Leftie-Rightie Problems

[General Dogs]

Hello All....

I am naturally right handed but left eye dominant so have been shooting left handed since my beginners course last Summer.

Having read a number of posts about form and stance and having recently borrowed a copy of "Precision Archery" I am starting to have second thoughts and would like to invite views and advice.

The key to my concern is the need to get my draw arm in line with the "draw-force" (ie. arrow line) and to turn my head as far as possible to get a good view downrange.

I find that I can actually turn my head slightly further to the left than to the right. Not a lot in it you may think, but since I wear glasses I find that when shooting left handed I do get a blurred image of the glasses frame in my vision and also struggle to get my upper body perpendicular to the target.

I have not yet tried shooting right handed (I only have a left handed bow) but when adopting the stance in front of a mirror it feels like an improvement in terms of both vision and shoulder position.

A change would of course necessitate new kit and the associated expense....hence my request for advice

[Jimster71]

Have you got a friend or another club member with right handed kit that you could have a try of? Maybe try some of the club's training bows for a few weeks and see how it goes before you splash out on new kit.

I shot both left and right handed on my beginners course as I couldn't decide which was more comfortable. Settled on right handed now.

[MrT]

I am also right handed, left eye dominant, and wear glasses, and I find shooting right handed more comfortable. Advice used to be to go with eye dominance, but now is to go with what feels physically comfortable, apparently.

As I am ambidextrous to an extent (throw left handed, write right handed, badminton left handed, baseball/cricket right handed) I thought archery might be a problem, but in practise I found that I very quickly adjusted to using my right eye, even though I shoot with both eyes open. I used to sometimes get the "which target do I aim at?!" syndrome when sighting, but just blinking the left eye shut momentarily pulled the correct (right) eye into focus. I have heard of people putting an opaque cover over the opposite eye, but I've never needed it.

I have tried shooting left handed, and can do it OK, but physically I feel stronger with the bow in my left hand.

Which way round feels more comfortable to you? Go with that, and see if your eyes adjust OK. If you can borrow a club bow or a few months, all the better.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Kev

[geoffretired]

If you can borrow a right handed bow for a few shots it will allow you to see what it is really like to draw and aim and shoot right handed. Drawing right handed may feel good but how it feels to be shooting that way is best found out before any expensive mistakes are made.
If you decide to go that way, you may need to do something about the left eye's dominance. You don't want it taking over some times as the arrows will be in the grass!!
If you wear glasses all the time when shooting, putting something behind the left lens can help.( tracing paper, greaseproof paper) Some wear a patch.

[Little Miss Purple]

Go with the advice on trying out some R/H kit, then you can get a feel for the shot etc.

Also - take the time to search the forum for the threads on eye dominance and what to shoot, it is a topic we have looked at in great length.

[pHz]

leftie here but VERY right eye dominant - started out on the beginners 'course' shooting left handed but switched to right handed when i bought my own kit and even though thats only 4 or so months ago even just holding a leftie setup now feels decidedly odd

unless its REALLy physically awkward id say go with your eyes since your body will adjust whereas i dont think your eyes would if you went with your body

slainte rob

[ThePinkOne]

Originally Posted by General Dogs

Hello All....


I find that I can actually turn my head slightly further to the left than to the right. Not a lot in it you may think, but since I wear glasses I find that when shooting left handed I do get a blurred image of the glasses frame in my vision and also struggle to get my upper body perpendicular to the target.

If you don't get on trying right-handed, you may find a stance alteration helps. I have upper spine damage from a car accident a few years ago and my neck does get a bit stiff, I notice that on bad days I have to move my shoulders round to check my blind-spot when driving the car, on good days I just move my head!. OK, so my regular visits to the chiro help too (get full normal motion back), but the open stance can reduce the amount of head-turn needed and take the stress off the neck- your club coach should be able to help.

I sympathise with the glasses frame thing, I have an extreme prescription and the only glasses I can shoot comfortablly in are the ones that are made of specially thinned material that lets in more light and has less distortion at the edge.

P.

[General Dogs]

Unfortunately the weather stopped me from shooting this weekend

I did manage to speak to the club coach though who advised me to persevere with the eye dominance leftie shooting. That said though I may just give right handedness a try with one of the club bows and see if it feels significantly better.

Thanks for the responses

[ThePinkOne]

Also remember that the following of eye dominance is a Western thing. The Koreans follow hand dominance, and they aren't exactly the worst archers in the world.

I've seen a few tidy archers who follow the hand dominance as it works better for them- just cover one eye with a patch.And as has been observed, in some people eye dominance is pretty equal anyhow and can vary from week to week or even day to day- so no big deal. I'd suggest you go with what makes you more comfortable.

P.

[cestria]

I, like many others here, am a Right hand dominant Left eye dominant shooter.

When first told I was a left eye I was very surprised, I found it very difficult at first to stand, hold the bow and load arrows all the "wrong way". After a little while the feeling of "wrongness" went, and now after 15 months or so even find myself feeling muscles on the right side of my neck, which I didn't appreciate before.

Having said all this, if you take a look at footage of Olympic or World Cup archery, you would be hard pushed to see a leftie shooter. I’m sure that like so many other things in life there is no one right way to do anything just many different ways to achieve the desired goal. If you don’t feel OK shooting left after this time, what have you to loose trying a right-hand set up?