question about eye dominance

[David Fudala]

#7057

Hello All,

My name is Dave, I am new to this forum and relatively new to shooting traditional archery. I have shot right handed all my life since I started years and years ago with the wheel bows and now with traditional equipment. Recently, I discovered that I am left eye dominant. To be honest, I never really even suspected that I may be and always assumed I was a right eye. I am a fairly good shooter now shooting right handed but am wondering now if I should be shooting left handed? I would greatly appreciate any feedback you may have to offer as I just do not have the years of experience with traditional gear to fall back on here. I am curious as to how eye dominance effects instictive shooting.

Thank you all for your time!

Dave.

[Arne Moe]

#57723

Dave,

The classic effect of having a cross dominance situation is when you shoot under pressure, or fast (depending on the situation) your arrows hit significantly to the left (you say that you are right handed) of where you are looking.

If you are happy with your shooting now, DO NOT change! If you get unexpected left misses, you MAY want to explore changing hands or explore retraining your eye dominance. (Yes, you can retrain eye dominance but it will take some guidance and work on your part.)

Arne

[David Petersen]

#57806

Good to have you join us, Dave. I agree with Arne right down the line. If you are shooting well, keep at it. I am left handed (primarily, a wee bit ambidextrous) and right-eyed and have always shot everything right-handed. I can’t even imagine trying to draw a bow left-handed … I’d have to start with a 20# kid’s bow. 😆 But others seem to have no problem switching.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#57844

I’m a left eye dominant, right hand shooter. It’s what I’m used to (can’t imagine shooting left-handed), and I always shoot with both eyes open. I also shoot instinctively, focusing on the distant target, rather than using any sort of aiming method that involves looking at the end of my arrow, etc. I have come to believe that this makes a significant difference for those of us that shoot cross-dominant (I also believe that much more has been made of eye dominance in archery than necessary). With both eyes open, and focusing on something that is 15 or 20 yards away (or whatever), I believe that eye dominance is far less of a factor, if you shoot with both eyes open. However, if you use an aiming that involves looking at the end of your arrow, or whatever, expect eye dominance to come into play much more. Just my .02…

[David Fudala]

#58804

Thank you greatly gentlemen for your feedback! Its an overwhelming feeling to have a site like this where one can come for help among first class individuals such as yourselves! Since I do feel like my shooting is sufficient to this point (I can consistently keep 4″ groups out to my 25 yard, self imposed limit) I am going to keep shooting as is. I did some research on retraining eye dominance so that’s a great option to have in the back pocket (thanks Arne!). I’m really hoping that mentally, now that I’m aware of it, I don’t jinx myself with some mental target panic issues!?!? Time will tell. Again, thank you guy! Hope I can return the favor some day!

Dave.

[Arne Moe]

#58811

Target panic is an entirely different issue. One way to keep TP in check is to simply focus on your shot execution and NOT on the outcome. Basically, “outcome” (hitting the bull’s eye) is a future event that we can ONLY control in the present by focusing on our “process.”

Arne

[Greg Ragan]

#60066

Both Howard Hill and Fred Bear shot cross eye dominant…they did pretty well.

Work on your form and shot sequence….aiming is the easy part:wink:

I am curently doing 3 weeks of just blank bale shooting and form work. It is really paying off.

[Arne Moe]

#60089

Ya, the Hill /Bear cross dominance example ALWAYS comes up in these types of discussions and that is very true. There are no hard and fast “rules” — shucks, one Korean Olympic medalist is legally blind — anything CAN be worked out.

But, frankly most of us are not in Hill or Bear’s class and ANY tool that can help solve shooting problems for any given individual should be at least explored. If we can REDUCE built in challenges the shooter (especially the new shooter) will be successful faster.

I DO ABSOLUTELY agree that learning good consistent form is the most important and aiming is just ONE step of the shot sequence and PROBABLY not the most important one. I, too, often tell folks to learn their form, the “aiming part” is the easy part.

Arne

[Greg Ragan]

#60100

I agree but the OP has been shooting righty for a while and recommending he switch hands just because he “discovered” his eye dominance seems like the solution to a problem he may not have. Now if he was having problems shooting left….

