Soft tissue anchor point VS. hard tissue.

[jonsimoneau]

I love thinking about things that might have an effect on my shot.  But here is one I have been thinking about for a long time now.  Let me know what you guys think. I have heard a number of archers say it is best to use something on your face that does not move like a tooth on the upper jaw as compared to using the corner of your mouth.
    This makes sense in theory because they say that this point will not move and is repeatable. I get the point but I kind of disagree.  
    Yes you can use a tooth as an anchor point, and it wont move...but it is still quite easy to move your drawing arm quite a bit despite the fact the tooth does not move.  
    Now think of this.  It is possible to anchor say in the corner of your mouth without moving it at all.  What I mean is that you can touch the corner of your mouth and not move it.  In fact, if you do move it...this should be an indication of not being at your normal draw length.
    I have to admit, that I am not one of types of shooters who likes to really "dig into" my anchor.  The reason is that when I do so, I find it much more likely that I will lose back tension and will begin to collapse or will disengage my back muscles and will engage my arm muscles to keep myself at anchor. You begin to use the anchor as a holding point as opposed to a reference point.  
   I find it better to FEEL my anchor point but not necessarily to cozy into it.  This seems to help me keep my back engaged resulting in better follow through.  What do you guys think?

[Diamond Paul]

I don't have a really hard anchor; I put my index on the protuberance above my right canine tooth (bony projection at the gum line), middle finger corner of the mouth, on the tip of the canine, and thumb knuckle, thumb pointing forward locks upward against my cheekbone.  I draw somewhat downward to get back tension, sort of like the Oly guys do but not that extreme, then slightly move the hand up against the cheekbone to finalize the anchor.  I don't really dig into it, though.  My problem, I have found fairly recently, was that I was trying to draw too far and the shape of my face puts the string/arrow out of alignment with my eye and causes misses that I used to attribute to arrow spine, but weren't.  I'm learning to live with about a 27.5" draw length, even though I'm six foot tall.  I have no shoulder width, though, and I think that's why my draw is relatively short.

[jonsimoneau]

Diamondpaul I'm similar to you with the draw length. I'm 5'10 and I draw 27 (if I remember right). While seeking out the best alignment I ended up overdoing it. I extended my draw length a little but I also ended up getting my bow arm shoulder out of alignment in doing so which caused some problems LOL! I've got my work cut out for me this winter!

[Diamond Paul]

I watched Rod Jenkins shoot on MBB and noticed where he was anchoring, which was just past the corner of the mouth, kind of back into his cheekbone with the index finger.  This anchor gets me a little more draw, but I can't get good alignment there, so I had to come forward and in on my face a little.

[SAVIOUR68]

Jon IMO the primary anchor should be in your draw arm and back [proper alignment for you], then try to find a familiar repeatable 2nd anchor on a facial structure.
As we all know any soft or hard contact point on the face can easily change with the smallest of head movement forwards/backwards and tilting.
This can be proved by tilting your head forward and drawing to anchor on you face, now I bet your primary anchor is drawn short and not in your optimal alignment T.

[McDave]

Jon, as you probably know, the anchor points that Rick Welch suggests, which are the tip of the nose and the lobe of the ear, are both soft points.  In fact, in my first lesson with him, when he noticed that the bow string was skimming my cheek and making a red mark, he suggested that I hold it further away from my face to avoid that.

I still use those two points, and have added a third, which is the bowstring pressing against my eyebrow.  Plus, as Scott mentioned, I try to be aware of my back tension and alignment as my primary anchors.

I don't see any particular problem with the soft points, since if anything, they seem to be a little more precise than a hard point since they are sensitive to the touch and I can tell if I am a little off one way or the other.  And, as has been mentioned, head movement and changes in body alignment can cause much greater errors than changes in anchor point on the face anyway.

[jonsimoneau]

McDave, that's what I am kind of thinking as well.  I know it's a "different strokes for different folks" kind of thing.  But I always like to try to analyze things.  Thanks for the input guys!

[tracker12]

I hear a lot about the knuckle on the ear lobe.  Sounds good but I just can't seem to get the knuckle there without changing my primary anchor.  Must be the little ears on my face:)

I'm actually thinking I might go back to the index finger as my primary vice the middle finger.  That seemed to line me up with my cheek better.

[fnshtr]

I use middle finger to corner of mouth, thumb knuckle behind jawbone (hard) and feather to nose.

I shot with Rick Welch and he suggested these... but I modified the thumb joint to earlobe because I can "feel it better". Hope that makes sense. The thumb joint to back of jawbone really solidifies everything for me.

Just another thought... good shooting!

[Slimpikins]

I am with you fnshtr.

[tracker12]

When I moved to 3 under I was using the protuberance above the canine but for some reason I moved away from it.  I have recently started working on getting the index finger back on the tooth and middle finger in the corer of the mouth with the thumb tucked in against the jaw bone.  Groups tightened up nicely.  In conjunction with a strong bow arm the Anchor position placed my forearm in a much better position and in line with the target.

[Jake Scott]

Jon,

I had a very similar experience.  FOR ME the soft tissue anchors are much easier to feel.  I found that when anchoring at the eye tooth, I had a very hard time feeling it consistently, especially while wearing a facemask or other cold weather gear.  After a lot of trial and error my thumb knuckle settles in right where my earlobe ties into my head (there is a sort of natural (hole there), and middle finger hits the corner of my mouth.  I am able to repeat this anchor very consistently, with a variety of different clothing.  Like you said, "different strokes" and whatever works best for you.

Best of luck,

Jake

[overbo]

Over drawing will trump any anchor issues a archer has. More times than not, an archer will lean back at full draw if they over draw. A dreaded habit caused by shooting a compound w/ a releases. I struggle w/ this from time to time and find if I tell myself to keep my upper body leaned slightly towards the target, my impact left and impact high seems to go away, regardless of anchor style.

[tracker12]

+1 on the over draw and problems caused by it.  I went thru that and am glad I am back on course.

[slowbowjoe]

Like McDave,base of thumb to my earlobe, and feather to the tip of my nose, has been working very well for me. I'm still in the practice stage with it, but so far it's the best reference(s) I've tried
so far.