when to move back

[54calLEADballs]

So I've been practicing as much as I can. I got my groups down to about the size of a softball at 10 yards. When should I start trying for 20 yards? I'm starting to get really good memory and feel when shooting and can almost feel when A shot is where I wanted it and when I messed something up. Thanks guys.

[ChiefStingingArrow]

I would move back in 5 yard increments....It sounds like you are ready to try to step back.

[Green]

When I'm working bridge drills, I tend to move back in 2-3 yard increments.  As Rod Jenkins suggests, stay at that distance until you've accomplished a certain number of perfectly executed shots.....say 30, then move back some more.  To be honest, I would work at accomplishing like 5 perfectly executed shots at a time, six times, over the course of several days before moving.

[gonefishing600]

I took archery lessons from Bob Wesley about 3 years ago out of Pittsboro NC. He was the 1981 World longbow champion. He suggest that starting at 10 yards, once you can put 4 out of 5 arrows in a 9 inch circle consistently, move back 1 yard.

[McDave]

Then there is Rick Welch's approach, which is to shoot only one arrow, go and pull it out of the target, and then shoot it again from someplace else, never shooting it twice in a row from the same spot.  He violates this rule occasionally if you clearly blow a shot, when he will sometimes go and get the arrow for you and ask you to shoot it again from the same spot.  He doesn't require perfect form for each shot, just generally as good a form as a student is capable of at that time.  This means that a certain amount of targets are missed, which is okay as long as the student is generally applying the information Rick has given him.  This is different from an obvious error like a pluck or a peak or a dropped bow arm, which will generally result in another shot from the same spot.

Not to take away from the methods being described above, they are fine and time-tested methods.  Just that there is more than one way to skin a cat, and some people react better to different teaching methods.