Hi All,
Welcome to this week’s quick tips email. Today I want to cover some important topics, particularly around equipment and how much benefit you can get from buying the very best equipment.
I want to help as many archers as possible, so please forward this message to any of your archery friends who might also find it helpful ā¤ļø
Have you ever had days where your shooting feels really stable, you can control your bow really well, and the shots feel great, but when you come back to shoot the next day everything feels off?
Sometimes this might not even be the next day, it might be later that very same day, or even after a few ends.
So what’s changed? How can you lose that great shot feeling so quickly?
Most commonly, if you lose your shot feeling like this, it’s because you have lost your body centre and stable posture.
When I say ‘body centre’ and ‘posture’ what does that look like? If you maintain your posture well you will be stable, your weight won’t shift around a lot as you raise and draw the bow, and your head position will be still.
This is so important, and is so easy to forget.
If your head moves, your body and posture will follow it, and you won’t be able to feel what you’re doing with your shoulders.
So if you’ve lost your shot feeling, refocus on your posture. Imagine you are rooted into the ground by your feet, and your spine is a solid, unmoving tree trunk. Feel your head solidly in one position and focus on keeping it still through the whole shot.
I got a great question this week below, which brings up an important point:
“Too many equipment videos are subjective. It would be wonderful If objective testing were available on limbs, risers, stabilizers, buttons, arrows, and vanes. Iām sure that the manufacturers do such research but it’s not presented in an understandable fashion. How much more efficient is top of the line equipment than lower priced equipment? How much more efficient are top of the line limbs that cost nearly 1000 dollars vs. limbs that cost 500-700 dollars. Is it worth the money? The same with other equipment selections. How many points are gained by shooting the most expensive equipment?”
Honestly, 10 years ago equipment was already extremely good, and although there have been improvements, 99% of archers won’t benefit from them.
When we’re talking about getting the latest equipment, this might help someone who is shooting a 690 to shoot a 693.
Take a look at the Men’s London 2012 Olympic ranking round World Record, which was 699/720.
Now, 12 years later in 2024 the world record is 702 (actually set in 2019).
But in this period the price of equipment has MASSIVELY increased.
The things that really make a difference are the things that often go ignored:
Probably the biggest thing that affects your groups is how consistent your arrows are and maintaining them well.
I would strongly recommend buying second hand equipment, and if you must spend money spend it on things that make a difference:
Although you might not think it at first, flexibility is really important for recurve archery.
This is especially true on the draw side of the shot when you’re at full draw. Because in order to get to a good position, you need to have shoulder and arm flexibility.
A great drill you can do to work on this flexibility is the clicker extension drill.
You simply come to full draw with an arrow in the bow, and expand as normal until your clicker clicks.
Then, you continue expanding 3-4mm past the click, focussing on squeezing your draw elbow around the body.
This will help you develop the flexibility you need to expand more easily, and has the added bonus of training you to not flinch when the clicker clicks.
Start this at close blank bale, and then try doing it while you aim at a target.
That’s it for today, have a great weekend!
Happy shooting,
Ashe