How's My Form?

[dmassphoto]

I am no expert, but think a rock-solid follow through is the most important aspect of any form. I really don't think about what's pointed where with my arms, and crouch, stand, sit, and cant the bow at varying degrees to replicate varied shot opportunities.  But when I "freeze" good at release, I seem to do well regardless.

Well, I tried what many suggested, and I think I finally came down with a good form that I can replicate time and again.  I first tried taking the heel of my hand off, and it felt really uncomfortable. I think I took the whole "point your finger towards the target" thing too seriously and loosed an arrow only to find I loosed the bow as well!     At least the arrow hit where I was aiming.  Maybe the grip on my bow is different.  Below is what ended up working for me, and feel free to tell me if this is wrong or if I should change things...

1.  Instead of starting my draw with the arrow down, and coming up to the target, I started with the arrow pointed more or less towards the target, drew back like I was pulling a rope, as straight as possible, and lined the arrow head onto the target.  I then slowly lowered the bow down until I was ready to lose.

2.  I kept my index finger on the corner of my mouth, and tried the best I could to keep my eye directly over the arrow.

3.  I tried to keep the bow as straight to vertical as possible.

4.  After letting fly, I kep the bow as steady as absolutely possible until the arrow hit.  Much harder than it seems. 

I'm hitting a 3x3" target from about 17-20yrds about 3 times out of every 12 I shoot, but I've noticed my groupings are a lot tighter, mainly hitting just to the right. 

[Kegan]

That sounds good! Many of those aspects of proper form anyhow (no wonder you came to them so naturally then ?)

Your first one puts the pressure on the bone structure, rather than muscles and joints- much more reliable and stable/ Your second is jsut a practice thing and will become very natural the more you shoot. Number three is actually easier on the body to reproduce, not just if you're using sights. Of course, number four the the last step in any shooter's routine, and those who differ here are either freaks or not actually hitting anything !

As for the grip, it's not that you shouldn't put the heel of your hand down at all, but rather it shouldn't be all the force you're using against the bow. Rather the bow should rest comfortably along the life line on your palm and your fingers (as few as possible) lightly wrapped like a bow sling to prevent the bow from flying away (shows how "little" handshock some bows actually have ). Many longbow grips today (store bought) are either built fotr this or close, with only a few bad examples.

[dmassphoto]

As for the grip, it's not that you shouldn't put the heel of your hand down at all, but rather it shouldn't be all the force you're using against the bow. Rather the bow should rest comfortably along the life line on your palm and your fingers (as few as possible) lightly wrapped like a bow sling to prevent the bow from flying away (shows how "little" handshock some bows actually have ). Many longbow grips today (store bought) are either built for this or close, with only a few bad examples.

That sounds about what I try to do with my hand.  I'll tell ya one thing, and I'm just starting out, but there are few things more pretty than letting go of an arrow and watching it fly to the point you wanted it to.  It's highly addictive

[Kegan]

It's highly addictive

Worse than crack some might say

[Ranger B]

Reality is that your grip is what the bow grip makes it. ie. "you are heeling the bow" well if the grip is made that way then you heel. If it's a modern recurve then you'll not heel because they are make so that you don't heel. you hold the bow the way the grip is made. The moral of the story is, for all the bowyers, make the handle "grip" so that you hold the bow they way you want to shoot and not just the way that is convenient. If you leave a lot of meat in the handle early on then you can make it pretty much any way you want it.
Just my .02

[Kegan]

Reality is that your grip is what the bow grip makes it. ie. "you are heeling the bow" well if the grip is made that way then you heel. If it's a modern recurve then you'll not heel because they are make so that you don't heel. you hold the bow the way the grip is made. The moral of the story is, for all the bowyers, make the handle "grip" so that you hold the bow they way you want to shoot and not just the way that is convenient. If you leave a lot of meat in the handle early on then you can make it pretty much any way you want it.
Just my .02

To an extent, but I've seen folks heel recurves that should be shot with a high wrist before. It's harder to use a higher wrist grip on a low grip handle, but it's easy to mistakenly use too much heel regardless of the handle design.