looks to me like you have no problem drawing that bow weight....what ever it is.  You are getting it back with authority looks like.

Here's what bowsnarrows said.....

BODY POSITION :

Not this.....

         

But this...

         

[moebow]

Be glad to help where I can, Gordon.

[mrjsl]

Alright Terry, I've looked at those two pictures a million times on here, and never could find anything different about them until I realized that you added a Pre-Kindergarten style stick man to the top photo.

I thought the circle was meant to highlight something bad, but could never figure out what it was.

I guess if you were a caveman you would hunt, and someone else in the tribe would be making cave paintings.