Hey all, got my dad into shooting here in the past few months. We're having some issues. Sometimes he shoots good, other times it's pretty poor. He shoots a couple times a week. I've been on him about shooting more, but he does work quite a bit and tends to spend his time off by working on the necessities around the house. I think he's set at 52# @ 30" draw. I've been trying to help him a bit on his form, but he's struggling with it. Some of the things I've been working on him are: - Straightening up - Rotating his elbow - Relaxing his arm/hand - Checking off his anchors in his head to make sure he hits them all - I think he may need to bring his DL down a bit as well He can shoot 3 or 4 arrows and put them in the kill zone, and then for some reason he'll throw a couple and sometimes even completely miss- generally VERY low. I keep telling him I think hes torquing it, but I don't know how to verify it. He could be punching it as well I suppose. Are there any more tips and pointers that any of you have to improve his form a bit? I snapped a pic of him today when he wasn't paying attention. I did it to show him how bowed out his arm was- he didn't realize it was so bad.
IMO, draw length looks long. A shorter draw length would help his elbow rotate and help him straighten up. Also, it's easier to drop your bow arm (causing low shots) if you're over extended. Shorten it up, I think you'll see results. Good luck.
X2, I think he is just leaning back to keep his ear from being ripped off. Shorter draw length for sure.
First off, we need to see additional views from other angles. I suspect his DL is long, but it's just almost impossible to tell from this angle. We really need the reverse view, and if you can take one from exactly behind him it would be nice too (directly overhead would be awesome, but I'm assuming you probably can't do that ) First couple things that jump out at me: How much bend does he have in his elbow? It looks like a LOT. Although many people shoot this way, he'll be much more consistent if he's able to straighten his arm out. Not LOCK it out, but straighten it out. Think of it this way... if you were giong to lean against a post, how long could you hold your body weight up with a big crook in your elbow? Now contrast that with having your arm straight... Try it, and you'll see that having bone-on-bone contact allows you to maintain your form MUCH longer without tiring. Secondly, since we're working with a brand-new person... let's start them off right NOW before bad habits are ingrained. Get the tension out of the fingers on the bow hand. They should be what I call "dead spider leg fingers" with NO tension in them... you should be able to walk up to them while he's at full draw and "flick" them and they should move easily. The way he's forcing them open is probably a combination of two things: One, a concious decision to try NOT to grip the bow and induce torque, and two, his high-wrist grip which I would also do away with. If you could take a picture of him nearly facing you (you don't want absolutely facing you with an arrow aiming at you) we could see his grip hand better. I'd be willing to bet his grip alignment is way off; he should have his knuckles falling away from the riser at approximately a 45-degree angle, ensuring he's not "heeling" the grip with the heel of his hand -- imparting too much torque during the shot sequence. His wrist sling also looks like it may need to be loosened, but that may be an effect of seeing the high-wrist grip. We've got to get that front shoulder down as well. And he really needs to stand up straight. Sometimes, that takes standing and drawing in front of a mirror to get down right. You can lean back with the correct draw length; it happens all the time... though here, by looking at his release forearm and the relationship it has to the arrow it appears he IS a little long, but I'd like to see the angles I asked for to be certain.
Thanks alot Greg. I'll work on getting those other camera angles ASAP. I snapped this one from the side so that he wouldn't know I was taking it, therefore making it a natural shot on his part. I may be able to get the above angle- we have a ladder stand set up where we shoot so that we can practice shooting out of a stand. I could just have him stand beside the ladder and I'll shoot down on top of him. I work the next few days so it will probably be the weekend before I can shoot with him again. Also, if the draw length ends up being too long, is it something we should change with the season starting on the 1st? I helped him set up his bow, and the longest shot he will be taking this year at a deer is 20 yards. He's solid from 20, but any further back and I'm not so sure about.
Absolutely. I didn't click back on the photo to see what bow he's shooting, but it's probably as simple a matter of switching a module out or rotating one... unless he's shooting a Mathews, in which case their bows are cam-specific. Once he learns to -- or is able to, as the case may be -- stand up straight and gets comfortable with how that feels, it'll actually be more pleasant than having that kink in his side and his spinal column contorted unnaturally.
He's shooting a Reflex Excursion. I have a buddy who has a bow press so I may be able to take it out to him to have him do it. I'll have him work on the other things that were mentioned before I do that though. If I have to do it when he's not with me, would you suggest I take it down a 1/2" first? I'm 6'1" and have a 29" draw. My dad is 5'10-5'11 and the bow shop set him at 30". I thought that was kind of strange. I know some guys may have long arms, but I think I have longer arms than my dad, lol.
The FIRST thing I would have him do is learn how to grip the bow correctly, showing him where to seat the grip of the bow against his hand and how his hand should align itself in relation to the riser. Then, i'd have him work on straightening out his bow arm and bottoming out his front shoulder... Those two things are going to eat up a lot of his excessive dl right there. THEN, I'd have him work on standing straight up and down. After those initial things, then he can see where he's going to end up... but on AVERAGE 5'10 guys shoot around a 29" draw; he's PROBABLY an inch long, but no way to tell for sure until we see things I asked for in my first response.