The eye dominance thing can be easily overcome….I shoot that way and just learned without conscious thought as I learned my form.

[Arne Moe]

#60114

Sorry if what I wrote the OP came across as a “recommendation,” IT WAS NOT.

“If you are happy with your shooting now, DO NOT change! If you get unexpected left misses, you MAY want to explore changing hands or explore retraining your eye dominance. (Yes, you can retrain eye dominance but it will take some guidance and work on your part.)”

I did say that if he was happy with his shooting (ie. no apparent problems) NOT to change! BUT IF he had a problem to EXPLORE other options. I did not in any way mean to imply that he should change anything.

I think we are saying the same thing just in different ways.

Arne

[Vintage Archer]

#60568

Really interesting discussion.

I am naturally left handed although I am right eye dominant. As a kid I shot a rifle and batted a base ball right handed I threw a ball left handed and caught with my right. I wrote left handed until a teacher forced me to switch and write right handed. When I graduated and left that school I started writing left handed and still do today 60 years later.:D LOL Not sure what this has to do with shooting than other than a little background

I shot a bow right handed for twenty years then developed shoulder problems in my string arm (right arm) I was afraid to have a operation thinking of a failed operation would leave me not being able to shoot at all. ( new science and methods have reduced this possibility greatly). I elected instead to switch to shooting left handed.

Switching really was not much of a problem being left handed anyway. Shooting was not a problem either as I shot with both eyes open. The only problem was replacing all the right handed bows with left.:D LOL……. There were benefits also . When shooting right handed over the years I developed a case of target panic at least that is what I called it. I could not hold a anchor .As soon as I touched my anchor spot the arrow was gone. Eventually it affected my accuracy . Glen Saint Charles wrote that he had switched and it cured his target panic. It cured mine also. Like others mentioned previously it probably was the result of concentrating on a new shooting form the was the

biggest contributor to the cure. What ever it worked.

Ten years later I developed a persistently sore finger in my shooting hand. I have always shot split finger .but decided to shoot three finger under for relief of the sore finger. This relived the pressure of the string on the middle finger and the finger healed .

One remedy created other problems. Shooting three fingers under moved the arrow up closer to my eye which brought the arrow in focus. Soon my right and left eye were fighting each other for dominance . This is a recent development. I would almost see double arrow tips in my site picture. My shooting went from bad to worse. I could not figure it out.

About a month ago I saw Troy Breeding at Compton in Michigan. We discussed many things but ended up discussing my dominate eye problem. Dr. Breeding (LOL):D

Suggested I close my dominate eye and let the left take over. He also suggested that rather than leaving the eye completely closed to crack it open slightly which would still let the left eye which is looking down the arrow take over. It worked!!! What a relief. Thanks Troy! I find now which Troy also predicted is all it takes is a wink of the right dominant eye to stop the battle of the eye balls.

This may all sound crazy . I really don’t care how it sounds it worked for me. I f I have to keep my toes crossed when shooting I will so I can continue to pursue archery hunting .

I write this thinking it might help others some day in their twilight years 😆

[garydavis]

#60676

Whole lot of data here. I’m left eye dominant and tried to switch to shooting left handed. That didn’t work too good so, I switched back to shooting right handed. Right now, I get the best results by focusing in tight with both eyes and closing the left just before the release. It works pretty good at 20 Yds and under. I’d like to shoot tighter groups though and think tuning and form work is the answer. It’s a lot of fun figuring this stuff out so stay with it and keep asking these guys questions they are the best coaches around.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

[David Fudala]

#60796

Wow guys! Lots of great stuff here! I really like the suggestion of working on my form. I really don’t want to have to switch to lefty simply because, well let’s face it… Its getting a bit to close to the season to be starting over! When I return home from my current business trip I am going to start with some form focus shooting to reassure my noggin that there isn’t anything to worry about! Knowing that its a somewhat common occurence really puts my mind at ease. Thanks again everybody! This is really great!

Dave.

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